The ABC's of Christmas ~ X

What is the Christmas spirit? It is the spirit which brings a smile to the lips and tenderness to the heart; It is the spirit which warms one into friendship with all the world, which impels one to hold out the hand of fellowship to every man and woman. ~ Anonymous

Welcome to the next letter in the ABC's of Christmas! 

Internet

Today's letter is X.

is for...
Xmas, Xylophone, and Angels We Have Heard on High.

The term "Xmas" is a bone of contention for many since it seems an informal and crass abbreviation of what is a very traditional and celebrated event. 

The X stems from the Greek word for Christ, so the abbreviation is accurate, however it is a term that is discouraged since it seems to gloss over the importance of Jesus. While the term was used on occasion by the likes of Lord Byron, Samuel Coleridge and Lewis Carroll, in secular society it is also considered rather abhorrent by many, including myself.

I feel it is of the utmost importance to write Merry Christmas on your Christmas cards and not Xmas.

Source

Please, let's keep Christ in CHRISTmas. He is the Reason for the season and without His coming that first time, there would be no Christmas.

I wish you all a Very Merry CHRISTmas!

A vintage xylophone by Fisher Price, courtesy of the Internet

Xylophone ~ The xylophone is an instrument belonging to the family of the percussion musical instruments. It's bars are made of wood. There is a similar instrument also in the percussion instruments called the glockenspiel. It's bars however,  are made of steel. 

My youngest son got a xylophone for Christmas when he was a little fellow. He always had an ear for music as did all my guys. 
He played percussion in the school band but he always preferred instruments like these rather than the drum kit. I remember at one Christmas band concert, he had to run from one instrument to another while performing. Percussionists play many instruments in the course of their music and I am always amazed at how all those instruments together can make such beautiful music. My son also loved to play the keyboards. 

I think most little ones probably had a glockenspiel or a xylophone at one time or another. 

Angels We Have Heard on High is inspired by the French carol known as Les Anges dans nos campagnes composed by Francois- Augiste Gevaert in France. The French song has received many adjustments including Angels We Have Heard on High written in 1862 by James Chadwick, the Bishop of Hexham and Newcastle, northeast England.

I chose this particular song for today's letter X because the chorus goes, "Gloria, in ex-cel-sis Deo!

Angels we have heard on high
Sweetly singing o'er the plains,
And the mountains in reply
Echoing their joyous strains.

Refrain:
Gloria, in ex-cel-sis Deo!
Gloria, in ex-cel-sis Deo!

Thank you for visiting today and I invite you to join me again tomorrow for the letter Y.

Sharing from my heart ~ Sandi