Merry Xmas?

My sister is the inspiration for this post. She became angered at people who take the easy and lazy way for writing Christmas. I agree with her on the laziness part and decided to research this a little further.

Where did Xmas get its origins? According to Snopes and wikipedia (not the most exact of information sites) and a number of other sites, Xmas has its origins in Christian history. Supposedly the X was a sign of royalty in the Roman world and also used extensively in Greek writing as a sign of the cross which symbolized Christ (or chi the first letter in the name of Christ). I could not independently confirm this but can you imagine the possibilities?

Now, I am not saying Christians should go around telling people Merry Xmas or writing Xmas on their Christmas cards. But I am saying not to be frustrated with it. Instead, we should go around thanking people for keeping "Christ" in Christmas by using a historical symbol of Christ.

If you have other information about this, then please feel free to add to this conversation. Who knows, maybe we will see a whole new movement in the way we respond to those who really do want to take Christ out of Christmas. Keep it positive and full of hope!

Merry Christmas everyone!