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- 4 POINTS TO PONDER (Reader's Digest) Christmas reminds us that we are not alone. We are not unrelated atoms, ricocheting and jouncing amid aliens, but are a part of something, which holds and sustains us. As we struggle with shopping lists and invitations, compounded by December's bad weather, it is good to be reminded that there are people in our lives who are worth this aggravation, and people to whom we are worth the same. Christmas shows us the ties that bind us together, threads of love and caring, woven in the simplest and strongest way within the family. - Donald E. Westlake Who was Scrooge? Ask almost anyone and they will tell you he was a miser, a miserable curmudgeon. Yet, in a way, to say that is to miss the whole point of the story, for, by the end of A CHRISTMAS CAROL, he is a generous and kindly man. Sadly, no one ever seems to remember this when they talk about him. - he's still the miserly old Scrooge they met at the beginning of the story. Poor old Scrooge he does not get the credit he deserves. It is so easy to condemn, to remember the worst in people. It is possible that we all have one or two "Scrooges" in our lives - people we see only in a bad light. Maybe they made a mistake once. Perhaps we should not hold it against them. Remember: it is the Scrooge at the end of the book that matters, not the one at the beginning! ANON. I wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Tony Scammell Editor