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WITandWISDOM(tm) - December 22, 2006 ISSN 1538-8794 ~~~~~~~ THOUGHTS: He who wishes to secure the good of others has already secured his own. – Confucius Source: Inspire, http://www.inspirelist.com/ ~~~~~~~ SPECIAL THOUGHTS: Our family had just gone to the mission field in Liberia, West Africa. It was our first Christmas away from home, and it was a busy time. My husband and I were working in an orphanage where we were helping to supervise 50 children, along with our own three small children. I was trying to make Christmas a special time for the children at the orphanage and for many of the families in the village as well. With the help of the older girls, I had popped enough popcorn over a wood stove to fill a 55-gallon drum. We had also prepared 300 yeast buns to give to the families on Christmas morning. At the same time, I was trying to make Christmas special for my own family and to instill in our children the true meaning of Christmas: that it is Jesus? birthday. Because our children had always had birthday cakes in special shapes, I made Jesus? birthday cake in the shape of a Christmas tree. I baked the cake, but because of the busyness of the season, I hadn’t had time to frost and decorate the cake until I was preparing Christmas dinner. I used hard candies to represent Christmas balls and lights on the tree, and I put a tall, thin candle in the center of the cake. The children were excited and surprised to see the special birthday cake for Jesus. As they looked at it, one of the children piped up, “Who’s going to blow out the candle?” I didn’t know how to answer, so I said, “I don’t know. We’ll have to wait until later to find out.” We placed the cake in the middle of our table and enjoyed our Christmas dinner. When we had finished eating, the family joined hands and sang “Happy Birthday” to Jesus. Just as we completed the song, a gust of wind came in through the windows and blew out the candle! Our three kids stared in amazement. One of them said, “Jesus blew out his candle!” It was a though someone had come and said “Amen” to that time. By Mary E Meyer Source: DECISION, December 1996 ~~~~~~~ THIS & THAT: Children's Christmas Carols! A teacher asked her students to write the words to their favorite Christmas Carols. Here are some of the humorous lines she received: We three kings of porridge and tar. On the first day of Christmas my tulip gave to me. Later on we'll perspire, as we dream by the fire. He's makin a list, chicken and rice. Noel. Noel, Barney's the king of Israel. Olive, the other reindeer, used to laugh and call him names. Frosty the Snowman is a ferret elf, I say. Sleep in heavenly peas. In the meadow we can build a snowman, then pretend that he is sparse and brown. You'll go down in Listerine. Oh, what fun it is to ride with one horse, soap and hay. O come, froggy faithful. Submitted by Elaine ~~~~~~~ KEEP SMILING: The balding middle aged man asked his barber, "Why charge me the full price for cutting my hair? There's so little of it." "Well, "said the barber, "actually I make little charge for cutting it. What you're paying for is my searching for it!" ~~~~~~~ TRIVIA: Research has shown that married men live longer than single men. So, for all you single men out there... If you want a sloowww death ...