In the old days, it was not called the Holiday Season; the Christians called it “Christmas” and went to church; the Jews called it “Hanukkah” and went to synagogue; the atheists went to parties and drank. People passing each other on the street would say ‘Merry Christmas!’ or ‘Happy Hanukkah!’ or (to the atheists) ‘Look out for the wall!’ - Dave Barry
People are always divided with regards to the celebration of Christmas season. For some, it is a matter of ensuring that everyone in America has the freedom to practice their own religion (or no religion) and to keep the government out of religion. For some, it is a matter of seasonal sensitivity.
America has grown more diverse and many people get offended when someone shows expressions of love, joy, peace, or greets them “Merry Christmas” wishes. So, the traditional greeting was replaced by “Happy Holidays” and many Christmas trees are now called either Holiday trees or Family trees. Even in the schools, holiday decorations have been banned and teachers are prohibited to say “Christmas”.
The fact that atheists view Christmas with disdain is not astonishing, since they’ve attempted to remove the phrase “under God” from the Pledge of Allegiance and “In God we trust” from U.S. currency, as well as Ten Commandments displays from numerous publicly owned places. But today, most Americans think Christ is fading from the Christmas picture. Christmas has simply become a season of shopping, not for other people but mostly for themselves.
Since in the 1820’s to the 1840’s when sweet shops in New York City started having Christmas sales and many stores began to advertise themselves as Santa Claus’ headquarters, Christmas has always been a holiday celebrated carelessly. So sacred is the American holiday-shopping season that Franklin Roosevelt officially moved Thanksgiving one week earlier to give retailers an edge.
Since then the commercial holiday officially begins with a mad shopping spree on the Friday after Thanksgiving. Many stores open early (even at four o’clock in the morning) so people can have more time to spend money, which they always do. Christmas is certainly the biggest shopping season of the year, with almost sacred significance in U.S. culture.