I love seeing your snowy surroundings – beautiful – and I love even more that I do NOT have snowy surroundings here in Phoenix, though it is pretty cold for us, about 50 degrees Fahrenheit. (Poor us.)

BTW, tell your mate who had the unsubscribers after his “Xmas” remark that he did nothing wrong or disrepectful. Those folks are merely uninformed and their ire is misdirected. Abbreviations used as Christian symbols have a long history in the church. The letters of the word “Christ” in Greek, the language in which the New Testament was written, are chi (c or X) and rho (r or P), used in the early church to create the chi-rho monogram (Chrismons). By the fifteenth century Xmas emerged as a widely used symbol for Christmas. In 1436 Johannes Gutenberg invented the printing press with moveable type. In the early days of printing typesetting was done by hand and was very tedious and expensive. As a result, abbreviations were common and in religious publications the church began to use the abbreviation X for the word “Christ” to cut down on the cost of the books and pamphlets. It is, however, still pronounced Christmas, if that would give these “religious” folks any comfort.

So….Merry Xmas to you and your family, Tony!

Jacque LaMantia

Enjoy your Christmas. Make money.

Go easy on the booze.

See you in twenty-ten with bulging pockets.

All the best!

Al

Stays up all night, wondering if there’s a dog.

Merry Christmas Tony )