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[Paul]

What's the deal with the fear of Christmas these days? I'm not sure if it's an extreme case of stupidity/political correctness, some kind of hate for Christmas and what it stands for, or what - but companies seem to be trying to remove all mention of Christmas in favor of a generic "Holiday". Only it only seems to be targeting Christmas, not other holidays.

And before you say anything, no - it's not simply an attempt to include everyone. Because they stick the "Holiday" label on things that are specifically Christmas traditions, and leave the appropriate label on other things.

Example: Some places now sell Holiday Trees, Holiday Stockings, Holiday Cards with Christmas themed images on them, etc. The same stores still sell Hanukkah and Kwanzaa stuff labeled as stuff for Hanukkah and Kwanzaa, but the Christmas stuff is simply labeled as Holidays. Merry Christmas is being replaced with Happy Holidays, despite Happy Hanukkah and Happy Kwanzaa still being used. I have even seen signs that said all three of those, but mysteriously left out Merry Christmas. Do they hate the word Merry and thought Happy Christmas sounded weird?

Celebrate the Holidays with your Holiday Tree! Wait, what holidays? We still have the stuff for Hanukkah and Kwanzaa separate, so what other holiday am I celebrating with a "holiday tree"? I just don't get it.

Since this is primarily a gaming forum, here is a gaming example of this trend: EA (which has a record of this kind of thing, so it's not a surprise) recently released a Holiday Pack. It includes various Christmas items labeled as Holiday (Holiday Tree, etc), alongside items labeled specifically for Kwanzaa and Hanukkah.

[Sergarr]

Since there are many people on this forum that hate Christmas specifically, I doubt many will mourn the disappearance of Christmas name in merchandise.

[Culise]

Because companies are trying to diversify their sales.  By selling stuff as generic holiday gear, they can market it to people of all religions.  Due to the ubiquity of Christians and Christianity in the United States (since you mention Kwanzaa, this is a very American-specific discussion, and I will treat it accordingly), Christianity is seen as "generic" and the norm, and thus considered a baseline for further generalization.  By contrast, Kwanzaa and Hannukah are "ethnic," so companies think only African-Americans (at least, those that celebrate Kwanzaa) and Jews will be interested in them.  It's not political correctness; it's all about the money. 

[Caz]

Not everyone celebrates Christmas, but celebrate some sort of holiday around Christmas time. Calling your goods "holiday" themed instead of "christmas" themed allows them to widen their customer base.

[Zangi]

I hate Christmas music and themed stuff.  But not Christmas.  Does that count?

[Graknorke]

I'm sick of Christmas already and it hasn't even happened yet.
The television adverts start in fucking OCTOBER.

[Loud Whispers]

Happy holidays m8 we multikulti now

Basically it just boils down to money, like how Tescos got into shit for selling unlabelled halal simply because that's the easy quick and cheap route.

[scrdest]

Plus, you're heavily overestimating how inherently Christmassy the Christmas traditions are. The Christmas tree in particular is just inexcusably pagan and only slightly less recent outside Germany than Fat Red-n'-White Santa.

Aside from that, as was already mentioned, making it less specifically Christian is good for sales.

And the fact that it's a thing is, ironically, a direct effect of how well Christianity managed to penetrate the culture - so much that this particular tradition is maintained and enjoyed in the established form even by people people who have fuck-all to do with Christianity. Hannukah and Kwanzaa are far more niche celebrations that are generally unlikely to be celebrated by people outside a certain ethnic/cultural circles, whereas Christmas is treated largely as a 'default', and has lost the strong association with religion.

[Loud Whispers]

Ayy, we pagan. Definitely want to see a tree up in stonehenge, but I'd be worried about damaging the old circle worse than greenpeace in the Nazca lines.

[Caz]

Ayy, we pagan. Definitely want to see a tree up in stonehenge, but I'd be worried about damaging the old circle worse than greenpeace in the Nazca lines.

Just put some tinsel and fairy lights around the stones.

[Graknorke]

Ayy, we pagan. Definitely want to see a tree up in stonehenge, but I'd be worried about damaging the old circle worse than greenpeace in the Nazca lines.

People go to stonehenge all the time.
Our ancient mysterious relics are built to last.

[scrdest]

Ayy, we pagan. Definitely want to see a tree up in stonehenge, but I'd be worried about damaging the old circle worse than greenpeace in the Nazca lines.

People go to stonehenge all the time.
Our ancient mysterious relics are built to last.

You're Welsh?

[Graknorke]

You're Welsh?

I am much closer to being Welsh than being Peruvian.
And even closer to having some claim or other to an affiliation with Stonehenge, seeing as how it's English.

[Loud Whispers]

Ayy, we pagan. Definitely want to see a tree up in stonehenge, but I'd be worried about damaging the old circle worse than greenpeace in the Nazca lines.

People go to stonehenge all the time.
Our ancient mysterious relics are built to last.

Oh I know, I've been. I just don't trust trees and ancient rocks to go together well enough, unless they're cheap ancient rocks.

[Levi]

I hate Christmas.  We should replace it with American Thanksgiving(or if you are Amercian, replace it with Canadian thanksgiving).  Its got all the same great food and family times, but without the commercialization.

The "happy holidays" doesn't really bother me though, not everybody celebrates christmas, so might as well wish them a good time too.