Every year, some Christian people get all defensive about people saying/writing “Happy holidays” or “Merry Xmas.” And every year I want to say something. Lucky reader, this is the year!

Even back in the days when I was a good little fundamentalist and so were all my friends, “happy holidays” was not unheard of in my circles. Remember, this is the holiday season. Even leaving out the other religious holidays, we still have Thanksgiving (which sort of kicks off the holiday season) and New Year’s Day. Right? So even if I want to be an in-your-face Christian but also red-bloodedly American, I can say “happy holidays” without turning into a wussy compromiser. Or something. (Personally, I prefer “happy holidays” outside of an all-Christian setting just because I try to be considerate and inclusive of others. I know, that’s probably un-Christian of me, but whatever.)

And then there’s “Xmas.” That little word, I grew up thinking, came straight from the pit. Satan had spearheaded the worldly attempt to take Christ out of Christmas, but we truth-bearers would stand for our Savior no matter what.

Here’s the thing, though. Just a little bit of research would uncover the very Christian roots of the “X” in “Xmas.” Wikipedia is a good place to start that research. In brief, “X” is an English transcription of the Greek symbol for the word “Christ.” I learned this when I was in Bible college and it proved to be a very helpful abbreviation for note-taking – for the amount of times I wrote “Xian,” “Xianity,” and even “X” – I saved five letters every time!

So, happy holidays to all my readers, and a big fat Merry Xmas to my Xian friends!