Putting the Christ in Christmas

Don't worry this isn't the post where I spew my Catholic views on Christ and Christmas. 

Well, not totally.

This is my very favorite time of year.  I adore the holidays and it has little to nothing to do with gifts or parties or anything like that.

This is a time of giving and compassion.  This is a time of peace and family.  This is a time of tradition and I am steeped in it.

Sadly, it is also a time of consumerism and greed.  It is a time that rushes by because we do not stop to appreciate those things with which we have been blessed.

One of my favorite things to do is to set up our Nativity set.  It was my favorite thing as a child, too.  I used to play with the figurines and I was so excited on Christmas morning to see that Baby Jesus had been "born" into his spot between Mary and Joseph. 

This year I find that people are putting out Christmas lights earlier and putting up trees before December 1st.  And I cannot tell a lie....I love it.

But in the rush to get everything up and decorated I find that we are forgetting the true spirit of the season.

I understand if you participate in the holiday for purely secular reasons.  I don't agree with it but it's your choice. 

One of my biggest pet peeves about this time of year, or really any time of year when this gets used, if when people decide to use Xmas instead of Christmas.

Is it really that difficult to write out or type out those few extra letters?

I have been seeing this in blog posts.  I have seen this on assignments my students are doing.  I have even seen this on CHRISTMAS cards. 

ARE YOU SERIOUS?!?!

You can write out more than a handful of cards to random people that you barely know and never see but you can't write out the word Christ?!?!  Really?!?!  Are you opposed to it?  Do you not believe in Christ?

Well, then maybe this holiday isn't for you.

Do we get that without Christ there is no Christmas? 

Do we understand that Christmas is a celebration of CHRIST'S birth?

Do we get that at this time of year we need to slow down and reflect on those things and people and gifts (not material) that make our lives wonderful?

Is it really too much to write out Christ?!?!  I mean really, come on!

Fine, be opposed to the Church.  Hate the Catholic religion all you want- I don't agree with you but I will NOT force my belief system on to you.

But you know what?  Christmas is NOT a Catholic holiday.  It's a CHRISTian one. 

I just don't understand how we cannot take the extra 3 second to write or type or text out the word Christmas instead of Xmas.

Maybe, just maybe, this holiday is not for you if you can't make that change. 

Or maybe, just maybe, I'm crazy and spewing my religious venom all over the place.