Whenever I see this abbreviation I vividly remember my second-grade teacher, Miss Hale, who told us in a horrified tone that substituting "X" for "Christ" was disrespectful.
But as it turns out, X isn't some Grinch-y 20th-century abbreviation designed to "take Christ out of Christmas": it has actually been used for centuries as a perfectly acceptable symbol for Christ. Take a look at the Wikipedia entry on "Xmas."
The same Wikipedia article also tells us that "X" is used as shorthand among florists: they abbreviate "chrysanthemum" as "Xant." Now that Miss Hale would have approved of: I once asked her how to spell "chrysanthemum," and she had to go look it up. True story.
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