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Humor: Christmas

On the morning of December 26, a Catholic boy, a Protestant boy and a Jewish boy were talking about what their families did for Christmas.

The Catholic boy said, "It was wonderful. We all went down to my grandfather's church, and we said mass, and we gathered around the altar and sang Silent Night."

The Protestant boy said, "It was wonderful. We all went down to my grandfather's house, and we gathered around the fireplace and roasted chestnuts and sang Jingle Bells."

The Jewish boy said, "It was wonderful...We all went down to my grandfather's department store, and we gathered around the cash register and sang What a Friend We Have in Jesus."
* * * * *

Most Jews don't celebrate Christmas. For those who don't, the everpresent question of "What are you doing/did you do for Chistmas" at this time of year is an awkward one. This joke has some fun with that awkward question.

The joke reminds me of something that actually happened to me many years ago. One of my co-workers was being a little too aggressive in trying to convince me that Christmas was my holiday too, and that I was required to celebrate it. I jokingly created the Jewish conspiracy theory of Christmas: Yes, I told him, Christmas is a Jewish holiday. After all, look at what pulls Santa's sleigh: eight reindeer, plus Rudolph to light the others (like the Chanukkah menorah, which has eight candles and a ninth that is used to light the others). But I explained, Jews celebrate Christmas by selling presents, not by buying them.

Comments

KleoPatra said…
HA!!!! i like it! Good ones!
Unknown said…
beautiful!
Traveler Editor said…
Good jokes.
Just wanted to say,I recently discovered your site and have enjoyed it.
Very well done.

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