X Marks The Spot

I love the holidays, but I love to celebrate them one at a time (for the love of all that is holy can we please deal with Christmas AFTER Thanksgiving?!). I love the traditions, I love getting together, I love the fun, the magic and in the case of Easter & Christmas I LOVE the religious side. Really the only thing I don't love is Christmas music, or maybe just the abundance of Christmas music.

I also really love history. So the history of the holidays and holiday traditions fascinates me. 

I was watching a holiday special several years ago and heard a historian say that the X IS NOT replacing the Christ in Christmas. Say what?! Like most people I grew up hearing "Keep Christ in Christmas", "It is never spelled Xmas!".  So I did my research (how did we ever learn anything before Google?). OH HOLY NIGHT! Dude was telling the truth!

Are you ready for this? In the days of the early Church the "X" (or sometimes "XP") actually stands for Christ! I found millions of links on Google explaining this much better than I can. Here is the link to my Google search (I entered the very simple criteria of "the x in Christmas)  http://www.bing.com/search?pc=AMAZ&form=AMAZWB&setmkt=en-US&q=the+x+in+christmas+history. Now I don't feel so bad when I run out of room on Christmas cards and have to write Xmas.

May your holidays be bright!

Amy