Christmas is a holy day - celebrated by Christians around the world. Our nation is free from state-funded religious display and establishment. However - all across our country, the holiday imposes itself through tradition, habit, commercialism and collective celebration. Nothing wrong with that - but when our tax dollars pay for a civic display - we call it a "holiday" expression. We're skirting a violation of our birthright by doing so - but anything else is a violation of our constitutional protection of the establishment of religion. Meanwhile - CHRISTMAS is devouring every other holiday in this nation. There is no national lighting of a (menorah) candle holder with eight candles - we never publicly celebrate "Kwanza" - It's so foreign to me, I'm not even sure if I'm spelling its name correctly. And Christmas (yes, they're Christmas) decorations are now in our stores prior to Halloween. My daughter said we should call it "HallowThanksMas" - because of the way Christmas eats our year. A war on Christmas? Hardly. Instead, I say it's a struggle to stay AWAY from Christmas.

I think that the real "war" is against rituals that are meaningless to individuals and families. There have always been segments of the population that find the whole holiday season as meaningless to their own lives & lifestyle, but most really don't make a big deal out of not participating, though for some it is seriously depressing because they feel left out. Many of us who are not religious have rejected the religious rituals. In our spread-out world, family group celebrations are less possible without a lot of effort and expense, though long-distance electronic participation is growing (not as obvious to "outsiders").

The real change that has occurred in the last half-century has been the takeover of the "neutral" rituals (gifting, decorations, Santa, secular music) that we all could more-or-less agree upon as a compromise between people with different family traditions. The commercial and "gimme" aspects of the holiday season have become so blatant, all-pervasive, and garishly loud that they have become a clownish satire of their own traditional beginnings. That's especially true during the present rough economic times, where the news and politics emphasizes the critical importance of the shopping season to the survival of so many businesses & jobs. You do get the feeling that the holidays are a duty, not a celebration!

I agree with Paul. No "war" here. If you want to put the Christ back into the winter solstice holiday - you're free to do so at your local place of worship. Meanwhile, the rest of the world is engaged in a commercial orgy - - and we all deal with that as members of this capitalist system. Good luck out there - and Happy Holidays!

Kristine, there was a time, not too long ago when the Christmas season was really the time between Christmas and New Year's, a time for people to rest and reflect. And retailers never started pushing Christmas until after Thanksgiving. By and large Paul, I agree that people are made to feel that they have to go all out in spending, celebrating etc. When I see what the National Retail Federation says is the average spending per household for Christmas or the "holidays", it far exceeds what we spend in my family. If we each decide what is important to us, we can ignore what others are pushing on us and be more content.