Christmas comes just once a year. But for the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and federal judges across the land, once may be too often-for Americans who insist on celebrating Christmas in its true spirit.

While others try to observe the birth of Jesus Christ, the Grinches of the ACLU go on patrol each December to banish Nativity scenes from public parks, sue county commissions for allowing plastic creches on courthouse lawns and lie in wait for school carolers singing "O Come All Ye Faithful." If these things were to be allowed, the ACLU seems to believe, all of our cherished liberties would be in jeopardy. Scrooge had nothing on these Yuletide vigilantes.

It all may seem silly to most of us-it certainly does to me. After all, the federal government recognizes Christmas as a national public holiday. The way most citizens and most communities choose to celebrate Christmas should be nobody else's business. If my county courthouse displays a Nativity scene for a couple weeks each year, I'm certainly not going to run off to the courts to get every trace of religion extinguished from public places.

Awhile back, the Grinches hit a Virginia town, complaining that a Nativity scene on city property violated a Supreme Court rule. In 1984, the high court ruled that a creche in Rhode Island was legal because it was part of a larger display that included snowmen, candy canes and reindeer. Apparently, the scene in Virginia failed to include the proper number of secular symbols and was outlawed. One of these Christmases, maybe the Supreme Court will rule on how many snowmen, Santas and reindeer are needed to offset the religious figures in a Nativity scene.

The anti-creche crowd takes as its text Amendment I of the U.S. Constitution, which reads: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof. . ." I'm not sure how they stretch the Congressional limitation to county commissions and local school boards. A group of fifth-grade carolers singing "Silent Night" at my local school hardly seems to be violating a law respecting an establishment of religion. A manger scene in front of the courthouse doesn't prohibit my free exercise of whatever religion I may choose to practice.

Given all its druthers, the ACLU appears to be bent on eliminating even the slightest contact between government and religion. But is that what the Founding Fathers had in mind when they penned the First Amendment? I doubt it. Our history allows some recognition of a supreme creator. "In God we trust" is printed on our currency. Congress employs chaplains. Even the Supreme Court opens every session with a prayer.

So, why pick on Nativity scenes in public parks? Why are images of Frosty and Rudolph OK, but depictions of Jesus Christ banned? It seems to some of us that the state is taking an increasingly active role in trying to erase a religious Christmas.

Well, it ain't gonna happen, regardless of how many pro-reindeer decisions the Supreme Court hands down.

The anti-Christmas activists may as well lighten up. The Christmas holiday is here to stay, and for some of us, it's a time to remember how Christmas came to be in the first place.