A Mini Xmas Rant

Well, hello Christmas Season!  So glad you're here!  I love the way our living room looks and feels with the Christmas tree and decorations up - so twinkly and warm.  Makes life better.

I wanted to be sure to start off this post with the positive Christmas love, because it's about to get all rant up in here.  About a Christmas pet peeve.  A BIG one! (but I don't want you guys to think I don't love the Christmas season, because I really do ... a lot)

So, let me just inform you of what really gets my goat: the whole "if you write Xmas instead of Christmas, you're a bad person" thing.  UGH!

I don't even really get it.  Well, ok, so I get that people think you're just ditching the word "Christ" and putting an evil "X" in it's spot.  So I understand the general basis of the argument.  It's just that I think it is utterly RIDICULOUS.

For starters, let me spend a minute as a nerd and just say that if you checked your history facts, you would know that the X is actually a symbol representing Christ.   I'm no history buff, but I'm sure this fact has circulated enough for people to be in the know about it right now AND to squash the whole self-righteous "you're the devil for typing Xmas" debate.
You can look at some resources here:
Wikipedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xmas
News from Amarillo, TX - http://www.connectamarillo.com/news/story.aspx?id=554627#.UMlAgY5j7zI
Christian Resource Institute: http://www.cresourcei.org/symbols/xmasorigin.html

Now on to my real hidden annoyance with the whole issue.  It makes no sense.  When was the last time someone actually used the word "Xmas" maliciously?  I mean, really? Probably, NEVER.  And for those who argue that people are just being too lazy to type out the word "Christ," and that they are therefore being disrespectful toward him ... well, for those people, I have a lot of disrespectful things to say.  But I'll just say this.  It seems to me that there are much more important things that Jesus Christ would be worried about than whether you type Xmas or Christmas ... like if you are kind to other people, or if you serve selflessly ... or say if you read the Bible or something??  But I seriously doubt you're making or breaking it with a single letter.  This logic KILLS me.  Especially when some of the people that I hear and observe making comments of this nature are people that cause me to think to myself, "Wonder if Jesus Christ-mas was jumping for joy when you just talked about your SHITTY day ... or dropped that F-bomb at the bar when you were plastered? ... Nah, surely he was super busy being SO torn up over the people texting each other using Xmas instead of Christmas.  Yep, for sure."

I guess my point is ... get over yourself.  We all do things that are not glorifying to God.  And if the biggest thing that people do is use Xmas just to make their text or sentence shorter ... then good grief, I think we'll all make it.  And if someone is doing it with mal-intent, and it's that big of a deal, then I'm sure God will deal with it himself without someone acting like they are so dedicated to God that they need to point it out every single Christmas season.

So if you are one of those people: I apologize that I am in complete disagreement with your opinion, and go nitpick something else and just leave Xmas out of it.

Ok, I think I'm done with that rant!  I am thankful for Christmas and the time it allows for us to reflect on the beginning of Jesus's life and how that life was meant to change all of ours forever.  I would much rather focus on that, the time with my family, and the generosity that is often shown at Christmas ... or should I say Xmas??