This past Thanksgiving, my little 8 year old cousin from Long Island told me that at here public school in Wantagh, NY, there can be no celebrations of any kind that mention Christmas or Hanukkah. She asked me if it was like this when I was in school. I told her that it was not. I went to public school and Christian and Jewish kids all celebrated the holidays together. I remember going to an Assembly (do they still have Assembly?) one week where the Christmas story was told and songs were sung, and the next Assembly we celebrated Hanukkah with the story of the Maccabees and Hanukkah songs (both of which I still remember, all these years later). We Christian kids had a great time with our Jewish classmates, and we were a little jealous, because the Jewish kids got presents on 8 nights! We all learned about eachothers' religion, and there was respect - no controversy, no offended parents, no upset kids. My cousin could not understand why she can't say Merry Christmas or Happy Hanukkah to anyone at school. How do you explain such idiocy to an 8-year old? Why don't these idiot parents fight back. All the joy and beauty of the religious holidays are being stolen away and replaced instead with nothing but a commercialized "winter holiday" shopping spree. Where is the beauty of the child in the manger? Where is the glory and mystery of the menorah burning in the temple? Instead we have absurd "holiday specials" of J-Lo shaking her fat can, and rap "artists" murdering traditional songs. Will no one stop this insanity?