Around this time each year, you may see the words: “Keep Christ in Christmas” scrawled across the bumpers of cars. This motto is the rallying cry for those who believe in the “War on Christmas”, that Christmas is shrinking away in a secular country.

There are many people who feel Christmas must be first, a lot of them encouraging saying “Merry Christmas” instead of “Happy Holidays”. Some big supporters of this include Bill O’Reilly, the Knights of Columbus and our President-elect Donald Trump.

With the yearly Starbucks unveiling of a secular “Holiday Cup” the tension seems to mount even more.            All these things make one ask where to draw the line.

I don’t see a war on Christmas, or my God for that matter. I am a Christian, growing up in a secular home that celebrated Christmas.

With people saying others are trying to kill Christmas, I find it hard to see that when there is a nativity on our town common, next to our town Christmas tree with a mall Santa greeting kids from November to Christmas.

“Happy Holidays” is a safe and welcoming greeting of the season that can be said to anyone, whether they celebrate Christmas or not, and I am all for the use of it.

This being said, a line must be drawn. It must be that the season isn’t Christianized without being unfair to those of us who do celebrate Christmas.

If I say “Merry Christmas” to friends and I am immediately corrected for not being politically correct, I feel a little unwelcome. I’m not trying to convert, only trying to wish someone the joy and peace of the specific holiday.

Think about it, would I have been corrected if I had said: “Happy Hanukkah”?

I say this not to the exclusion of anyone else’s faith, as long as we enjoy each of our celebrations together, without stepping on the toes of others, we can all have “Happy Holidays.”