Holiday Tree?

This post is a bit of a departure from the posts of late, because I'm not going to be talking about federal politics. Instead I want to deal with the issue of what to call a Christmas tree.

In Quebec there was an incident with the Premier's office. They sent out a press release referring to the legislature Christmas tree as a Christmas tree but soon retracted that statement and called it a 'holiday tree'. This is totally absurd and actually kind of offensive for the people that don't celebrate Christmas. I'm a Jew and I don't have a Christmas tree or a holiday tree. These politicians are trying to be overly politically correct by calling their tree a holiday tree. This is a quote from the CBC article about the incident:

We must respect culture, we must be open to the world," said Natural Resources Minister Claude Béchard. "We are an inclusive society here in Quebec. For me, it's a Christmas tree but to others it's a holiday tree.

What others? I don't know anyone that does not celebrate Christmas that has a tree. That's because only people that celebrate Christmas have trees. I recognize that there may be people out there that are not Christians that have trees, but they are not celebrating some other holiday with a Christmas tree, they are celebrating Christmas. I don't celebrate Chanukah with a Christmas tree.

The other thing about this that really bothers me is that why do I have to be included with the holiday tree? Holidays are great, and the people that celebrate Christmas should be happy that they do and should be happy that their government is lighting a tree that signifies their beliefs. All the other religions are in the minority in Canada and we all need to recognize that there are a majority of Christians and that they should be able to light the tree at the legislature. In Winnipeg there is also the lighting of the Menorah at city hall, do we have to start calling it a holiday candelabra?

To me this is all political correctness gone all wrong, it happens every year and it get more annoying every year. Call it a Christmas tree, that is what it is. Happy Holidays to everyone who is celebrating something, and happy December to the rest!