There once was a time when I never felt a twinge of self-consciousness when I wished someone “Merry Christmas.”

I’d go to a retail store. I would make a purchase. I’d take my merchandise. I would wish the store clerk a Merry Christmas. He or she would respond in kind; maybe the clerk would say it first and I would respond.

No big deal. It’s what we did.

Then came this goofy “War on Christmas” mantra. It came from conservative media talking heads and writers, who got their underpants knotted up over an alleged conspiracy by the liberal media to downplay Christmas references during this holiday season.

In my mind it served to highlight what we many of us knew all along, which is that not everyone celebrates Christmas. Our nation’s population comprises many more non-Christians these days: Muslims, Jews, Buddhists, etc.

So, where do we stand today?

I do not take one tiny bit of offense when someone wishes me “Happy Holidays.” Nor do I flinch when they say “Merry Christmas.” I take both greetings the same way: as expressions of good cheer during a cheerful and joyful holiday.

Donald John Trump Sr. declared in 2016 while campaigning for the presidency that retailers would again wish customers a Merry Christmas if he were elected president — as if the office gives him the power and authority to mandate such a greeting.

Give me a break!

I guess I am left to offer a derisive word of “thanks” to those media talking heads for holiday-shaming us by declaring the existence of some phony “war on Christmas.”

There’s never been a war, unless you discount the hyper-commercialism of the holiday and the mayhem created by the first Friday after Thanksgiving. That’s where the alleged “war” is being fought.

Hey, let’s all have a happy holiday season.

Shall we?