This Christmas season, Somerville residents will be treated to the shining, elaborate light displays of their neighbors. These neighbors sacrifice their time and money (how much could some of these electric bills be?) to put up and maintain folk art we can all enjoy.

It’s just too bad the politically correct police have to interfere. This year’s Illuminations Tour, sponsored and organized by the Somerville Arts Council, will be as exciting as ever, but why refer to these displays as anything other than what they are?

In the literature promoting this awesome event, you won’t see the words Christmas anywhere. Ask the primarily Portuguese and Italian-American homeowners who spend hours each year building these displays what their lights celebrate and they won’t say “the holidays.”

Say it with us…Christmas. We might celebrate different holidays each December but why not respect the holiday of the people who make this art? Can we for once drop all this politically correct renaming of traditions and just have a good time? In Somerville, anything is possible – even Christmas lights.