America’s Longest War is Back: The War on Christmas Returns on a New Front

By Jacob Lane
Thursday, 18 December 2025 04:00 PM EST

Back to your battle stations, anyone with an ounce of Christmas spirit!

The War on Christmas has returned for yet another front, because nothing sends the Grinches into emotional collapse quite like joy, tinsel, and the general happiness of the season.

And don’t even get them started on red and green.

Apparently, those are now weapons of mass destruction to the Axis of Secular Progressivism.

The war on what is, for many of us, the happiest time of the year, creeps earlier every season.

Military families at Tyndall Air Force Base near Panama City, Florida, who found themselves on the receiving end of the Grinch’s special forces.

In mid-November, families were ordered to take down Christmas decorations from their own private residences. Their landlord, Balfour Beatty Communities, sent a notice after a “drive-through” revealed that (brace yourself), Christmas decorations had begun to appear in the neighborhood. The memo scolded residents: “If you currently have Yuletide décor present on the outside of your home, please remove it and reinstall it in accordance with your community guidelines.”

Have these people visited a retail store in the last decade?

Christmas decorations now go up in September, sometimes even before Halloween candy hits shelves.

At least these homeowners waited until the witching season was over!

Instead, homeowners were told to hold off on celebrating until “closer to the holiday season.” But who exactly gets to call that date and decide when joy is socially acceptable? Bureaucrats with SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder)?

Once upon a time, the War on Christmas focused on banning the symbols themselves: Christmas trees, office parties, even the apparently dangerous colors of red and green. Now the battle has shifted to timing.

You’re allowed to celebrate, but only at the approved hour, citizen.

Even when symbols are allowed, we get things like Portland’s recent “tree-lighting ceremony,” during which city officials purposely avoided saying the word “Christmas,” referring to it only as “the tree.”

Surprisingly, it’s not all doom and gloom. After years of backlash from fed-up consumers, more retailers have quietly ditched the bland, more than politically correct “Happy Holidays,” returning to the infinitely warmer, “Merry Christmas.”

In 2023, Nativity scenes were displayed at 43 state capitols across the country, a record number. The tide, it seems, can still turn.

And there’s another bright spot this year: the city of Pataskala, Ohio. Officials there initially banned a live Nativity scene from a Christmas-themed farmers market, even though other forms of expression were freely permitted on the same public green. But after national attention and a lot of common-sense pushback, they reversed course. The live Nativity is back.

None of this should be controversial. Government workers get the day off. Federal buildings close.

So why, exactly, should anything honoring the namesake of that holiday, Jesus Christ, be treated like a constitutional crisis?

If the government can give mail carriers, federal employees and half the country a paid day to celebrate Christmas, it should be able to handle Nativity scenes.

At a time when loneliness and depression are at record highs, why wouldn’t we want the holiday spirit to start a little earlier?

If a twinkling light or a blow-up snowman brings a moment of joy to someone having a rough day, isn’t that worth it?

Politicians of every stripe can’t stop talking about America’s mental health crisis. This season is literally the one time of year when we’re reminded to be good to one another.

Instead of going after snowmen in people’s yards or Nativity scenes on the town green, let people enjoy something for once.

In the end, the War on Christmas isn’t about lights, Nativity scenes or whether your inflatable snowman appears on November 1st or December 15th. It’s about whether a small minority gets to dictate when and how the rest of us experience joy.

Frankly, America has enough real problems without self-appointed cultural hall monitors policing holiday cheer.

Christmas has survived empires, wars, recessions, pandemics and more than a few HOA (Home Owners Association) board members. Honoring the birth of Jesus Christ will survive this nonsense as well.

So, hang your lights when you want, crank up the carols and say and sing “Merry Christmas” without apologizing!

Because one truth remains stubbornly undefeated . . .

Jacob Lane is a Republican strategist and school choice activist. He’s worked for GOP campaigns at the federal, state, and local levels. He’s also worked with various PACs and nonprofits.