A young man came home from college for Christmas.  On Christmas morning he unwrapped one very special gift.  On the box was a label that read “A Helpful Guide for the Starving Student”.  When he opened the box there was a Bible inside.  “Very funny,” he said to his parents.”

“It will help you when you are short on money,” his father replied.

“I’m sure it will,” he said, but he didn’t really believe it.

Several weeks later he was running low on funds so he e-mailed home, “Please send me some money.  I’m a bit short this week.”

“Read John 4:34” was the reply.

Frustrated that his parents wouldn’t send him some money, he borrowed some from his roommate.  The next week he had the same problem so he e-mailed them again.

“Read John 6:1 -15” was the reply.

“I guess it’s mac and cheese for supper this week,” he muttered to himself.

Two weeks later he was home for the weekend.

“Why didn’t you send any money when I asked?” he complained to his parents.

“Didn’t you use the Christmas gift we gave you?” asked his mother.

“Yeah,” he lied.  “I read it but it didn’t help.”

“Did you bring it with you?” asked his father.

“Yes,” he replied.  He dug it out of this backpack and gave it to his father.

His father opened the Bible to John 4 and handed it back to him.  To his utter dismay he saw a cheque for $100.00 taped to the page.

At the Electronic Fortune Cookie and Cookie Crumbles we really enjoy Christmas.  This is a special time for family and friends to celebrate love and life.  For many of us, it is also a time to celebrate the birth of Jesus.  For others there are other special religious or community events such as Hanukka or Kwanzaa.  Regardless of your beliefs, we’d like to wish you all a Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukka, Happy Kwanzaa and/or Happy Holidays.

We wish that you will experience peace and joy in the coming year and that you will be blessed with health and propserity.