Huffman Coding

My Newsweek came last night and read that whopping 31% of Americans are actually offended by the phrase “Happy Holidays.” Color me amazed.

When it came to my annual year-end letter to family and friends, I did the writing of the letter (as if you couldn’t tell), the signing and addressing of each one, and the cutting and stickering of the photograph. Chris added personal notes to the bottom of a few.

Chris went to Hallmark and picked out the cards to accompany each letter and photo. With 79 cards to send out, she ended up buying 4 boxes of 18 cards (we had a few cards left over from previous years). I had no say in which boxes she ended up buying. I also had no interest.

Because it would be illogical to assign the cards to recipients randomly, I felt compelled to sort the boxes by religiosity and assign them that way. There was the generic “Snowflake”, the light-hearted “Reindeer Nose”, the homey “Front Door”, and the religous “Pine Forest.” Most of my friends got cards from the reindeer pile.

I was discussing with my co-workers this morning the subtle meanings of the various phrases inside greeting cards. He’s my take

Merry Christmas: Have pleasant Winter if you believe in Jesus Christ.
Happy Holidays: Have pleasant Winter regardless what you may be celebrating.
Season’s Greetings: Have a Winter.