christmas is now primarily a christian holiday. For others it is Yule or hannuka or something else all together for others. Not to mention the people who don't celebrate this at all or the people who celebrate just because it's a family tradition. We can't be derogatory towards others but we need to remember that this country was founded by Christians and therefor a lot of people celebrate it as Christian. But I do think that people should know the history of what they celebrate and why. Christmas was based on the pagan Yule and is also the base for the 12 days of christmas. The first known record of Christmas wasn't until around 355 ad and the pagan Yule has been around for longer then remembered. Most historical accounts don't even recognize Dec.25 as the birth of Christ just as the time it's celebrated. People should know your history!It's easy enough to search.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christmas

I think that maybe an important point might be missing from this banter. The one and only reason Christmas is so prominent is to encourage people to spend money, period. Originally, Christmas was a private and cherished religious celebration. Much like the Jewish and Muslim Holy Days, it was celebrated for the special ness it brought to each of their religions. Christmas is so out-there because the percentage of people celebrating has been so overwhelming in terms of the sheer number of people celebrating it in comparison to any other religion. When merchants realized there was a wealth of income that could make by attaching themselves to Christmas, via products and services, they found an annual cash cow they could look forward to year after year. By inventing new traditions (such as Christmas Cards, mistletoe, Christmas trees with related ornaments and Chia Pets) more could be added to their coffers. Now as the population is changing and the other religions bring their money into play, the merchants will be seen shifting their attention and advertisement to bring more into the fold. It's only a matter of time that Christmas will be stripped of its major holiday status.
Oddly enough, it may be a good thing in the long run. Christmas may begin to return to the celebration it once was. Honoring the birth of Jesus Christ, without all the crassness and embellishments that obscures the real meaning of the Day. It doesn’t matter what Pagan holiday it is tagged to, and why it was set up that way. It is what you do with that day and how it affects those whom are a part of it. Just as each of the sacred Holy Days of other religions lives in their hearts. So in closing, it's great to share this Holiday with others and if "Merry Christmas" is disappearing from the language of shopping, that’s OK. It will still be part of my language of the Christmas season. Peace to all.
PS. Happy Thanksgiving, too!

Jessica, you are in the majority. The majority of stores still have Christmas displays, Macy's in New York just put up their Christmas window decorations and they are calling it their Christmas window decorations like they have been doing for the last I don't know how many years. For every school that bans christmas cards, there are probably thousands of others that don't. The "minority" doesn't control anything because they are the minority. The "minority" just wants to have stuff sold at the store for them. Like Kwanzaa stuff. Is it attacking Christmas and Christian values to sell Kwanzaa stuff at a retail store? Hanukah stuff? Just because Loews put "family trees" in their catalouge doesn't mean they are attacking Christian values. My mom says family tree and she's a Super Christian. There are extremists on either end of this argument but the vast majority of people just want to go to the store, get the stuff they want for their holiday and leave.

For the record, Roglo, I didn't use any profanity, but I knew you would say that I did. Ass isn't a bad word. And I was neither hostile nor angry or whatever other adjective you want to use. But you would say that no matter what my tone had been like.

And your post wasn't all flowers and honey either. My reply was perfectly civil and I backed up my original points well. You would have preferred I not respond to your post at all. You sort of gave me one weak empty compliment, not a couple (like you said you did).

And to Scott- cut it out with the zeitgeist crap. No one is listening to you. You posts only make sense to you. Not every war has been fought over religion. You must be in philosophy of religion course right now or something. You sound like a liberal, so aren't you supposed to believe that the current war is being fought over oil? And BTW you never answered my question- I guess you can't.

The rest of you keep missing the point that the AFA is trying to make even though I keep telling you what it is.

Let's go back to the times in life when you didn't have to be politically correct, but were respectful of people who had different views; it was acceptable to believe in God, and we were proud to be Americans. Ho Ho Ho, Merry Christmas! Buy a Chevy! Buy your pet supplies at Rural King!
God Bless America!

Thanks ellie.
If only all Christians could have your gift of tolerance!
" respectful of people who had different views" Right!
"Buy a Chevy!" Yep. Problem solved.

You know, I don't usually care about protecting the phrase, "Merry Christmas". (I don't avoid it either. I'm not that PC.)
But you know something? I think you deserve a . . .
"Merry Christmas, ellie." Sincerely!

Actually... research points to Christ being born in the spring time (The time when shepherds are out tending their flocks), and it was moved to the 25th by the church to gain popularity with the Pagans... and the pagan Yule was the first solstice ceremony held in December...
Not to mention the fact that lights in trees, mistletoe, gifts, the idea of a gift-giving deity who visited people's homes, the birth of a god, and... well... a helluva lot of stuff associated with Christmas comes from the ancient Pagan religions...
But why does it matter? It's a commercial matter - calling something "holiday" instead of "Christmas" is more politically correct, and people get upset about that! I'm a kid, and I'm not Christian, but I live in a Christian home - does that mean I don't get presents? That I can't pick out the tree and decorate it because it's a "Christmas tree" and I celebrate Yule? Or the other way around - if we go to a place selling "Holiday trees" does that mean that I'm the only one able to enjoy it because it's not a Christmas tree?
Dude, it's a tree! Get over it!!

Actually, the pagan comments are more on the mark than Christmas ones. Pagans celebrate Yule on the 21st of Dec., so Christian officials placed the date of Jesus's birth to corelate with the Pagan holiday (just like Easter, which originally was for the Spring Solstice, May Day) but to be specific, the Egyptian goddess Isis gave birth to her son on December 25th, according to Egyptian religion, which was around for oh, 4,000 years. So all of you can SHUT up.

II'm not even Christian, and here's why the "holiday" thing irritates me. First, virtually everybody in America -- around 95%, in the last poll I saw -- celebrates Christmas. It's a cultural holiday as much as it is a religious holiday. It's OK to say the word. Second, all of these companies trot out their commercials filled with things like Santa Claus, families gathered around the tree, and Christmas songs playing in the background, but then the voiceover comes on and says, "This holiday, buy your gifts from us." If you can't say the word, don't use the imagery associated with it. I mean, if these companies think they're trying to avoid offending people, do they seriously think that using Christmas imagery without uttering the dreaded C-word will do the trick? They're trying to have it both ways. It's OK to say the word. It's not Holiday. It's Christmas.

WHY is an organization that purportedly seeks to promote Christianity concerning themselves with how retailers promote their pursuit of accumulating more material possessions?

People are homeless, hungry, sick and without access to medical care and the AFA is worried that Kohl's isn't using the word "Christmas" to make money?? This season is SUPPOSED to be about celebrating the birth of the Savior and all the AFA seems to care about is forcing the corruption of the meaning of Christ's birth.

Jesus COMMANDED that we take care of the less fortunate not use the occasion of his birth to sell material goods.

I believe the AFA has no interest in the true ideals of Christianity AT ALL. They never send out materials urging charity, love or caring for the sick.

In my opinion, they are nothing more than false prophets contributing to the corruption of God's word.

http://AFAnotChristian.blogspot.com

Why do liberals think that I, as a Jewish person, will somewhow be offended by calling a Christmas tree a Christmas tree? Why do they think I'm offended if someone, God forbid, wishes me a Merry Christmas. No matter what religion one practices, America is a Christian country and the most important day on the Christian calendar is Christmas. This is reality. And, so far as I'm concerned, I wish all of my Christian friends a Merry Christmas and hopefully an end to dim wittend political correctness in the New Year.