"Merry Christmas" made a significant comeback in 2005.

After suffering years of politically correct exile, that joyous greeting, "Merry Christmas," made a significant and salutary comeback in 2005. The U.S. House of Representatives, which in the 1990s had begun calling the Capitol Christmas tree a "Holiday Tree," finally went back to calling it the "Capitol Christmas Tree."

The trend for years among commercial giants such as Wal-Mart, Sears, Costco, Target, Best Buy, and Home Depot has been to abandon "Merry Christmas" signs and advertisements for secularized expressions that proclaim "Happy Holidays" or "Season's Greetings." A common excuse given for banishing public mention of Christmas from the marketplace is the fear of offending atheists, Muslims, Jews, Hindus, and other non-Christians. However, many of the same stores that have problems with reference to Christmas don't seem to have problems with displays and signs that say "Happy Kwanzaa" or "Happy Hanukkah."

During the 2005 Christmas season, however, the big retailers heard from many shoppers who are offended by their snub to this sacred Christian celebration. Organized efforts by the American Family Association, the Liberty Counsel, the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, FOX TV's Bill O'Reilly, and others started a snowball effect that was felt by many of the "big box" stores. Lowe's, which operates 1,175 home furnishing and builder's supply stores nationwide, quickly changed its "holiday trees" signs to "Christmas trees" after hearing from disgruntled customers. "We wanted to call a Christmas tree what it is," Lowe's spokeswoman Chris Ahearn told reporters in explaining the store's reversal. Other retailers who got the Christmas message included Federated Department Stores--owner of Macy's and Bloomingdale's--Sears, Panera restaurants, and Dillard's department stores.