The strange abbreviation has ties to the Greek alphabet.

ATLANTA — ATLANTA— ‘Tis the season to shorten the word “Christmas” to “X-mas.”

There’s no "X" in the word Christmas.

Christmas is a celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ, not someone named Mr. X.

James Cooper, the creator of WhyChristmas.com, tells us the strange abbreviation is connected to the Greeks and the Greek alphabet.

The Greek word for Christ is Christos. The word is spelled beginning with the Greek letter Chi. If you’ve ever driven past the fraternity houses on a college campus, you may know that the Greek letter Chi is an X.

Sometimes, Christians will display the symbol of a fish. This was also started by the Greeks. If you look closely, the back of the fish looks kind of like an X.

So, it’s not so farfetched to use an "X" while abbreviating Christmas.

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