Merry Christmas, Dammit!

Is it just me, or is it a little incongruous for there to be an enormous "Holiday Tree" in Daley Plaza next to a life-size manger? Never one to hew to politically correct "values", and certainly nothing more than a recovering Catholic and not a practicing one, but I've just about had it with the PC-ization of Christmas. Judging by an article in this week's Crain's Chicago Business, I'm not alone.

Now I'm not one to readily ever agree with the Christian right, who, as the article notes, have instigated much of the pushback on Christmas terminology, and I certainly celebrate a purely secular Christmas. But no one would think of calling a menorah a "holiday candelabra" or asking a Muslim to supplant Ramadan Kareem with "best wishes skipping food during daylight hours". And last time I checked, Hallmark is still retailing "Happy Kwanzaa" cards. So how is it fair for the PC Police to expect those who celebrate Christmas, whether a religious Christmas or a secular Christmas, to do so on the Down Low?

Bing Crosby and misplaced multicultural sensitivity be damned. Where the heck is my cultural sensitivity? I celebrate Christmas. I put up a Christmas tree. I sing Christmas carols. And, dammit, I tell people "Merry Christmas."

Do you have any idea how hard it is this year to find a Christmas card that says "Merry Christmas"? I mean, for Christ's sake (literally), perusing Field's, and Carson's, and Target, every card that held the promise of the traditional terminology inside, every card that had a Santa, or a Christmas tree, or even a baby Jesus, said something on the order of, "Hoping whatever holiday tradition you celebrate, if you celebrate one, is one you enjoy this year". Give me a break.

I look forward to sharing my Jewish friends' coconut macaroons during Chanukkah. I wouldn't dare eat them or anything else in front of my Muslim friends at Ramadan. And they don't expect me to celebrate my holiday traditions quietly. So why does the holier-than-though PC set expect me to? Sometimes PC goes way too far.

So, to the PC Police out there, Best Wishes for a Happy Holiday. Now get lost.

And to everyone else, a Very Merry Christmas. Feel free to interpret that however you want :-)