Around this time last year, I got a call from a woman upset about an ad in The Journal News. It referred to holiday shopping.

Why doesn’t it say Christmas shopping? she demanded to know.

Maybe to draw in some Hanukkah shoppers, I suggested. I tried to explain that it wasn’t really my place to dictate to shopkeepers how they should advertise.

She was too angry to listen and hung up. Not in the spirit of the holiday, I thought.

Well, Christmas is approaching, and the fuss about Christmas greetings has started again. And once again a lot of it is not in the spirit of the holiday.

I’m glad that a woman at St. Boniface Church in Wesley Hills is passing out buttons reading “It’s OK to Say Merry Christmas to Me,” as my colleague James Walsh wrote in an article in The Journal News today. And I hope the wearers hear Merry Christmas often.

But why are some people so hostile about the topic? Why would you want to say Merry Christmas to someone who doesn’t celebrate the holiday? What could be the point of that?

Yes, some people try so hard not to offend anyone that they become ridiculous. That’s why the term politically correct has such derogatory connotations.

I’m also sure some people don’t mind Christmas greetings even if they aren’t Christian. Maybe they even like Christmas carols.

And yes, I’m sure Happy Holidays often sounds insipid. Sometimes I’m not even sure which holidays I’m referring to.

But I think I’ll stick with it anyway. In the spirit of the season, I’d rather not shove Christmas down someone’s throat.