War on Christmas? What war on Christmas?

It’s that time of year when “Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus” gets reprinted around the country.

“Not believe in Santa Claus!” the New York Sun exclaimed in answer to young Virginia O’Hanlon’s question back in 1897. “You might as well not believe in fairies!”

Fine. You can’t have too many sugar plums.

IN PICTURES: Christmas lights

But we won’t do that here. Being of a more Scrooge-like nature (before old Ebenezer went through that dream-induced conversion and bought out the London shops for Tiny Tim), and because the Vote Blog focuses on politics, we opt instead for a more modern subject.

The War on Christmas!

Yes, as surely as dry leaves before the wild hurricane fly and tiny reindeer hooves clatter on moonlit winter rooftops, you can count on someone, somewhere to declare that godless heathens have – once again – declared war on Christmas.

This year is no exception.

In Washington, it began when Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid told his colleagues they might have to work through the Christmas break to get the nation’s work done. Things like taxes and arms control, immigration and gay rights in the military – tough stuff that many lawmakers wanted to kick over into the new year when, not incidentally, Republicans would take over the House and increase their numbers in the Senate.

Talk about a lump of coal in senatorial stockings! You could see the sputtering spray of egg nog all over Capitol Hill.

“It is impossible to do all of the things that the majority leader laid out without disrespecting the institution and without disrespecting one of the two holiest of holidays for Christians,” complained Sen. Jon Kyl of Arizona, the second-ranking Republican in the Senate.

His senatorial sidekick Jim DeMint (R) of South Carolina felt the need to weigh in as well.

Sacrilegious! Disrespectful!

“It’s sacrilegious and disrespectful," he told Politico.com. "What's going on here is just wrong. This is the most sacred holiday for Christians."

Reid got all humbug over such comments.

“As a Christian, no one has to remind me of the importance of Christmas for all of the Christian faith, all their families across America,” Reid said. “I don’t need to hear the sanctimonious lectures of Senators Kyl and DeMint to remind me of what Christmas means.”

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