O Come All Ye Faithful
We got our Christmas tree yesterday and I decorated it! It never really feels like Christmas until that amazing fir smell fills the house. It feels so great to be done with school.

I can't believe how much Christmas is being exploited, and I'm not just talking about commercialization. In Terrebonne Parish, Louisiana, an organization is trying to . That' not such a bad thing, right? Think again. They are petitioning to add "Merry Christmas" to the red-lighted "Season's Greetings" sign on the main government building and selling yard signs that read, "We believe in God. Merry Christmas."

Ok.

It would be one thing if these people were merely trying to reassert their faith, reminding us of the true meaning of Christmas (hint: it's not shopping). However, in today's context I can't help but see it as threatening. And it gets worse: one church in Raleigh, N.C., recently paid $7,600 for a full-page newspaper ad urging Christians to only buy from merchants who include "Merry Christmas" in their ads and displays.

Religion is becoming a bigger and bigger problem in our country, and more and more politicized. A survey by Cornell University found that 44 percent of Americans believe that Muslim Americans should have restricted freedoms just because of their religious beliefs. Unsurprisingly, most of them were Bush supporters. I guess nobody told them that Muslims also believe in God.