The gift that keeps on giving

I had planned to update this more over the holidays, but I managed to catch a bad Christmas cold. Oh well, at least it's not avian flu or something.

Anyway, I thought I'd elaborate a bit on the "Merry Christmas" thing. In my post below I mentioned that I was annoyed by people calling Christmas winterfest and such. Don't confuse this with the sentiment with the people who say "Christmas is under attack". Of course it isn't. Saying "Happy Holidays" is not some secularist conspiracy to erase Christmas.

However, well intentioned people (who are probably Christian themselves) have gone overboard lately by trying to call this time of year "Winterfest" and renaming things like "Holiday" trees. In a sense, this is almost as bad as the right-wing "say Merry Christmas or else". It's an attempt to force non-Christians into celebrating a holiday they don't believe in by secularizing it. People either celebrate Christmas or they don't. Renaming things will not suddenly make people throw up a tree and wait for Santa if they didn't do it before.

A little sensitivity and common sense is in order. If you celebrate the holiday, then go ahead and party. Don't try to force your Muslim/Humanist/Hindu/Jewish/etc. neighbor to join in.