An Xmas question

[StealthPolarBear]

DH and I were discussing the fact that we don't like the word 'Xmas' as a replacement for Christmas.
I said that I didn't even understand how it had come about, was 'Cross-mas' meant to sound good enough?
DH said that he didn't actually think it was an abbreviation, but instead the PC version. So Christians have Christ-mas and to make it a non-religious holiday it has become X-mas (so as X is often used to denote a missing unknown).
That had never even occured to me, yet we both felt we were right in an always-known sort of way, something you never think to question iyswim, which I thought was really interesting.
What does everyone else think? Does anyone know for definite?

I thought X was a replacement for Christ? possibly some sort of reference to the crucifixion?

Well, I'm wrong! as least, as long as Wikipedia is right.

The word "Christ" and its compounds, including "Christmas", have been abbreviated for at least the past 1,000 years, long before the modern "Xmas" was commonly used. "Christ" was often written as "XP" or "Xt"; there are references in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle as far back as 1021 AD. This X and P arose as the uppercase forms of the Greek letters χ and ρ), used in ancient abbreviations for Χριστος (Greek for "Christ"), and are still widely seen in many Eastern Orthodox icons depicting Jesus Christ.

Some believe that the term is part of an effort to "take Christ out of Christmas" or to literally "cross out Christ";[2] it is also seen as evidence of the secularization of Christmas, as a symptom of the commercialization of the holiday (as the abbreviation has long been used by retailers). It may also be used as a vehicle to be more inclusive (See political correctness).

The occasionally held belief that the "X" represents the cross Christ was crucified on has no basis in fact.

I don't like it written down, I really don't like it said aloud!

I'm a Christian and more than happy to use Xmas for the reasons Lapin found on Wiki - X is Chi in Greek and so represents Christ.

I would use Xian as shorthand for Christian for example.

Thanks! So we were both wrong really and it's OK as an abbreviation!

Well I use it a lot on here but purely out of laziness in that I can't be bothered to type the whole word. But interesting that it does still represent "Christ".

My real name Christine is spelt with an X in greek

I always thought it was a modern slang word used by signwriters and others too lazy to write it out in full, or by headline writers in tabloids short on space. That is, until I came across it on the Antiques Roadshow last Sunday in a thankyou letter dated 1930 from the Queen Mother to her obstetrician after giving birth to Princess Margaret. So it's at least 77 years old!
I have to say I don't like it though, it looks kind of cheap and nasty, not what Christmas is all about.