Very Happiest Holidays! — From your Gatestone Family.

Thank you for the Christmas presents, so to speak, that you provide us. And we correspond your wishes, by wishing a Merry Christmas to the Christians at Gatestone, and also a Happy Chanukah to the Jews there. We pray to our Holy God for your health, endurance, courage, conviction.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year 2017 for all the staff of the Gatestone Institute! I wish to all of you much support and a lot of audience for all the time, as well as many new readers.

All the very best to all Gatestone staff, supporters and moderators.

And Thank You! About six years ago I started cluing myself into this "Islam thing" and issues related to Israel after reading The Haj by Leon Uris. When I talk about "studying the issues" this website is in the top five in my "Favorites", alongside websites like the Middle East Forum, Jihad Watch and FrontPage Magazine. I appreciate the fact that you have a print function that actually works because I like to print out the articles, essays and reports so that I can actually have them in my hands. Sites like this have replaced my "morning paper" that have long since turned into propaganda rags for the left. It sounds corny but I actually look forward to waking up in the morning, sipping my coffee and reading these articles that I've printed out the night before. I'm one of these weird people who has filing cabinets stuffed with articles, essays and reports and Gatestone articles take up a lot of the space in those cabinets.

I had a gra'mom who read three newspapers in the morning; the LA Times, the now defunct Herald Examiner and our local Sun Telegram, and she was the one that passed on her love of books and reading to me. And that odd habit of cutting out relevant and interesting articles. (She used to send me articles and Doonsebury comic strips she clipped out of the paper when I was in the Navy)

After years of "reading the morning paper" it was tough "breaking the habit". It's hard to explain, but being able to sit there with a newspaper had a sort of "comfortable" or "reassuring" or nice feeling associated with it. That began to be ruined by the skyrocketing price and corporate takeover of "hometown papers". I didn't get it at the time, (I was sixteen), but I remember when Gannet took over our paper here in San Bernardino. Gra'mom was practically kicking over the furniture.

I started to understand years later when I worked for a cabinet company that took me up and down the West Coast. All the papers seemed like they rolled off the same press. And the "local" and "Letters to the Editor" section all but disappeared in the same way. And editorially seemed like they were written by the same people.

I know this probably makes absolutely no sense but I was sitting here printing out articles to read tomorrow and came across your "Happy Holidays" and thought I'd write a few words of appreciation. Anyway, Merry Christmas. Keep up the great work.