Taking the X Out of Christmas: II

Image by timojazz via Flickr

I had originally included this as part of the first blog post regarding my rantings about replacing the word Christ with an X in Christmas, but I thought it would be a little inappropriate to follow that up with something as silly as talking about my exes...so here we are at the sequel...a separate, but indirectly related notion of taking the X out of Christmas...or in this case, the ex.

During a recent trip to Buffalo with an ex, I realized that there is really nothing left between us...nothing may be too strong of a word. We do have friendship left, but friendship is the only aspect of "us' that remains. When he had originally asked me to take the trip with him, I was flattered and thought that maybe this would be the breakthrough we needed to figure things out. By the time he dropped me off at my house, I realized this WAS the breakthrough I needed...to finally walk away. Nothing bad or earth-shattering happened during our fourteen hour road trip...no fighting, no accidents- nothing. It was in this nothingness that I realized that while he's one of my favorite people to watch basketball with or sometimes catch a movie with, that's all it is...friendship. I don't wait by the phone for him to call me. I don't care if I go through the week without seeing him. And I definitely don't have any plans of buying him a Christmas present. This year, I'm taking the ex out of Christmas...and the X.

Taking the X out of Christmas

Image by vasta via Flickr

I was initially writing this post about my general bewilderment regarding people taking "Christ" out of Christmas and replacing it with an "X," but I realized I could go in two different directions with this. But since that was my first idea, I'm going to run with that for a bit.

I go through this every year around this time....when people are diligently updating their Facebook statuses with Christmas news, plans, lists, etc. I've even had my own Facebook statutes about this very subject because I'll never understand it. Is it not bad enough that the media, advertisers, and marketers have made the holiday season more about someTHING than someONE? What kind of deals can I get? How many people do I have to buy presents for? Do people really forget what CHRISTmas is about? If you take out the Christ in Christmas...all you have is "mas"....more, more, more...excessive things...but less in terms of the true essence of Christmas. It seems that people only perpetuate this notion of thing-ness, if I may coin a word, by using the term X-mas. And why isn't Hanukkah shortened at all...or Kwanza? Where's the consistency? Ok, that's my tangent on that subject. I feel better now...until the next time I see someone writing X-mas. Happy Holidays!