Merry Christmas to you, Mary Christmas. In American Fork, Utah, this woman is hearing this all over this holiday season...nine months after she married Brian Christmas - and took on his name. And you know what? Mary Christmas takes it all in good-humored stride. "I kind of felt like with his last name, it was meant to be," she said. "God has a sense of humor. What are the chances that it would ever happen?" Mary acknowledges she gets a lot of double-takes, and jokes over her name."When I make an appointment somewhere, it is kind of awkward," she told the Herald. "I just tell them this isn't a prank call." She has found, however, that she is not alone. She has found that there are between 20 and 100 other Mary Christmases in the United States. The last name of Christmas has its origins in Wales, she said. Yet she is not the first in the family to have an interesting combination of first and last names. She said her husband's grandmother was named Joy Christmas, and one time when she was shopping at JCPenney in Provo, she was held at the counter because the store clerk thought her name was phony. Christmas has a positive attitude about the reaction to her name. "I think it is an opportunity for me to have a better sense of humor," she said. "More than anything it has been fun. It has been a lot of other things, too. For many people, it seems to make them happy. 'You are my favorite,' they tell me. 'I think of your name and it makes me happy.' "
Her husband, Brian, says the best part of her name is that he has Mary Christmas all year long, not just during the holidays. I wonder what the ACLU thinks about this. It's just not politically correct in today's society. I wonder what Mary says when she greets others - does she say "Merry Christmas" or "Happy Holidays"???
