I find it interesting and not the least bit questionable that the rallying cry this time of year from the American Evangelicals is to "Keep Christ in Christmas." They are easily offended, and their offense at this time is toward the phrase "Happy Holidays." Some are offended at the term "X-mas." To them, it detracts from the "reason for the season."

So, let me dissect things.

"Happy Holidays" can be quite appropriate, if one understand the history of the terminology. While it is true that many use the phrase, even enforce it, so as to avoid saying Christmas, so as to avoid any mention of Christ, so as not to acknowledge Jesus, the word "holiday" itself is not bad word. I don't think you can say that any word, in and of itself, is bad; the "bad" comes from how the word is used (and this would include, I would say, those nasty four-letter words we like to avoid, unless you're watching late night television, but that's for another time, perhaps). So, it would be valid to ask, "What do you mean when you say 'holiday?'"

It would, likewise, be valid to point out what the word "holiday" means. The word "holiday" stems from two words, which you can probably see if you look at the word: "holy" and "day." So, a holiday is a holy day, and a holy day is a day set aside to be different from an ordinary day. So, technically speaking, Christmas is a holiday in that it is a holy day in that it is a day set aside to be different from an ordinary day.

But, why the plural? Well, in the the American society (as well as in modern civilization and well as in days past), this time of year is marked by a vast cultural number of holidays. The Christians have Christmas (which the world, by and large has also adopted), which for the Christian lasts 12 days. The Jews have Hanukkah at about the same time, and lasts eight days. There's that made-up set of days (the number eludes me) called Kwanzaa. And there are myriad pagan winter solstice holidays centering around the end of the third week of December. These all coincide, and so there are holidays here.

For the Christian, however, as mentioned, there are 12 days of Christmas. These begin on December 25, or the evening of December 24, as the first day of Christmas. These end with January 5, the evening of that day. January 6 (the evening of January 5) is, itself, another holiday—Epiphany, on which Christians celebrate the visit of the magi to the toddler Jesus.

Therefore, for a Christian to call Christmas and its season holidays would not be removing Christ from them, if the term "holiday" is understood properly. Still, a caution should be added there not to think of the term "holiday" as the world does.

As for X-mas, the X is shorthand for Christ. The Latin letter X looks like the Greek letter Χ (chi), which is the first letter in the Greek word, "Χριστός," which means Christ. So, shorthandedly, X-mas keeps Christ in the word Christmas.

However, for the Evanglical American Christian to say "Keep Christ in Christmas," is questionable, at best, when they remove Him from His Supper, when they remove His Supper from worship on Christmas (Eve and Day), when they remove worship on Christmas. For one thing, how can you keep Christ in Christmas if you do not go to where He says He is for you on Christmas? For another, how can you keep Christ in Christmas when you do not eat His body and drink His blood on Christmas? This is, sadly, not unique to Evangelical Christendom, but many in the Lutheran Churches fall short here, too; replacing the Divine Service—Gottesdienst—is a cutesy children's program. Christmas Eve is marked only by Vespers—a noble hour, indeed—and there is no sign of the fullness of the Divine Liturgy. And in the Evangelical American churches, if communion is celebrated at all, it is done ignoring the "is" in the Gospels and 1 Corinthians when Jesus says, "This is my body," and "This is...my blood."

There is more harm coming from Christians than unbelievers when it comes to Christ being in or not being in Christmas. We should not expect non-Christians to want to keep Christ in their idea or celebration of Christmas. However, Christ and His coming (in the past, the present, and the future) should be central in the Christian's celebration of Christmas. And that finds its zenith in the mass, the celebration of the Lord's Supper, where Jesus gives His body to be eaten and His blood to be drunk. Hence the term Christmas, the Christ Mass. Christmas is a church holiday, a day set apart to rejoice in the coming of Christ to man, and celebrated in His coming to man as He gives His body and blood in the Sacrament of the Altar.

The only way to keep Christ in Christmas is not to remove Him in the means by which He comes. Celebrate the Divine Liturgy ("λειτουργία," which word—leitourgia—means "service," and by divine, we mean to say that God serves man), and you will have not removed Christ from Christmas, but kept Him there.