I have been reliably informed that there are particular ways of celebrating Christmas which do exclude/oppress etc people, and since I am not excluded/oppressed by it don't think I'm in a position to say which bits of it are secular and awesome and which bits of it aren't. From the looks of things, saying "Merry Christmas" is, at least in Australia, one of the ok bits. But since I'm not one of the group being hegemonised(*) I don't think it's safe to trust my own judgement or that of anyone else who does celebrate Christmas (since we can't know what it's like to hear "Merry Christmas" when you don't celebrate it). So I asked those who don't.

(*)Is that a word?