Author of "Putin's Playbook" shares insight into Russia's position on the war in Israel.

As America prepares to celebrate Christmas, some government officials across the country have introduced, in their jurisdictions, guidelines for "inclusive decorating practices" and "neutral language" to mark the holiday season. They instruct their staff to replace the red and green colors with neutral tones, avoid religious ornaments, and use gender-neutral nouns such as "snow people" instead of "snowmen" in order not to offend some members of the community.

This has given me flashbacks to Soviet Russia, where I was born and raised.

I didn’t know about the existence of Christmas until my 20s when, as a student at the Moscow State Pedagogical Institute, I was sent on an exchange program to London.

That winter, I learned that the British celebrated something called Christmas using decorations that resembled the paraphernalia of the biggest Russian holiday of the year – New Year’s – except they used the wrong terms for everything. The Russian bushy-eye-browed and long-bearded Grandfather Frost was Santa Claus for the Brits, our Yolka pine tree was their Christmas tree. Grandfather Frost didn’t have his charming granddaughter, Snowgirl. Instead, he had a sweetly innocent reindeer named Rudolph.

PUTIN USES RUSSIAN CHURCH TO SPREAD HIS SAINTLY STATUS IN NATION WITH NO SEPARATION OF RELIGION AND STATE

Father Frost and Snow Maiden (Snowgirl) make an appearance in Red Square, Moscow, on Dec. 27, 2005. (Natalia Kolesnikova/AFP via Getty Images)

The Brits also celebrated the holiday on the wrong day. Instead of drinking and eating all night long from Dec. 31 to Jan. 1 and watching forbidden Western rock bands like the Eagles, they went to church, sang Christmas carols and spoke about the birth of Jesus Christ as the reason for........

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