One of Hallmark 's ornaments for the holiday season is snowballing into some controversy following the replacement of the word `` gay '' while quoting `` Deck the Halls . '' The red `` Holiday Sweater '' ornament is decorated with the lyric , `` Don we now our fun apparel . '' The traditional line from the famous Christmas song is `` Don we now our gay apparel . '' The change caused one Facebook user to comment on Hallmark 's official page , `` It 's OK to be GAY ! ! Fix your dumb ornament ! '' `` You can be sure that myself and many others wo n't be buying your cards anymore , '' another Facebook user complained . Hallmark defended the change in lyrics . `` When the lyrics to 'Deck the Halls ' were translated from Gaelic and published in English back in the 1800 's , the word 'gay ' meant festive or merry , '' according to a statement released Wednesday . `` Today it has multiple meanings , which we thought could leave our intent open to misinterpretation . '' The Hallmark statement went on to explain that the ornament was created in the spirit of `` fun . '' `` The trend of wearing festively decorated Christmas sweaters to parties is all about fun , and this ornament is intended to play into that , '' the statement said . `` So the planning team decided to say what we meant : fun . '' It added : `` That 's the spirit we intended and the spirit in which we hope ornament buyers will take it . '' The ornament is for sale on the company 's website as part of the Keepsake collection for the price of $ 12.95 . Hallmark was founded in 1910 and is now a $ 4 billion business with greeting cards and other products sold in 39,000 retail stores across the United States and in 100 countries worldwide , according to its website .
Festive Christmas sweater with ` ` fun gay '' slogan . Complaints posted on company 's Facebook page . Company says ` ` gay '' has multiple complaints posted . Christmas sweaters are all about fun , it states .