Holidays are a time of celebration, no matter your tradition

The holiday season is my favorite time of year. Nothing gets me excited like getting to spend time with my family.

But holidays, especially Christmas and Halloween, have become a contentious topic nowadays. When people are getting their kids ready for Halloween, some Christians are decrying Halloween as "satanic" and encouraging "Jesus-ween."

Then Christmas rolls around and religious folks start crying about the "War on Christmas" and that the commercialism is destroying this uniquely Christian holiday.

I have one thing to say about that: crap.

First of all, let me address the whole "Jesus-ween" thing. These are people that are handing out tracts and Bibles to kids when they're coming to the house trick-or-treating. Ever hear the phrase, "Taking candy from a baby?" That's kind of what they're doing.

I would be upset if someone was baiting and switching my kids when they expected candy. It doesn't matter whether I agree with the religion or not, it's cruel to the kid who expects candy and gets a Chick tract.

Now, I have no problem with the "harvest festivals" that a lot of churches put on for their kids. I hear a lot of people mocking that practice, mostly with, "It looks like Halloween and it sounds like Halloween, so it's probably actually Halloween."

While that's a good point, I don't have a problem with taking a holiday time and making your own traditions for it.

The misinformation and lies that prompt that decision are a completely different topic, though.

Now that that's out of the way, let's talk about Christmas. Christmas has ended up as a controversial holiday, which is dumb. Ostensibly, this should be a time of year when everyone can find something to latch onto to share with people.

Unfortunately, this hasn't happened. Christians are yelling about the so-called "War on Christmas." They are insisting that the "true" purpose of Christmas has been lost. What is the true purpose, you ask? Well, of course it's the birth of Jesus.

Because everyone knows that Christmas was originally the celebration of Jesus' birthday. You can see it right in the Bible…umm, hang on a sec…let me find it.

Oops, it's not there at all.

No matter, of course, that the rituals associated with Christmas were established long before the birth of Jesus. Never mind that most of the holiday traditions that come along with it are completely Pagan.

Never mind that the Roman emperor Constantine grafted Christian symbols into the winter solstice celebrations to make it easier for Pagans and Christians to get along.

Now, don't get me wrong. There is absolutely nothing wrong with using an existing holiday time (Christmas) to celebrate your own holiday, with your own traditions (winter solstice). That's exactly what Constantine was trying to do. That's what harvest festivals are all about.

The bottom line is that everyone needs holidays. They give people a chance to unwind, spend time with family and just get away from the daily grind of work.

Whether you celebrate the solstices or All Saints' Day, or you just go with Christmas, Easter and Independence Day, it doesn't matter. Every single culture in the world has created holidays – some of them have been bastardized from the holidays of other cultures, and some traditions stretch back into antiquity.

America herself was created with the aspect of a "melting pot" – we accept all cultures. We are a free nation and take pride in ourselves as such.

Well, freedom means that you don't get to hijack someone else's holiday because you want to shove your ideology down their throat. Freedom means that if you want to run "harvest festivals" instead of Halloween, you're welcome to.

Freedom means that if you celebrate the full moon every month, no one gets to stop you. Freedom means that the Christmas season means lots of things to lots of people, and no one – no one – gets to tell anyone else that their tradition is wrong.

The golden door is still here, though slightly tarnished, and the lamp, though dimmed slightly, still flames. We still want the tired, the poor and the huddled masses. And you know what? We want them to keep their holidays, too.