WHY I DON'T LIKE XMAS

Don't get me wrong
I love Christmas because of what it reminds me
The restoration of humankind to God

The coming of Christ means hope, peace, joy, life everlasting
I don't want to be dragged into the argument of whether he was
Born on the 25th of December
Or Middle of September
Or the 29th of February in a non-leap year
Or any other date that may have fallen off the Roman calendar

What matters is that He came and what His coming has done for me

Now, what I don't like is telling me "Merry Xmas"
I have always been careful not to use the letter "X" whenever am referring to Christ
Today, I decided to do a little research and here's what I found:

Here’s a holiday surprise that only the dictionary can provide. Do you find the word “Xmas,” as an abbreviation for Christmas, offensive? Many people do.

You won’t find Xmas in church songbooks or even on many greeting cards. Xmas is popularly associated with a trend towards materialism, and sometimes the target of people who decry the emergence of general “holiday” observance instead of particular cultural and religious ritual.

But the history of the word “Xmas” is actually more respectable — and fascinating — than you might suspect. First of all, the abbreviation predates by centuries its use in gaudy advertisements. It was first used in the mid 1500s. X is the Greek letter “chi,” the initial letter in the word Χριστός. And here’s the kicker: Χριστός means “Christ.” X has been an acceptable representation of the word “Christ” for hundreds of years. This device is known as a Christogram. The mas in Xmas is the Old English word for “mass.”  (The thought-provoking etymology of “mass” can be found here.) In the same vein, the dignified terms Xpian and Xtian have been used in place of the word “Christian.”

As lovers of the alphabet, we are transfixed by the flexibility of “X.” The same letter can represent the sacred, the profane (“rated X”), and the unknown (“X-ray“). What does the “X” in Xbox stand for?  [Source: http://blog.dictionary.com/xmas-christogram/]


In spite of whatever they say, I still don't like the "X" in "Xmas." I don't see the reason why it should be abbreviated.

Merry Christmas!