Sunday, December 22, 2019

Happy Holidays!

I used my grandmother's collection of Christmas postcards on a recent post for History Imagined, a blog I contribute to once a month. What struck me as I was photographing the cards was how the word "Christmas" was abbreviated to "Xmas." We have been so shamed by this abbreviation in the past decades (Taking the Christ out of the holiday, etc.)  that it's fallen out of use. In fact, it's no longer fashionable to say "Merry Christmas." Instead, we should all say "Happy Holidays," so as not to offend other religions.




I realize that postcards didn't have a lot of room on which to print a message, but nonetheless, just like the Christmas postcard and, more recently, the proverbial Christmas card, the moniker of Xmas has fallen into disfavor. 

I'll keep these postcards as a reminder of Christmases past and will try to keep up with the e-card craze of today. So, however you celebrate, whether it's Christmas, Hanukkeh, Kwanzaa, or something else, have a happy holiday with friends and family, and a wonderful 2020. 

2 comments:

  1. That is so interesting. I had always assumed that Xmas was a more recent invention. Seems like everything is abbreviated these days. I did notice that it was hyphenated on your grandmother's card. I guess we dropped the hyphen somewhere along the way.

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