Xmas = Christmas, with no difference in meaning (no, seriously!)

Is writing Xmas offensive to you?  It is to some!  It shouldn't be...  Xmas isn't taking the "Christ" out of Christmas, but is a Greek writing for Christ that literally means Christ (or Χριστός) and doesn't lose one jot or title of the meaning.  In fact, the X in Xmas is actually as old as Christianity itself.

The Greek word for Christ is "chi"just as the third letter of the Greek alphabet is "chi."  So, Xmas is a capitalized writing of Christmas!  Even written in the 1948 Vogue's Book of Etiquette where it warns that "'Xmas' should never be used" in greeting cards (Fenwick, Millicent, Vogue's Book of Etiquette: A Complete Guide to Traditional Forms and Modern Usage, Simon and Schuster, 1948, p 611, retrieved via Google Books, December 27, 2008; full quote seen on Google Books search page).  But, for those of us who are offended by the use of Xmas may very well just be completely unfamiliar with the long history of Christians using an X in the place of 'Christ' (Wikipedia, "Xmas").

I understand where the feelings of having your God slighted or eliminated comes from and feels like, but, a little understanding and charity needs to be applied here.  Even if it's written by a person simply to abbreviation, we can not cast the first stone.

JPS