Now what holiday exactly would that be?

Our local suburb, Upper Arlington, is about as lily white and predominantly Christian as a town could get and not be lodged in the 1950s, but we have an "Upper Arlington Winter Festival and Community Holiday Tree Lighting Ceremony" sponsored by the city. Whenever I see that, I ask myself, "What holiday exactly?" Turkey Day? Halloween? Ground Hog Day? MLK Day? Of course not. Everyone knows it is Christmas, but our city fathers (and one or two mothers) don't want to offend anyone--not even Christians who probably think the consumerism is totally out of hand. They don't light the Christmas tree, it's a holiday tree. They just aren't honest, and I think they should just drop all the happy, clappy, let's-all-just-get-along nonsense, forget about the birth of a Savior, the reason it is a joyous time, and go shopping. If it is offensive to use the word Christmas, then it is just a slap in the face to believers to play games with a religious observance. Please don't remind me that the Christmas tree has pagan origins--everyone knows that. All Christian holidays have pagan symbols--it was good marketing in the early days for mass conversions. That doesn't mean we are ready to give it back to the 21st century pagans.

http://www.markdroberts.com/htmfiles/resources/christmastree.htm
USAToday had a similar problem yesterday with an article about a shortage of retail help for "the season." Here's the euphemisms in just one short article:

holiday season

holiday challenges

holiday marketing

holiday jobs

seasonal hires

holiday hiring

during the holidays

holiday cheer

seasonal workers

holiday season employees

holiday workers

However, when push came to shove, USAToday had to use the dreaded word, "Christmas," because of the phrase, "would get Christmas day off," and "Christmas Eve." It's really hard to get around it by saying the workers would get "the holiday" off, or would have to work "holiday eve." Sounds about as goofy as leaving Christmas out of the holiday season, doesn't it?