Should we say Christmas or Xmas?

It's a very big question as many people think that to say "Xmas" is to remove Christ from Christmas, and therefore removing the whole meaning of Christmas. But as with so many modern-day myths, that doesn't quite stack up!

Christmas comes from joining together the two words "Christ" and "Mass". meaning the Christian service that celebrates the birth of Jesus. It's strange then, that it's so common to also use an X! We certainly don't have that kind of thing for other important words. So there must be something more to it.

In fact, the early church used the first to letters of the Greek alphabet from the Greek word for Christ, Christos, and joined them together to make a symbol. They joined the letter X (chi, which rhymes with eye) and the letter P (called rho) and used that to denote Jesus. The P sits above the X and touches the X at its centre. In fact, early Christians would use an "x" to show each other that they were members of this new religion.

So there you have it. Rather than disrespecting Jesus, or taking Christ from Christmas, It's actually OK to say "Xmas" or "Christmas" as they mean the same thing. But don't worry - Christmas Warehouse will always stay the same. It's just wouldn't feel right to call ourselves Xmas Warehouse.