I do hope we don't forget the true reason for our joy, as Linus from the Charlie Brown Christmas special reminds us:
We celebrate Christmas as the day where Jesus Christ, the Word, entered history, not as a mighty ruler, but as a small child:
In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God,
and the Word was God.
He was in the beginning with God.
All things came to be through him,
and without him nothing came to be.
What came to be through him was life,
and this life was the light of the human race;
the light shines in the darkness,
and the darkness has not overcome it.
The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world.
He was in the world,
and the world came to be through him,
but the world did not know him.
He came to what was his own,
but his own people did not accept him.
But to those who did accept him
he gave power to become children of God,
to those who believe in his name,
who were born not by natural generation
nor by human choice nor by a man's decision
but of God.
And the Word became flesh
and made his dwelling among us,
and we saw his glory,
the glory as of the Father's only Son,
full of grace and truth. (John 1:1-5, 9-14)
I should also mention, for my fellow Christians, that we shouldn't dismiss the phrase "Xmas" as a secularized greeting. For, as Bill Vallicella notes, the X "was merely a font-challenged typesetter's attempt at rendering the Greek Chi, an ancient abbreviation for 'Christ.' There is therefore nothing at all offensive in the expression 'Xmas.'"
So, once again, I bid you a merry Xmas!
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