A Mass-Produced Holiday

In the back of my parents' garage, it's beginning to look a lot like what? Most folks who celebrate Christmas have boxes of Xmas lights. Not my parents.

Do you see what I see?

A box, a box

Lying in my sight

With a mistake as big as a kite

With a mistake as big as a kite

As you can see, my parents have X-mass lights. Yikes.

The abbreviated Xmas is an informal term for Christmas. It's assimilated into the English language to the extent that it even appears in the Oxford English and Merriam-Webster's dictionaries. As the dictionaries explain, the X is the symbol for Christ, from the Greek letter chi (X), initial of Christos Christ.

Use an X for Christ, add the last three letters from Christmas and, voila, you've got Xmas. What you don't want to do is include an additional s. The shorthand term has nothing to do with mass, the (often-capitalized) religious service.

It's time for my parents to get rid of the box. Let it go! Let it go! Let it go! Perhaps it can be used for storage on the Island of Misfit Toys.

Mele Kalikimaka to all my readers!