Ms. Theologian:Every year I organize a Christmas tree ornament party at work for a tree in our employee lounge. I love decorating, but remarks from a few coworkers make me think that I may not be that sensitive. I’m calling it a holiday tree, anyway. What do you think?

Dear Full:

Just so you know, Ms. Theologian isn’t keen on “the holidays,” a phrase which tries to lump a bunch of end of the year holidays that don’t have a lot in common together. For Christians, Christmas is a big deal (note the similarity between Christ-mas and Christ-ians). Do you know of any other modern world religions that encourage chopping a tree down and cover it with strings of dried pasta and ornaments from egg cartons? It’s a Christmas tree. So stop with the “holiday tree” nonsense.

As far as decorating goes, Ms. Theologian tends to do exuberant things until people ask her to stop. So decorate away. But try not to mutter things like, “If you just accepted Jesus Christ as your Savior, then you’d get to go to heaven and celebrate too!” or “God, isn’t it so great that we ALL have holidays at the end of the year? It’s like we’re all one big Christian family!” That pisses people off. Big time.

Merry Christmas,

Ms. Theologian