Oops.. Merry Christmas!

This Quatern poem has 16 lines broken up into 4 quatrains (or 4-line stanzas).

Each line is comprised of eight syllables.

The first line is the refrain. In the second stanza, the refrain appears in the second line; in the third stanza, the third line; in the fourth stanza, the fourth (and final) line. There are no rules for rhyming or iambics. Writer's Digest, Robert Lee Brewer

My attempt at a Quatern:

Merry Xmas

I did write Xmas on a post.

Sounded as though I would be toast.

Didn't know I could be scolded

for writing a note I folded.

~

I had tree with lights and a roast

I did write Xmas on a post.

Being lazy and used shorthand

I thought I can't do a handstand.

~

At Christmas time all should be kind

Tough time of year, much on my mind.

I did write Xmas on a post.

Who will get excited the most.

~

I don't care, Christmas or Xmas

Respect for all, and no mass

Not Christian, but I do not boast

I did write Xmas on a post.

~~~~

I went to Snopes to find out if Xmas is disrespectful to Christmas, Christ, or Christians. The following is how Snopes responded:

Actually, this usage is nearly as old as Christianity itself, and its origins lie in the fact that the first letter in the Greek word for 'Christ' (Christós) is 'chi,' and the Greek letter 'chi' is represented by a symbol similar to the letter 'X' in the modern Roman alphabet (Χριστός). Hence 'Xmas' is indeed a legitimate abbreviation for the word 'Christmas' (just as 'Xian' is also sometimes used as an abbreviation of the word 'Christian').

None of this means that Christians (and others) aren't perhaps justified in feeling a little miffed when people take the shortcut of writing 'Xmas' rather than 'Christmas,' but the abbreviation was not created specifically for the purpose of demeaning Christ, Christians, Christianity, or Christmas -- rather, it's a very old artifact of a very different language. Snopes