This time of the year, when the shops and the media displays banners and promotions wishing us “Mary Christmas”, people meet and greet with the same words. But many people prefer speaking and writing the short “Merry Xmas”. For some people it is a way to remove Christ from the celebrations. Others just proffered it a shorter form of “Merry Christmas”. But using this short form, we do not have to forget that the main reason to celebrate Christmas is the Birth of Jesus and the events that surround the time.

Many Europeans in the 16th century, as shorthand of Christ name, started using X. That comes from the Greek letter X, which is the first letter of the word “Christos” in Greek language. You can still see such abbreviations in many Christian Orthodox churches on icons depicting Christ. Some people even believed that X represents the cross on which Christ was crucified, but that can not be proved, because the shape of the Christ’s cross was more like T, not X. But the time passed and many people lost the main meaning of Xmas. That is how, it became a sing of disrespect, from the people who doesn’t know its origins.

In our days the Christmas has become very commercialized. With the parties, decorations and the stress around the holiday we sometimes really forget what we are celebrating. This is a magical time and we have to be grateful for all the good things that we have in our lives.