The War on Christmas Has Begun

Rather, the war on the war on Christmas started last night on, predictably enough, The O'Reilly Fraction, on which the host browbeat some poor atheist and called him a "fascist" and so on. O'Reilly can be relied on every late November/early December to return to his fantasty of liberalism's "war on Christmas."

I wonder what O'Reilly says to his Jewish friends. He must have some. Does he force a wish of Merry Christmas upon them? Or does he in fact respect the idea that they don't celebrate the holiday and say something else to them? Or does he avoid them altogether?

Personally, I like Christmas, in, I confess, all its secular manifestations. My Guardian faithful will recall the posts about cooking a Christmas goose, which my brother-in-law Jon and I pulled off rather stupendously two years ago, along with a delectable wild-rice stuffing of my creation. I like the music. Just earlier today I was humming "It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas," which was written in 1952 by the great Meredith Willson, who also wrote what might be my favorite musical, The Music Man. I like the decorations. I even like going to the malls during the season. I'm a cornball and a sentimentalist.

At the same time, I'm a foot soldier in the war on Christmas, because I know that while whistling Meredith Willson Christmas songs suits me, it doesn't suit a lot of people, and to each his or her own. I wonder if the war on the war on Christmas will intensify this year, in this season right after Obama's reelection, with O'Reilly's America coming face-to-face with the reality that is not their country anymore. Obama voters, blacks, browns, gays, non-Jesus people...we're takin' over, Bill. By 2017, "Happy Holidays and Peace on Earth" will be the only seasonal greeting Americans will be permitted, via presidential executive order, if all goes to plan.