Kenneth G. Wilson (1923–). The Columbia Guide to Standard American English. 1993.
Xmas (n.)
is an abbreviation for Christmas (X is also sometimes used as an abbreviation for Christ in abbreviations such as Xian, for Christian). Xmas occurs mainly in advertising headlines and other Informal contexts where space is short, and it is pronounced either KRIS-muhs or EKS-muhs, the latter often jocular and usually at the lower Conversational levels. Best advice: avoid the abbreviation in Edited English, and please yourself and your correspondents in your notes and letters, as you do in conversation. Some Christians take strong exception to both the spelled and pronounced abbreviations.
