You don't have to celebrate Christmas to love this time of year

If you went to India, you wouldn't expect Indians to downplay Diwali, if you were in Israel you wouldn't expect the authorities to ban public Hanukkah lighting, so why do officials in Britain and America where over 80% of the population are Christian feel the need to ban any public commemoration of Christmas?

There seem to be two forces at play here. First there are the do-gooders, like the official of Riverside, California who told the local high school choir not to sing Christmas carols during an ice skating show featuring Olympic medalist Sasha Cohen -- out of concern the skater might be offended because she's Jewish. And then there are the secularists, who are offended by any public display of religion, and who refuse to send out cards that say "Merry Christmas".

I'm not a Christian and I don't celebrate Christmas, but I love the atmosphere of goodwill, the decorations, the festive banter, and the fact that for one day of the year, the entire country shuts down.

So why can't all you killjoys do everyone a favour and lay off Christmas!