You know, I’m a simple woman with simple needs. Can someone just tell me once and for all if I’m supposed to get mad over bogus PC expressions like “Happy holidays” and “Season’s greetings” or not?

Things like this (via Orthodixie) try to tell us to be good with, y’know, whatever, and not to let skunks like Bill O’Reilly call the shots. Certainly not when we could be letting the LA Times call the shots instead:

The Who Christians will think that they fight the good fight,
They won’t know that they’re puppets of the Fox-ville Far Right.
They’ll forget all that DRIVEL about faith, hope and LOVE
And say ‘Merry Christmas’ with a sneer and a shove.

And this New York Times story tries to somehow say that Christians who want to hear “Merry Christmas” are promoting a more commercialized Christmas. What? Don’t ask me, I couldn’t follow it either. One minute they were going along about the holiday not being celebrated by Puritans (memo to NYT: the only ones who think that Christians identify strongly with the Puritans are non-Christians), and then … I don’t know, they just couldn’t stand it anymore and spent the last couple paragraphs trash-talking poor old Bill O’Reilly again as if he’s to blame for a decades-old fight:

The Christmas that Mr. O’Reilly and his allies are promoting — one closely aligned with retailers, with a smack-down attitude toward nonobservers — fits with their campaign to make America more like a theocracy, with Christian displays on public property and Christian prayer in public schools.

It does not, however, appear to be catching on with the public. That may be because most Americans do not recognize this commercialized, mean-spirited Christmas as their own.

Wellll, yes and no. I don’t care for the New York Times suddenly adopting the role of Bible camp counselor, though they’re certainly entitled to their opinion. And the fact is, I’m not a great fan of Bill O’Reilly and have wished he wouldn’t treat this like another chance to show that he’s “looking out for us” — whatever that means.

But it seems a little ungracious to get mad at him — or Sean Hannity or Mel Gibson or any of the other high-profile crusaders who have seen fit to make a stink out of this — as if Christians haven’t been agitating about it for a long time. I don’t know how much credit those guys deserve, but the fact is, this is the first time I remember in years that I have had folks at the store wish me a merry Christmas.

And I like it. It makes my heart happy. I don’t think that by saying that they are saying, “Jesus Christ is our Lord and King — He is born in my heart and I glorify Him with you!” On the other hand, neither are they saying, “Happy, y’know, nothing whatsoever. Unless you don’t even want one of those, in which case, I support you and live in fear of your wrath.”

I suppose I still remember many unhappy Advent seasons working as an artist for various newspapers when I would be told to remove the dreaded “M**** C********” from ads not because the sales rep objected, or the client objected, but because somebody thought that somebody might object. Yes, I did console myself by thinking that maybe having the name of the festival on an advertisement wasn’t appropriate, but in having to remove it wherever it occurred — and worse, in eventually getting to the place where I censored it without being told — I never could rid myself of the idea that I was participating in the slow elimination of religious expression everywhere. Ads aren’t evangelical tools, but whatever they are, they’re a totally common part of our culture, and the only other things that are eliminated from ads are things that are deemed unfit, unwholesome and morally repugnant.

So I guess I kind of love if it is finally okay to say “Merry Christmas” again. I wouldn’t boycott a store over it if they didn’t, but unlike some who have commented, I don’t think I would be upset if I lived in a different country and there was a common seasonal greeting that didn’t reflect my beliefs. Neither do I think I would have a huge problem with the expression if I were Jewish and living here.

So … Merry Christmas, everyone! Seriously!