Betsy Hart: Merry something day, everyone!

The beautiful 70-foot pine tree that adorns the lawn of the Capitol, which is put up at this time every year, is covered in bright lights and decorations and has its own special lighting ceremony, is officially called (drum roll please) the "Capitol Holiday Tree."

Seriously. I confirmed it with the office of the Architect of the Capitol.

To date, at the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue, we still have White House and National "Christmas" trees -- but that can't last for long. Sigh.

This has really gone too far.

In a current commercial for a pet store, a woman is "spoiling" her new puppy. She's buying him all sorts of little doggie gifts. Her husband admonishes her, and her reply? But honey, "it's his first holiday!"

First "holiday?" What, Halloween?

No she is, of course, talking about "that which must not be named" -- Christmas.

I'm not referring to local governments, which feel they have to evict creches from public property. That's old news. I'm talking about everyday citizens going about their business, making all sorts of preparations for the celebration of Christmas, and being terrified to use the word.

Just wait for a store clerk, one to whom you've just presented your mounds of Christmas wreathes, Christmas decorations, Christmas ornaments or Christmas gifts for purchase, to wish you a "Merry Christmas." You'll be there until the next "holiday" season. That's because many stores instruct their employees to wish customers "happy holidays," thereby implicitly, and sometimes overtly, making clear that "Merry Christmas" is. .. . VERBOTEN.

Or, see what happens if you do say "Merry Christmas" in response to "happy holidays" sometime. The younger clerks will look terrified, as if to say "shhhh, don't you know that's not allowed! You're going to get us both in trouble!" The older ones will often look relieved and sometimes quietly wish you "Merry Christmas" in return. I've even had store clerks say on the sly, "thank you for saying that." Why? What am I, a freedom fighter or something?

My local radio station has already started playing songs like "White Christmas," "Merry Christmas Darling," "I'll be Home for Christmas," "Christmas Time is Here," and they call it, "Holiday music 24-hours a day." Holiday? What holiday? They are not playing Hanukkah songs, they are not playing Thanksgiving songs -- they are playing Christmas music.

You will notice "Happy Holidays" and "Season's Greetings" all around you -- enveloped in Christmas wreathes, Christmas garlanding, Christmas trees and Christmas decorations, of course. In offices, grocery stores, in what used to be Christmas cards, in public service announcements, it's everywhere.

What you will only very rarely find, outside of some churches, is "Christmas."

The folks behind all this must love Scrooge (before his reform). Remember him? "If I had my way every fool who goes around with 'Merry Christmas' on his lips would be boiled in his own pudding and buried with a stake of holly through his heart!" That summarizes things, all right.

Bah, humbug.

I know, I've written about this before. But clearly, it hasn't done much good. The problem is getting worse than ever.

So this year I'm starting right after Thanksgiving, and asking again, what is all this for? Ramadan is over, and while many Jews celebrate Hanukkah, the most significant Jewish holy days are in the spring and fall (Passover, Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur). So if "happy holidays" actually had something to do with making those of other religions more comfortable, we'd be full of "happy holidays" all through the year.

But it's clear: This is an attack on "that which must not be named" -- Christmas.

I mean, Dec. 25th is even officially recognized -- for now -- by the federal government as "Christmas Day." So, what's so tolerant about not tolerating that?

Nobody gets offended at "Happy Thanksgiving," "Happy New Year," or for that matter "happy birthday." I wish my Jewish friends a "good year" at Rosh Hashanah and they wish me a "Merry Christmas" in turn. And why not? Even most secular-minded folks readily admit that a historical figure named Jesus walked the Earth. Well, this is when we celebrate His birthday.

That's the crux of this nonsense -- we're celebrating Christmas, but not admitting it. That's why we have the silliness of a "Capitol Holiday Tree," when only Christmas has the tradition of decorating pine trees.

If the folks behind "happy holidays" want to launch an assault on Christmas, they should have the guts to be open about it and try to get rid of the whole thing outright.

In the meantime, Merry Christmas.

Betsy Hart, a frequent commentator on CNN and the Fox News Channel, can be reached by e-mail at: mailtohart@aol.com.