Take Me To Post Comment Form Every year, retailers, municipalities, and people begin celebrating Christmas earlier and earlier. This year, the Walmart in Winder began putting out Christmas merchandise a week and a half before Halloween. Many of my neighbors put up their Christmas decorations a week after Halloween. Today, 11-19-11, The City of Auburn will have its Lighting of the Christmas Tree Celebration, the weekend before Thanksgiving. Companies began putting out their Black Friday ads the Tuesday after Halloween.

It's no wonder why people have stopped saying "Merry Christmas," and now say, "Happy Holidays!" or "Seasons Greetings." In fact, many people look at you suspiciously if you even dare utter the phrase, "Merry Christmas."

Growing up, you never saw anyone putting out Christmas decorations before Thanksgiving. Many malls would have their maintenance staff work late the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, and come in Thanksgiving Night in order to put up the Christmas decorations and the Santa Photo Scene. You never heard Christmas Carols playing over the loudspeakers until "Black Friday."

My personal thoughts to the City of Auburn, Walmart, and all those others who are ignoring Thanksgiving, perhaps you should go ahead and work Thanksgiving week as if it were a regular day. It's obvious to me that you don't find Thanksgiving to be a holiday. If you are skipping it, then why are you taking the days off and allowing your employees to be off?

My family and I have a simple rule. If you as a business begin decorating for Christmas before Thanksgiving, you don't get my dollar. To my friends and neighbors who decorate before Thanksgiving, I'll speak with you after Thanksgiving.

Perhaps though, this is the reason for the "Happy Holidays!" and "Seasons Greetings," these people just combine the holidays of Christmas and Thanksgiving. If that's the case, even more of a reason to go elsewhere with your business. It's just laziness on that person's part to be combining holidays. If you are going to do that, just go ahead and roll them all into one, why distinguish New Years Day from St Patrick's Day, Easter from Halloween, or Cinco de Mayo from The 4th of July.

If you're one of those who claim to be "Atheist," and get offended by someone saying, "Merry Christmas," calling a tree a Christmas Tree, or seeing the word Christmas, get over yourself. A jewish friend of mine once told me, "in order for someone to be truelly Atheist, they must have the answers to everything in the universe. Simply because, an Atheist cannot say God only knows."