In the tree spirit of the holidays, citizens of Fort Collins, Colo., aimed to give residents the gift of political corrections – and sought to purge the city of its offensive traditional holiday red and green lights.

The proposed move stemmed from the city’s Holiday Display Task Force’s recommendation, which clearly focused on the essentials during the cold months when many residents will likely go without shelter and a holiday meal.

The task force sought to help Fort Collins residents relax and enjoy generic green garland and meaningless decorations without any pesky Christian overtones interrupting the secular holiday. “As far as I’m concerned, the group ended up in a very fair place in which primarily secular symbols will be used on city property,” task force member Saul Hopper told the city’s newspaper, the Coloradoan.

The city council, however, did not support Hopper’s perspective. By a vote of 6-1, they rejected the force’s recommendations, sentencing Fort Collins to squander another Christmas season swathed in offensive lights and decorations.

Fort Collins’ Oak Street Plaza displayed a Christmas tree in past years, but under the watchful eye of the task force, surely the Christmas tree will disappear with the red and green.

The politically correct would relegate all religious components of the holidays – including representations of Diwali, Kwanzaa, Hanukkah and Christmas- to the Fort Collins Museum, the World Net Daily reported.

This move would have the city free to harbor an array of snowmen, snowflakes, icicles and Santa Claus – presumably so long as he is not referred to as “Father Christmas” – in the public sphere.

Thanks to the city council vote, such blatant religious displays will continue to leak into the public sector, but at least the city will also laud holiday tradition in less offensive ways within the museum walls, Fort Collins Now reported.

Fort Collins’ task force has paved the path for other cities to follow in its sterile, politically correct Christmas, er, holiday – celebration.

One can only hope that next year, the council will display greater reverence for the easily offended and keep religious holidays where they belong- in the dusty corners of museums.

Abilene continues to display blatant disregard for such political correctness, offering such offensive traditions as the Abilene State School fundraiser Christmas Lane, gathering the community for the community Christmas tree lighting Nov. 27, and spurring discomfort with the Christmas lights parade.

Let’s only hope a holiday display task force will soon form in Abilene and enlighten us, lest we offend with our green and red lights.