Merry Christmas or Happy Holidays?

As I was shopping today for gifts many clerks in the stores would wish me a “Happy Holidays” to which I would reply “Happy Holidays”. Then upon saying that deep convictions would come upon me because I did not wish them a “Merry Christmas”.
Immediately an internal dialogue begins: “Did I do something wrong? Did I not give my blessing or miss my opportunity to evangelize the ‘REASON FOR THE SEASON’?” I felt that secular thought had prevailed over my religious convictions and my freedom to speak words of personal religious belief in the marketplace were hi-jacked by the left wing liberal agenda. Another victory for the ACLU, what have I done?
But honestly, I do wish a Happy Holiday to all. Growing up that phrase simply meant a joyful holiday season that includes Christmas, New Years and if you celebrate it, Hanukah. But now the battle for the verbiage has sunk deep into our Christian culture. We are so frightened and willing to fight the liberals who are taking away our freedom to speech. They are removing “One Nation Under God” in the declaration of independence, TGIF is now an acronym for Thank Goodness It’s Friday, and Happy Holidays has taken the “Christ out of Christmas”.
Is this really true, or has our paranoia gotten the best of us?
I find it hard to believe that I won’t be able to say Christmas anymore, but someone can sit on a public train during evening commute and have a private phone conversation so loud that I can hear it clearly half a train away. And during this conversation I know the intimate details of their prior evening’s experience, using every 4 letter explanative in the book.
Personally, I hold to the conviction that a wish for a good tiding is basically that. As long as there is any freedom of speech there will be the right to speak of Christmas. The reason stores do not wish you a Merry Christmas is because they are a store and it is not their job to fight political or religious battles. They simply want to keep their doors open and have you give them your money. I can’t blame them at all for taking the normative position of saying ‘Happy Holidays’ so they don’t offend any of their customers.
For me I want to set the record straight. To those who I owe a blessing or time of outreach, please accept my sincere ‘Merry Christmas’. And to those who are concerned about such a public display of religious fervor I would like to wish you all a “Happy (explanative) Holiday”.