So on twitter someone said that “Merry Xmas is wrong, tacky, and just plain dumb”. I understand that sentiment and held it myself for a while, but I learned something very interesting over the years and I thought I would share it with you. X has been used as a legitimate abbreviation for Christ since at least the 11th century according to this Wikipedia article.

X is also the capital form of the Greek letter Chi, the first letter in Christ’s title (note that Christ is not actually his last name but rather a title). The icon over there is the Chi-Rho, another way of abbreviating the title (it means anointed one). So while I don’t want to give most folks too much credit, the use of the X is not really wrong, tacky, or dumb. It is a common enough short hand.

The only thing that really takes the Christ out of Christmas are the Christians who make its center the tree and the presents. Giving gifts is fine. Having a tree is fine. Neither of those things (for Christians) is the center or focus. Christ is. If you get all caught up in the commercialization, you’ve missed the point.

So before you accuse someone of taking the Christ ou of Christmas remember a few things:

• If they’re not Christians then for them there is no Christ in Christmas.

• By yelling at people for not wishing you a Merry Christmas or for using the dreaded X, you’re not showing the spirit of Christ.
• Christ was likely born almost any of the other days of the year and December 25th was chosen, as were most Christian holidays, to coincidet with a pagan holiday.