The premise of “The Polar Express” is to believe in the magic of the season – I believe! I believe!

It is Christmas Day as I write this letter. My family is scattered far and wide and I live alone (by choice) in Jefferson. Last night, by the light of the near full moon and the fresh white snow on the field behind my house, I swear I could see Santa’s sleigh zoom across the sky headed South with a tremendous load of gifts.

If you want a cause to chuckle, and who doesn’t need one these days, try giving some small children a simple cardboard box and watch what they do with it. In short order, they could turn it into a fort, or a plane, a boat or a place to hide.

The Dec. 5 Christmas Town & Craft Fair hosted by Jefferson Fire & Rescue was a great success. A record number of crafters and artisans filled the apparatus bay at the firehouse, as children enjoyed Christmas Town and a visit with Santa.

One would think, at my age, I would have learned not to be surprised at the human propensity for parochialism. Yet, I was amazed at last Wednesday night’s spectacle at the urgently reassembled Midcoast Bypass Task Force meeting at the Edgecomb Eddy School.

I recently read a news article that had words to the effect of “Christmas is winning this Christmas.” It grabbed my attention and I wanted to know more.

Thanks to an eagle with a sense of time and place, Maine may now seize the opportunity to re-evaluate what’s needed to improve the flow of traffic through Wiscasset during the summer months. However beneficial a by-pass may appear in theory, a four mile, 250 foot wide, $100 million by-pass simply is not worth the cost in money, environmental destruction and human misery.

Wiscasset High School has come up with a wonderful way to teach our children about intolerance. By insisting on continuing to use the Redskin “mascot” name for their sports teams, they have clearly taught us all some lessons.

With the retirement of our oldest employee last year, there isn’t a single person currently working for Lincoln County Publishing who was alive when Pearl Harbor was attacked Dec. 7, 1941.

On Nov. 26, Lincoln County and the State of Maine lost Donald M. Bisset, retired State Fire Marshal. Don had a lengthy career in public service, which included serving his country actively in World War II, many years in the Maine State Fire Marshal’s Office, serving as the first State Fire Marshal from 1975 to 1991, and as a Jefferson selectman after his retirement from the state.

This week we report two separate stories on two separate boards of selectmen sending two separate, strongly worded letters to the Dept. of Transportation regarding the potential cancellation of plans for the Wiscasset bypass.

The Waldoboro Food Pantry and the Waldoboro Lions Club want to thank those individuals and organizations who made generous money and food donations to the food bank in the recent months.

First a thank you for your editorial concerning Dec. 7, 1941.

With the above in mind, may I relate an experience circa 1950-1953. On June 5, 1950, North Korea attacked South Korea and America, via the U.N., entered into a so called “police action” to push North Korea back over the 38th parallel. It worked well until China entered the fray. That tilted the odds in North Korea’s favor. By 1953 all hostilities were over and an armistice was signed. (Note: not a surrender, that’s passé.)

About this time two years ago we had an extremely brief editorial meeting during which we decided we were going to continue LCN’s longstanding tradition of calling Christmas things Christmas names.