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Merry 'Christmas'

10:37 PM PST on Friday, December 23, 2005

It's a "Christmas" tree again in Washington, D.C., and Sacramento. But it's a "holiday tree" in Auburn and San Bernardino. People get so worked up over a designation. But small gestures serve large purposes -- like reminding people that Dec. 25 should be more than just another day off.

When ex-Gov. Gray Davis rechristened the Capitol's 56-foot white fir a "holiday tree" in 1999, the official explanation for the change was that the name "more accurately symbolizes the diversity of what the holidays are in California, be that Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, solstice, Christmas, whatever."

But "happy whatever" does not trip off the tongue quite as easily as "Merry Christmas," so Gov. Schwarzenegger changed the name back last year.

Yet these stories will not die. It seems like every year the ACLU threatens to sue a city over its nativity scene, or a school bans even the vaguest of religious references from its "Winter Pageant." The twist this year is that certain Christian groups are pushing back, vowing to boycott any store that eschews "Merry Christmas" for "Happy Holidays."

The goal is not to put the "Christ" back in "Christmas sale" but to call the holiday what it is, without shame or suspicion. Finally, people have grown tired of doing the Christmas chicken dance.

While it may be possible that a handful of druids descended on the shopping malls to pick up gifts for this year's solstice, the vast majority of the people thronging stores today are buying gifts intended for Dec. 25, a date almost universally recognized as Christmas Day.

It's Christmas. Most Americans celebrate it -- happily. Some people do not, but that's fine, too.

One year ago in this space, we affirmed the admirable religious diversity of the American people. Our religious liberty sets us apart from much of the world. But why should that make Christmas controversial?

Inclusiveness is a great value to celebrate, but this is getting out of hand. Holidays -- religious and secular -- matter because they celebrate the very ideals and traditions that inspire people to affirm their common humanity. A culture that purges its public life of any reference to religion, however historical or joyous, risks losing a valuable part of what made it great to begin with.

So have a "Merry Christmas" and a "happy holiday