What does Christmas mean to you?

Pick as many answers apply, or choose 'other' and fill in your answer in the space provided

Comments

[Bev]

This December has been rather strange. Usually by now I'm organised with all my gifts, wrapped and under the tree. We spend some great quality time with family and friends - but this year, I feel so disconnected... I still have a wack of Christmas shopping to do, no energy to do it and work has been too busy to socialise.... why is life going faster and faster?

[Gina (Meet my Brother)]

I have stopped doing some things because "they have to be done" and now have the freedom to enjoy the holiday more. I have less decorations but that is ok. I have the important things out and was able to talk about them with my kids and we enjoyed putting them out.

Less has become more. Now *I* get to enjoy the holiday too.

[21stCenturyMom]

Christmas is most definitely more fun if small children are involved.

[Stranger]

People go into debt for Christmas?!?

[Sister Mel]

8% think its a spiritual or religious event? As a Christian, that really saddens me. It is not Xmas, it is CHRISTmas. Actually I need to do a post about it. Will tomorrow.
Just one quick thing, the Muslims, Jews, and Jehovas Witnesses have it right here. Because they don't believe Christ is the son of God, they don't celebrate his birthday. I really respect that. I don't do Eid or Hanukkah, they don't do Easter or Christmas. But let me save this for tomorrow.

[Jazz]

I interchange Xmas and Christmas but safe in the knowledge that Xmas actually has its origins deep in history. It helps to use it as abbreviation and know that there is a reason behind and not because someone somewhere was lazy.
I cannot remember the exact details how and why and so will see what Wikipedia says. There are many people believe it to be of commercial origin and thus demeaning to Christ.

And Wiki says....
The word "Christ" and its compounds, including "Christmas", have been abbreviated for at least the past 1,000 years, long before the modern "Xmas" was commonly used. "Christ" was often written as "XP" or "Xt"; there are references in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle as far back as 1021 AD. This X and P arose as the uppercase forms of the Greek letters χ and ρ), used in ancient abbreviations for Χριστος (Greek for "Christ"), and are still widely seen in many Eastern Orthodox icons depicting Jesus Christ. The labarum, an amalgamation of the two Greek letters rendered as ☧, is a symbol often used to represent Christ in Catholic, Protestant, and Orthodox Christian Churches.[2]

In ancient Christian art, χ and χρ are abbreviations for Christ's name.[4] In many manuscripts of the New Testament and icons, X is an abbreviation for Christos, as is XC (the first and last letters in Greek, using the lunate sigma); compare IC for Jesus in Greek. The Oxford English Dictionary documents the use of this abbreviation back to 1551, 50 years before the first English colonists arrived in North America and 60 years before the King James Version of the Bible was completed.

At the same time, Xian and Xianity were in frequent use as abbreviations of "Christian" and "Christianity"; and nowadays still are sometimes so used, but much less than "Xmas". The proper names containing the name "Christ" other than aforementioned are rarely abbreviated in this way (e.g. Hayden Xensen for the actor name "Hayden Christensen"). This apparent usage of "X" to spell the syllable "kris" (rather than the sounds "ks") has extended to "xtal" for "crystal", and on florists' signs "xant" for "chrysanthemum"[5] (though these words are not etymologically related to "Christ"; "crystal" comes from a Greek word meaning "ice"; "chrysanthemum" comes from Greek words meaning "golden flower"; "Christ" comes from a Greek word meaning "anointed").

In the 17th and 18th Centuries, "Xene" and "Exene" were common spellings of the given name Christene.

[Josh]

The Question that should be asked is "What does Christmas mean to Christ" And from reading the Scriptures, I don't see anything that says He would appreciate believers celebrating it.