It was the first day back to school after Christmas vacation and the teacher was not ready for school and was not overly prepared. She used a good bit of the morning by going around the room and asking each child to tell how he or she spent Christmas.

The first boy said, “Well, we are Catholics and we went to midnight Mass and came home and went right to bed. The next morning we had a big breakfast and sat around the Christmas tree and opened all our presents.”

The second child then told her experience. “We are United Methodists but we did about the same thing. We went to the Christmas Eve Candlelight Service and came home and went to bed We had a big Christmas breakfast and then opened all our presents.”

The third child then said, “Well, we aren’t Christians. But we did have a big breakfast and opened presents around the tree. Then we all got into the car and went downtown to my dad’s department store. He showed us all the empty shelves. He showed us all the money. Then we made a circle around the cash register, joined hands, and sang, ‘What a friend we have in Jesus’.”

Tags: Christmas, greed