premise: Officials at the rink in California approached the Rubidoux High School Madrigals just as they launched into "God Rest Ye Merry Gentleman" and requested the troupe immediately stop singing. Cohen later said she was stunned by the flap and never made a request to silence the singers.
  Newspapers have also carried stories about children at a school being told not to use the word Christmas when writing to US troops in Iraq; the American Civil Liberties Union filing suit over some Tennessee school children singing "Away in a Manger" and "Joy to the World" at a Christmas event; attempts to change Christmas school vacations into winter breaks; and an overzealous employee at a retirement home clipping the wings of an angel on a Christmas tree so as to remove any religious connotations.
  Major stores meanwhile appear in a quandary over proper etiquette.
  The world's largest retailer Wal-Mart last year required its employees to say "happy holidays", fearing the traditional "Merry Christmas" might offend customers.
   Why did the retirement home employee clip the wings of the Christmas tree angel?
hypothesis: remove any religious connotations