***DISCLAIMER*** This post is not directed at one particular person. I am not frustrated wtih one particular person. If you disagree with me in this area and are vocal about it, that's fine. We can still be friends. I just want to give an opinion on this issue that's different from most Christians' I've heard. If you're reading this, chances are I love you and ( hopefully ) you know it.

I want to talk about something that has mildly annoyed me through the entire month of December for the last 3 or 4 years, and that is:

"Boycott Lowe's!! They're selling 'family trees'!!"

"If your supermarket cashier says happy holidays, give him a snub look up and down and belt out MERRY CHRISTMAS for all to hear!"

"Send a Christmas card to the ACLU! It will make them mad!"

And, dare I say it. . ."Let's put CHRIST back in CHRISTmas!!!"

You guys all get (and send) the email forwards calling for a rise of Christians to defend the origins of America's favorite holiday from the forces of secularism and Jack Frost and remind the whole entire world that Christmas (and, as a matter of fact, the entire month of December) is for celebrating Baby Jesus' birthday.

Here's the deal: I agree with you 100% on why we should celebrate Christmas. My house has more nativity scenes than a gift shop in Bethlehem and nobody ever says Happy Holidays. And when I hear about holiday trees and watch Elf (which says Christmas is about warm fuzzies and candy canes) it makes me a little bit sad.

But I'm tired of constantly being called to be militant about forcing America to put CHRIST back in CHRISTmas. Why? Because for the most part, the people targeted by these email forwards and blog posts haven’t put Christ in any other part of their lives. Why should we expect a decidedly non-Christian culture to celebrate the birth of someone who they don’t care about? It would be like Buddhists getting mad at us for not sitting in the lotus position for twenty minutes on Buddha’s birthday.

I know nativity scenes and "Merry Christmas" are part of our cultural tradition. But—dare I say it—they’re a hypocritical part. I’m all for Christians whipping out the nativity scenes on the weekend after Thanksgiving and preferring Joy to the World to Jingle Bells Rock. But why do we expect non-Christians to celebrate the holiday the same way?

It’s our holiday. It has beautiful, powerful, compelling significance to Christians. You could take away all the Santa Claus figurines and power grid-melting light displays and long lines at the mall, and not diminish my love for Christmas one bit.

But that’s what the world’s version of the holiday season is about. Why do we want them to treat it the same way we do? We’re begging them to be hypocritical.

If Home Depot thinks it can make more sales by calling them Holiday Trees or Hanukkah Bushes, so be it.

If the ACLU gets the nativity scene out from in front of town hall, so be it.

And if your poor skinny pants-too-big grocery bagger dares commit the mortal sin of hoping your holidays are happy, I would recommend you smile, count to ten in your head, and walk away.

Guys, it’s not their holiday. It’s ours. They can’t ruin it. If anything, they can help define glow-in-the-dark santas and Super Duper Raindeer Pooper candy dispensers as Holiday decorations – not as Christmas.

I’m being a bit audacious here, but I’m not convinced Jesus would want us to celebrate his birthday by boycotting stores owned by non-Christians that didn’t.