RANT RAV!NGS 2013 - Righting societal atrocities...since 1981.

Merry Christ-X!

There has always been heated debates on whether use of the abbreviation "Xmas" takes the "Christ" out of "Christmas."

Some argue strongly against using a letter in place of sweetest Name of all.

In 2005, Franklin Graham weighed in on the matter during an interview on CNN's American Morning show:

"...for us as Christians, this is one of the most holy of the holidays, the birth of our savior Jesus Christ. And for people to take Christ out of Christmas. They're happy to say merry Xmas. Let's just take Jesus out. And really, I think, a war against the name of Jesus Christ."

Others point out that the letter "X" was frequently used for "Christ" historically.

Doug Gray has a load of information on his site of Christian symbols:

CHI RHO – 1. This monogram is the oldest known monogram of Jesus Christ dating back to the second century. It is sometimes referred to as a Christogram. The Chi (χ = ch) and the Rho (ρ = r) are the first three letters of Christ (Christos) in the Greek language. They are frequently found carved in the catacombs, on tombs and in wall paintings.

Even if there is nothing historically wrong with representing Christ with the letter "X," I tend to lean towards Graham's position.

"O Come"

This is our 2009 Christmas card, "O Come."

I based the design off of an image I found on iStock Photo.

My idea was to convey the message of Jesus' life, with His birth foreshadowing His death and resurrection.

Early concepts portrayed a sleeping baby with a crown of thorns swaddling him.

But that was probably not "Christmas-card-appropriate".

So I was browsing through stock photos and I found the PERFECT image, that I decided to design the card around it.

This is the final product.

MONK's Final Case, Final Time

Tomorrow night America will say goodbye to "a TV treasure".

And boy, are they rubbing it in.

This promo is enough to send me into mourning for a month.

You can be sure that Monk-o-philes nationwide will be bitter-sweetly celebrating the close of a Friday night tradition.

USA will be "wrapping things up," by running a Monk marathon tomorrow counting down to "Mr. Monk and the End, pt.2".

Part one of the finale was pretty epic, and rather serious for a change.

Part two sure has a lot of ground to cover in 44 minutes, including matching a lot of expectations, which are admittedly high for some.

Though I may have my personal preferences, I take comfort in the fact that the writers and producers were able to create a final storyline that fits their vision.

Going out the way they wanted to.