OTHER VOICES: Could Christmas make a comeback this year?

Could Christmas make a comeback? A number of years ago, Christmas was eliminated from school calendars all across the country. Most people thought it must have been as a result of one of those anti-religion court rulings that have become commonplace in recent years ... but the dirty little secret is that it was just the work of local school administrators who are uncomfortable with all things Christian.

In some places ordinary citizens have been effective in changing the school calendar references from "Winter Holiday" or some other secular term back to "Christmas." As it turns out, the changes in terms were generally not made with the benefit of a public hearing or even school board approval and that is a no-no when the official name of the holiday is Christmas according to the U.S. Congress and every state legislature in the nation.

In recent years, Americans have been pushing back against the trashing of both religion and American traditions by forcing some major retailers into selling "Christmas Trees" instead of "Holiday Trees" and wishing their customers who say "Merry Christmas" a "Merry Christmas" back instead of the secular "Happy Holidays." It is relatively easy to persuade retailers that have to compete for the consumers' dollars but a bit less so with school districts that are not subject to competitive pressures.

And what about cities? Did some nameless administrator decide that "Holiday Trees" and "Holiday Sing-a-Longs" should replace Christmas trees
and Christmas sing-a-longs? Who banned "Silent Night" and "Hark the Herald Angels Sing?" It probably wasn't anyone who had to face the voters.

As for me, every year I enjoy San Jose's traditional Christmas in the Park. It has survived attempts to change its name and is a terrific way to spend a brisk winter's night celebrating that holiday that comes toward the end of December.

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Ed Riffle is a small business owner and writer and co-publisher of OurLittleCornfield.com, an Internet-based comic strip.