That ol' Janx ... er, Christmas spirit

[unixronin]

The following is grabbed from fruitylips, who got it from Joe Katzman on Winds of Change and pasted it into Bitmines on ICB:

"A number of years ago, we lived next door to a diplomat at the Pakistani Consulate.  You might think this would be a recipe for friction, but he was nice enough.  9/11 was several years away and if anyone had a legitimate beef, it was our (formerly Pakistani) Isma'ili Muslim neighbours on the other side.  But I digress.

"Anyway, Christmas comes around, and some bright acquaintance decides to give this Muslim diplomat a bottle of whiskey for the holidays.  Since this is sort of like sending the Israeli Consulate a smoked ham, our neighbour came over with an embarrassed expression.  Would we like a bottle of fine whiskey?

"To this day, I still think of it as the perfect North American holiday story:  a Muslim giving his Jewish neighbours a bottle of whiskey for Christmas."