we wish you A merry christmas

[Lenka]

We Wish You a Merry Christmas

We wish you a Merry Christmas;
We wish you a Merry Christmas;
We wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
Good tidings we bring to you and your kin;
Good tidings for Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Oh, bring us a figgy pudding;
Oh, bring us a figgy pudding;
Oh, bring us a figgy pudding and a cup of good cheer
We won't go until we get some;
We won't go until we get some;
We won't go until we get some, so bring some out here

We wish you a Merry Christmas;
We wish you a Merry Christmas;
We wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

We wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year<= why a (indefinite article)? These feasts are unique, aren't they?
Oh, bring us a figgy pudding <= why indefinite article again? Pudding is uncountable, isn't it? What does word "figgy" mean?

[Casiopea]

Don't let the capitalization on Merry and Happy fool you; they are adjectives. "a Happy New Year" and "a Merry Christmas" are similar in structure to, say, "a lovely present". In other words, a type of. For example,

We wish you a (type of) Christmas that is merry.

Check out this recipe for Figgy Pudding

[Lenka]

Aha, it's clear to me now... Thanks.

As to the figgy pudding, it's a pudding which just contains (among others) figs and that is why it is called like that?

[Lenka]

According to this Cambridge Dictionaries Online - Cambridge University Press the word "Christmas" is both countable and uncountable. I just don't understand when (under which terms and circumstances) it is considered countable... How can I recognize it?

I have never heard the (or should I say "an"?) expression "Christmases". Does it exist at all?

[sydneysider]

Christmases - more than one Christmas.

And may all your Christmases be white...... ( from White Christmas by Bing Crosby )

Cheers

[Lenka]

Originally Posted by sydneysider

Christmases - more than one Christmas.

And may all your Christmases be white...... ( from White Christmas by Bing Crosby )

Cheers

Thank you very much, sydneysider! It's a nice song, by the way (I've just listened to it at YouTube.com)...