X is for XMAS

This is partly a repeat from last year's X week so I thought that with X being our letter of the week and landing just days before Christmas Day, I thought I'd take this opportunity again to wish everyone who celebrates it a very Merry Christmas.

Christmas is also sometimes known as Xmas. Since Christmas comes from Christ-Mass, the Church service that celebrated the birth of Jesus, some people don't think it's correct to call Christmas 'Xmas' because that takes the 'Christ' (Jesus) out of Christmas.  But that's not quite right! In the Greek language and alphabet, the letter that looks like an X is the Greek letter chi / Χ (pronounced 'kye' - it rhymes with 'eye') which is the first letter of the Greek word for Christ, Christos.  Therefore, Xmas can also mean Christmas; but it should also be pronounced 'Christmas' rather than 'ex-mas'!

The following is a shot that I took last week just outside the front doors of our local library.  I think it encompasses everything we should all aspire to for every day of the year, especially with all the terrorism, wars, hunger, and strife happening all over the world right now!

from -  'Twas the Night Before Christmas

He spoke not a word, but went straight to his work,
And filled all the stockings; then turned with a jerk,
And laying his finger aside of his nose,
And giving a nod, up the chimney he rose;

He sprang to his sleigh, to his team gave a whistle,
And away they all flew like the down of a thistle.
But I heard him exclaim, ere he drove out of sight,
"HAPPY XMAS TO ALL, AND TO ALL A GOOD-NIGHT!"