We have become a society of “shortness.” By this, I don’t mean that everyone wants to be short. I have accepted my “fate” in this and have found a tee shirt that says it all: “Nobody ever suspects the short one.” I am going to order this shirt for myself and wear it proudly.

Whether it’s because we don’t have enough time to do what we need to do or we don’t make time, everyone seems to need more time. Therefore, we find shortcuts such as a machine to take out the commercials so we can watch an hour long show in 40 minutes and cars that go faster so we can reach our destination more quickly.

When I was young, we could take shorthand in our high school classes. Today, even grade school students know and regularly use such abbreviations as LOL, BFF, 4COL, or ADBB. Symbols are also used. For instance, :) is a smile. If the parentheses sign ( is used after the colon, it becomes a frown.

There are long lists of abbreviations, acronyms, and symbols on the Internet. It is important for parents and others who are in charge of children to know the meanings of these terms.

According to an Internet dictionary, a symbol is “something that stands for or suggests something else by reason of relationship, association, convention, or resemblance.”

The word “Christmas” has many different symbols. One of them is an “X” which is substituted for the first six letters of the word. Many people are upset by the use of Xmas instead of Christmas. They believe the term to be another way for people to try to mark Christ out of the holiday.

Many years ago, Thomas J. Eastes, a long time pastor of our church in Delbarton, explained to a group of us young people that “X” is the Greek letter for Christ. More accurately, it is the Greek letter chi which is the first letter in the word “Christ.”

Therefore, when we use Xmas, we are not changing the word at all. It is still Christmas.

When I researched this to make sure I correctly remembered what Preacher Eastes said, I found some other symbols for Christmas.

According to Wikipedia, these are called “Christograms” and are defined as follows: “A monogram or combination of letters that forms an abbreviation for the name of Jesus Christ.”

Most of these were unknown to me, but their origin and usage is very interesting. One of these Christograms is ICXC which is an abbreviation for Jesus Christ in the Greek language.

Another of these is HIS or IHC. This term is a little more involved in its origin, but it, along with Chi-Rho, has a very interesting history. They can be found on http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christogram.

Another item of information one can find on the Internet is a list of foreign terms, all of which mean “Merry Christmas.” No matter how it is said, Christ is always at the center of the term.

Some people in America don’t want Christ to be the center of Christmas. They encourage use of such terms as “Happy Holidays” in order to make Christ’s role seem a minor one or even a non-existent one.

In the past few years, companies have even instructed their employees not to say Merry Christmas to anyone while they are working. During the past two years, if I heard of a company making a point to do this, I boycotted them while I was buying presents.

Of course, they didn’t care or notice, but it made me feel better. If all Christians did this, pretty soon, employers would be saying, “Tell them what they want to hear!!!! Say that word ‘Christmas.’”

This year, there is a wonderful song on the Internet. Actually, it is on U Tube, but someone sent it to me in an email. The title of the song is “It’s Called Christmas with a Capital C,” and some of the lyrics are as follows:

Well, I went to the coffee shop to get myself a Mocha.

The lady at the counter said, “Happy holidays.”

I said, “Thanks, lady, I am pretty happy,

But there’s only one holiday that makes me feel that way.”

It’s called Christmas, what more can I say?

It’s about the birth of Christ

And you can’t take that away.

You can call it something else,

But that’s not what it will be.

It’s called Christmas with a capital “C.”

One of the other statements in the song tells people who don’t want Christmas to be celebrated that they cannot keep others from saying Merry Christmas.

People who don’t want Christ in Christmas can’t even celebrate Christmas. They can celebrate any day in place of Christmas, but it is impossible for them to celebrate Christmas because the reason for the holiday is the birthday of Jesus. Without Him, there is no holiday.

Santa Claus didn’t create Christmas. The gift of giving, along with legends about a man named Saint Nicholas, created Santa. The holiday isn’t named Santamas. It is Christmas.

There is no way to get around it. Substituting “Happy Holidays” or “Season’s Greetings” for “Merry Christmas” doesn’t make it true. If this were a reality, I would call my bank account balance "a million dollars." You can call something anything you wish, but it doesn’t make it that thing. Christmas is still Christmas, and Christ is the reason we celebrate it.

This year, I am going to refuse to allow people to wish me any season’s greetings unless I respond by answering, “Merry Christmas.” Actually, I guess I should say, “Merry Christ mass,” and really put THAT word into the message.

So, if you are in Walmart sometime during this holiday season, and you hear a little short woman with curly hair say, “Merry Christ mass,” to someone else, you will know it is me—unless, of course, my idea starts to grow.