But we're not speaking Greek here... we're speaking English - and you can't combine a Greek letter and an English suffix into one word... that does not make the whole thing English.
I think that for a while people thought it was "neat" to use "x" in stead of Christ because they thought it was "Cris mas", and the X is a "Cris-cross" symbol. However I have always gone with "Christmas" as a reference to the celebration of the Birth of the Christ child at a special yearly Mas in the Catholic tradition, and to show that the point of the holiday is remembrance and veneration of the greatest gift of all.
fsmedia: sorry I initially missed your post. chulium: Actually 'mas' is a religious ceremony that traditionally occurs in Latin if you want to get technical, but is celebrated everywhere by catholics. So if they spell it mas in Greece, saying Xmas instead of Christmas might be the equivalent of saying Gusuntite (spelling?) instead of God bless you when someone sneezes.
A few years back in Ottawa they had a holiday tree, not a Christmas tree, but a friggin' holiday tree. Stupid friggin' moron politicians and people that proposed/supported it.
Well lot's of English words come originally from Greek words. I think people should call it what they want, I don't care.