Live and Let Live

There seems to be so much hassle surrounding being politically correct at Christmas so as to avoid offending non-christians. This afternoon the wife and I went into town to finish our shopping and I noticed that while the lights used to feature Santa and reindeers and Christmas trees, for the last few years they seem to represent nothing in particular. Indeed in a number of places the decorations are no longer Christmas lights but have been renamed 'winter lights'. As I understand it, the UK is a Christian country, our head of state being the head of the Church of England and all that, therefore what is wrong with referring to this holiday period as Christmas. Further more, I have colleagues at work who are Muslims and all participated in the various celebrations we had and they each gave me cards saying 'Happy Christmas' - the very phrase which the P.C. brigade claim non-Christians are offened by. I just don't get it. Is it yet again all about pandering to the extremists?