Xmas vs Christmas: Which holiday are you going to celebrate?

First off, I just want to make it clear that the majority of the ideas I choose to express this week are not necessarily original to me. While I am sure that many share these ideas, I have been indulging myself this Advent season by once again turning to C.S. Lewis for a bit of inspiration and philosophical advice. I read his essay called Xmas and Christmas, a lost chapter from Herodotus. It takes a look at modern times from the point of view of someone who is completely ignorant both of Christianity and of modern culture during the Xmas/Christmas season.. People spend an oddly large amount of time preparing for Xmas. One Xmas tradition involves sending little pieces of paper with images stamped on them to all of their friends, relatives, acquaintances and anyone else who might think about sending them a card. The images on the cards are of beautiful winter scenes, birds sitting in trees, people dressed as they did 200 years ago and riding around in coaches and on horseback. What, exactly these images have to do with the actual celebration of Xmas is a religious secret so closely guarded that no one will explain to an outsider. Given how much time and effort are spent on the cards though, it is obvious that they a very key part of Xmas. If they get a card from someone whom they failed to send a card to themselves, they stress out, utter curses at the sender, and trudge back out the door to by more Xmas cards. Sending gifts to each other is even more a painful and important a part of Xmas as are the cards. People go out and buy each other all kinds of things that they would never buy or want for themselves. The merchants and shopkeepers get into the spirit by selling all of the items that they were unable to sell during the rest of the year under the label of Holiday Special. All this is called the Rush. But when the day of Xmas actually comes around, everyone is so tired from preparing for it that they lay around in bed until noon and then get up and eat 5 times as much food as on a normal day and drink wine until they are too intoxicated to remember all the time and money they spent on Xmas. Such are the customs of Xmas. There are some, however who celebrate the festival of Crissmas on the same day that everyone else is celebrating Xmas. Those who celebrate Crissmas do so in the opposite way of those who celebrate Xmas. They rise early in the morning and go to their temples where they partake in their sacred feast. Many of their temples are filled with sacred images of a woman and her child, which are part of their sacred story. Some think that Xmas and Christmas are the same, since they are celebrated on the same day. This, of course, makes no sense whatsoever. First off, the images on Xmas cards have nothing to do with the sacred story the priests tell of Crissmas. And secondly, most people, not really believe in the religion of the few, nonetheless participate in the sending of cards and gifts and participate in the Rush and drink and feast. It does not stand to reason that anyone should suffer so many things in honor of a God they do not believe in..
I really enjoyed the entire essay by Lewis, and if you have the time I recommend that you read it here. It isn’t too long and it does a much better job of conveying Lewis’ wit and charm then I could ever hope to do.