a digital scrapbook

Fauntleroy Ferry | by jamiey

Merry Christmas and happy holidays, everyone! It’s holiday fun fact time again. This time a simple etymology tidbit about the word “Christmas” or “Xmas”.

The word Christmas originated as a compound meaning “Christ’s Mass”. It is derived from the Middle English Christemasse and Old English Cristes mæsse, a phrase first recorded in 1038.[8] “Cristes” is from Greek Christos and “mæsse” is from Latin missa (the holy mass). In Greek, the letter Χ (chi), is the first letter of Christ, and it, or the similar Roman letter X, has been used as an abbreviation for Christ since the mid-16th century.[16] Hence, Xmas is sometimes used as an abbreviation for Christmas.

From: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christmas

Holidazzle 2010 | by rprins

I’m not a fan of below freezing temperatures.

Ryan took this photo of me trying to stay warm during the Holidazzle parade in downtown Minneapolis. The funny part is that this was probably the least cold (and thus best) night to go during the time we were there. Climate aside, it was super cute and we ate hot mini doughnuts as waited for the parade to start. Besides, these guys were DELIGHTFUL. Paul and Jordan joined us too! It was a nice night in the city.