By the time you have opened this article, Christmas has passed and 2017 is upon us. All throughout this holiday season, there was been a vicious war designed to make Americans forget Christmas exists. The use of the word Christmas has been in decline with the use of "holidays" in its place according to President-elect Donald Trump. This is inherently wrong and is an attack on Christianity at its core. Right?

Are. You. Kidding. Me. Has Christmas disappeared? Does no one celebrate it anymore? If you need me to answer that, then you need to have your head checked.

I'm Republican to the core, but this "War on Christmas" has got to be the stupidest thing that has ever been perpetuated by the right. First of all, the claim that the phrase "Merry Christmas" is being diminished is just false. An analysis of four years of Twitter data — more than 400 million tweets — by NBC News with linguistic and geography researchers from the University of South Carolina and Aston University found usage of "Merry Christmas" still common, especially in areas that were key to Trump's primary and general election wins. In many cities won by Democrats, "Happy Holidays" is said more frequently, though it is still generally said less than "Merry Christmas."

Regardless, is it so wrong to use an umbrella term to encompass the different holidays celebrated by millions of Americans around this time of the year? I still remember the Starbucks controversy, when Starbucks cups suddenly didn't have Christmas decorations on them and were instead just minimalist red. I was appalled as I watched FOX News turn that change into a big deal. Not all Americans are Christians; I'm not. Why does it offend so many of my fellow Republicans so much?

One argument is that America is inherently a Christian nation because the settlers that founded it were Christian. Well, they must have also been cruel and unfair Christians because they killed and subjugated thousands of American Indians, enslaved millions of Africans, hunted the bison to near extinction, and believed in the inferiority of women.

Another argument is that using "Happy Holidays" is just an example of overreaching political correctness. No. Political correctness is a phenomenon in which a phrase is deemed "offensive" because it sugarcoats or attempts to hide the true meaning of a word -- for example, the use of "undocumented immigrant" vs. "illegal immigrant." There is no grey area; someone is either an illegal immigrant or a legal one. Calling them undocumented only attempts to legitimize them. Meanwhile, "Happy Holidays" is just a term that can be used to show our goodwill and holiday spirit to those who many not necessarily celebrate Christmas. To put this in perspective, it would be erroneous if I called everyone from Asia "Chinese" because there are many people from Asia who are not Chinese. Therefore, it would be wise to call someone from Asia "Asian" if you are unsure of their ethnicity. It's just an umbrella term.

Overall, this is just one of those things that boggles my mind. Year after year, the "War on Christmas" comes up. When will conservatives get their heads out of their arses and just accept the fact that other holidays besides Christmas exist?