Happy Holidays? MERRY CHRISTMAS!

I absolutely despise the craven groveling of educators, who have done their best to re-name Christmas Break as "Winter Break".

Listen - I'll obediently fall into line with the designation - however I feel about it - the very first time that "Winter Break" is scheduled, but does not include December 25th.

That's not gonna happen - ever.

So, anytime I'm subbing, I always say "Christmas Break". If chided by the little darlings about the PC-term, I explain my reasoning. They always end up agreeing with me that the re-naming is deliberately anti-Christian. I mean, they have no trouble identifying the Muslim holiday as Eid, rather than substituting some bland secular language.

Christmas Break is inconvenient. It comes just before the end of the semester. When the kids come back, teachers need to spend most of the rest of the semester reviewing for the upcoming tests.

If this vacation time was actually a "break", the school boards would move it to January, after testing is over, having kept school open through December (maybe taking just a one-day break on the 25th, if it fell on a weekday).

But they don't. They close down schools for 2 weeks. Schools clearly recognize that time period as special, as they hold special "Holiday Concerts", have "Secret Santa" gift exchanges, and "Door Decoration" contests. It's not just another unimportant or minor occasion.

They do this, despite their best efforts to secularize the season. They know the parental and community pushback they'd face if they did not.

In contrast, the holy days of Easter are ignored, except for the youngest students (maybe - the push to eliminate sweet treats in school has just about killed those celebrations). But, Easter is, in fact, the most important holiday of Christians. And, it has been bypassed by the blandly named "Spring Break", which is held without regard for Easter's revolving date.

All of that without a smidge of pushback.

Only in small towns, rural areas, Catholic schools, and in some parts of the South does this Spring time off coincide with Eastertime. For most of the country, it's just an artifact that provides a temporary pause in the school year.

The Easter Bunny tradition was brought to America by German immigrants. It's just never been all that important to any other heritage group.

Easter is taken seriously by Christians. Except for decorating eggs, and a few stories about Easter bunnies, most literature, film, and songs deal with actual events. Unlike the birth of a child, it's difficult to playfully celebrate a human being being put to death for alleged crimes against the state. Even the joy of Resurrection is tempered by a whole lot of human suffering and misery.

I truly don't care much about whether schools schedule their holidays around Christian holy days. What I do care about is not using mealymouth language to hide the fact that the sole reason for Christmas Break is to accommodate Christians.

It's not a crime to recognize that many Christians have family and cultural traditions that revolve around a Holy Day. That so many of them travel during this time virtually mandates closing down schools for an extended time period.

Just stop pretending that you're closing for "Winter" reasons.

Man up - admit the truth.