Merchants, who are in the business of selling things, like to extend a general expression of goodwill and Season’s Greetings, hoping to get people into a good and buying mood. There are several religious holidays that fall around the Winter Solstice. You’d think it would be safe to wish your customers a happy one, but a Best Buy store is catching heat for acknowledging its Muslim customers …

Oh my Allah. Now right-wingers are up in vociferously-defended arms because Best Buy’s vast and stuff-packed Thanksgiving flyer included a little-bitty ad wishing Muslims “Happy Eid al-Adha,” a holiday that 1.5 billion Muslims worldwide mark by giving to charity.

I guess Best Buy didn’t get the memo from War on Christmas, Inc. that we are a Judeo-Christian nation. Although no one is crusading for Hanukkah, because Christians aren’t sure how to spell it, or when it starts or ends. It’s Christmas that brings out the belligerence in the red-blooded real American. If that cashier dares to wish them a Happy Holiday they are in for a tongue-lashing, if not a boycott.

And the nerve of people expecting to be wished a happy Eid al-Adha. That’s not on the list of state-approved religious holidays.

If you get kind of cranky when the days are short, and you want to yell at some store clerks, the Christmas Legion is recruiting now.

Or you can use the season as an excuse to drink eggnog (good thing we only do that once a year) and ask yourself, What Would Miss Manners Do?

She’d wish everyone comfort and joy. That works.