Let's tell a few harrowing stories of past combat, at least the verbal variety. The War on Christmas, widely ridiculed by our cultural elites, was very real and genuinely damaging to many traditional and faithful Americans.

Remember this one? Only a decade ago some major retailers ordered their workers not to say 'Merry Christmas' because that might offend customers. When millions of outraged Americans threatened to take their money elsewhere, 'Merry Christmas' was soon back in the retailing lexicon.

How about the skirmish when Rhode Island Governor Lincoln Chafee decided to call his state's tree a 'holiday tree?' Never mind that it was Christmas and the tree was adorned with Christmas lights, the word 'Christmas' was put out to pasture in Providence. Ironically, that city was named to honor 'God's merciful Providence.' Hard to believe Chafee didn't exactly mesmerize the electorate when he ran for the presidency this year.

There were other disturbing anti-Christmas efforts across America. School boards banned religious music from 'holiday concerts,' religious symbols were forbidden from 'holiday parades,' and so on.

Some of the anti-Christmas efforts were laughable, but others were downright despicable. Washington Governor Christine Gregoire, a card-carrying secular-progressive, allowed atheists to put up a sign in the capitol rotunda. Their lovely message, that religion enslaves people, was just a few feet from a manger scene with the baby Jesus.

Truth is, the Christmas-haters were gaining ground, forcing their Grinch-like attitude on schools and stores and municipalities across America. Then something happened that might be considered a modern-day Christmas miracle. We fought back!

Fox News, churches, Christians, groups like the Thomas More Society, and sane people of all faiths decided it was time to stop the madness. We identified the most ridiculous examples, we called out the Christmas-haters by name. And, yes, we won. There was no formal ceremony of surrender, but most of the radical secularists retreated back to their caves and back into the woodwork.

Sure, they occasionally raise their heads and lob a few grenades, kind of like the Japanese soldiers who never gave up the fight on Iwo Jima. Right now the most militant anti-Christmas organization is the Freedom From Religion Foundation, with headquarters in the uber-left city of Madison, Wisconsin.

That contemptible group recently prevented little schoolchildren in Indiana from staging a Nativity scene. How proud they must be! The organization also spends money on banners and billboards that diminish religion as 'a myth and superstition.' One suspects the brave folks at the Freedom From Religion Foundation have yet to set up a chapter in Saudi Arabia or Syria. 'Bravery' comes cheap where liberty prevails and where a Constitution written by men of faith protects even the stupid.

But aside from those occasional dustups, the War on Christmas has been noticeably absent this year. Jon Stewart, who mockingly dismissed the war as a figment of Christian imagination, no longer has his Comedy Central megaphone with which to ridicule traditionalists. But even last year, when Stewart was still at the helm, there were few major battles.

So give yourselves a well-deserved pat on the back for defeating the Grinches, at least for the moment. But don't get too comfortable because they will almost surely be back. It's worth remembering that North and South Korea are technically still at war with one another, 66 years after the shooting began. They co-exist under an armistice signed in 1953.

Similarly, the pro-Christmas good guys are now living under a cease-fire of sorts with the secular naysayers. Enjoy it while you can. In the meantime, we here at The Factor wish all of you a very, very MERRY CHRISTMAS!