There was a most clear and definite collusion amongst some retailers to drop the Merry Christmas and religious acknowledgement of Christmas - THIS was the year where they thought they could do it. Oh brother. A conspiracy amongst retailers that is designed, I suppose, to lessen their sales. Get a grip.
I suspect some of these progressive-leaning retailers wanted to do it for awhile now. They figured the time was right this year and did not expect much public backlash.
I'm willing to venture a guess that retailers are actually catering to a big backlash base of customers who are both flabbergasted by, and a little pissed off at, the morons who insist that "happy holidays" is an insult and that the "true meaning of Christmas" can be found on the racks of plastic piffle in a discount store.
Let me first establish to you that I'm not talking about bout where the true meaning of Christmas can be found (that's on some other thread). Now, this IS a POLITICAL blogsite, is it not? The politics of the day happens to be that retailers have altered their policies regarding Christmas greetings, displays, and advertisements. It's also pretty common now to see corporations supporting anti-Christian and anti-family causes and organizations. The question is whether or not these changes made in the retail stores are part of this broader trend. That's the discussion and I don't think my view is unbalanced.
The bottom line is those "morons" you mention happen to have a point here about whats going on politically. Deal with it.