The gospel according to Mr. Scrooge.

"A Christmas Carol really invented the idea of Christmas as a paradox, 'a merry time that entails duties and obligations, especially to the poor.' To this conception Dickens added an astonishing new notion--that Christmas must be henceforth a special festival of redemption, a time for everybody to take stock and lead a better life. It's an idea so simple that it is to some people a ridiculous sentimentality, to others a sublime glimpse of a possible human change--conversion."--British journalist Alistair Cooke, in "Christmas Reflections" of his famous series Letter from America (BBC News, Dec. 30, 2002)

When I stand before God at the end of my life, I would hope that I would not have a single bit of talent left and I could say, "I used everything that you gave me." --Erma Bombeck American humorist (1927-1996)