As part of the 23rd annual Friend or Foe Christmas Campaign, Liberty Counsel released its Naughty and Nice List that catalogs some of the stores that are censoring Christmas and some that are publicly celebrating it.

The Friend or Foe Christmas Campaign is designed to educate and, when necessary, litigate to ensure religious viewpoints are not censored from Christmas and holiday themes.

For decades, the debate over whether businesses and people in the public square should say “Merry Christmas” or the more neutral “Happy Holidays” resurfaces each season. A 2024 You.gov survey found that about 65 percent of adults prefer “Merry Christmas” greetings over “Happy Holidays,” a similar result from a 2022 Monmouth poll that found a 61 percent majority preferring “Merry Christmas.”

For the last 23 years, Liberty Counsel has been evaluating certain retailers and how they approach the Christmas season through their online holiday marketing campaigns. While many retailers consistently acknowledge Christmas by using the word “Christmas” prominently and often, many others tend to avoid the word entirely and sanitize their websites with holiday-neutral greetings and generic gift titles.

Years ago, Walmart had banned its employees from even responding with the phrase “Merry Christmas.” Now the company is consistently on the “Nice List” by embracing the Christmas season. Two years ago, Target was on the Naughty List for going “all in” on woke “pride” decorations that mocked the Christmas holiday. However, the department store has earned a spot on the Nice List for the second year in a row by selling items that celebrate Christmas. One company on the 2024 Naughty List moved to the Nice List this year—Best Buy—for offering many “Christmas” products in its online store. Thankfully, many other companies continue to acknowledge Christ’s birth during the season. Costco, Dillard’s, Hallmark, Hobby Lobby Stores, The Home Depot, Lowe’s, and Kohl’s are just some examples of the stores on the “Nice List” for acknowledging Christmas and offering Christmas gifting options.

Barnes & Noble, Burlington Coat Factory, Dick’s Sporting Goods, Gap, Inc., Neiman Marcus, TJ Maxx, and others consistently remain on the “Naughty List” for censoring Christmas from their holiday-themed campaigns and offering little more than generic “holiday” decorations and gifts. Four retailers moved from the Nice List to the Naughty List in 2025: Academy Sports + Outdoors, Big Lots, Lord and Taylor, and Nordstrom. Each of these companies took a nearly sterilized approach to “Christmas” in their online holiday campaigns as compared to prior years.

You can download or print the entire one-page list here. Liberty Counsel encourages you to incorporate the information on this list into your Christmas shopping plans.

Liberty Counsel Founder and Chairman Mat Staver said, “Christianity remains the largest faith tradition in the United States and is associated with worship, family traditions, nostalgia, and seasonal joy.  It makes no sense to pretend the reason for the holiday does not exist or that the holiday should be stripped of Christian symbols and themes. We are happy to report that some retailers still recognize that the Christmas season is about the birth of Jesus and is not just a winter holiday. We encourage you to spend your dollars with the businesses that acknowledge Christmas rather than censor it.” 

Learn more at LC.org/Christmas.