When Did Christmas Become a Four Letter Word?

I am in the mood to rant and rave a little and Kim is in bed already so you, my blogging public, are the lucky recipients of my tirade. I made it 37 minutes into this week's Real Simple. Real Life. (the new show from Real Simple magazine, my favorite subscription) before I noticed something unusual. The show is a holiday edition, helping one woman in California streamline her Christmas routine, everything from her menu and cooking plan down to her living room decor. My kind of show, right? Back to my tirade. 37 minutes into this show and it is OBVIOUS that the woman is celebrating Christmas. She has those creepy little Annalee dolls all over the place. Tiny little devious looking Santas and elves just ready to terrify some poor child, ahem, thirty year old... (Sorry Mom. They're just plain creepy.) And yet, has the word "Christmas" been uttered a single time? Good heavens, no! Apparently, the producers of this show are terrified of offending people by acknowledging that this woman is celebrating Christmas. Now I ask you: on the off chance a Jewish person or Muslim wanted to sit through 37 minutes of televised Christmas preparations (and when I put it like that, I wonder why I did) would it be horribly offensive to hear the word "Christmas?"

I'm not on a "Let's put Christ Back in Christmas" campaign or anything. Not that I think it is a terrible idea, for the record, but who am I to dictate what anyone else should do religiously? But if we can all feel comfortable wishing our neighbors a happy Hanukkah or a Happy EID, why are we so nervous about saying "Merry Christmas" when the house is covered in Christmas lights and you can see a tree through the front window? And even if we're wrong, is it so wrong to wish someone a happy day even if it isn't a holiday they actively celebrate? I hope that my Hanukkah is great even though I am not lighting a menorah and also I hope Kwanzaa is splendid. Just like I hope Wednesday and Friday are great too! No one is going to offend me by wishing me a happy Veteran's Day even though I haven't served in the armed forces. Can we really be harming anyone by spreading goodwill?

So no, I won't be sitting through the other 23 minutes. I already have seen enough to know that I am too irritated to wait it out and that my food processor should be replaced with a 7 cup capacity Kitchen Aid one.