So my dad reads this book every December (right?), and I have never actually read it! So I tried to request it at the library, but it had a waiting list. So I actually found it online for free (
http://www.learnlibrary.com/xmas-carol/index.htm) and read it while addressing Christmas cards yesterday and today. (Now that I go to cancel my reservation, I saw it just shipped. Oh well.) It is a super short book, but packed with great messages.
First of all, I mostly remember the story from "A Muppet Christmas Carol". I am amazed at just how closely they stuck to the story! I thought for sure there would be more embellishing than there was. Besides the fact that Bob Cratchit was a frog and the narrator was a Gonzo.
Anyway, it is such a wonderful story about redemption and the ability that someone has to change. The whole story is about Scrooge getting the lesson of his life and seeing just how unkind and stingy he has been throughout his life, and what will happen in the end if he doesn't change. The concept of Jacob Marley (Who I always want to call Bob......) is a terrifying one, when you read it in this perspective. None of this "Marley and Marley" business, he is a scary ghost whose jaw falls off when he unwraps his head! And then Scrooge looks out the window and sees a bunch of other ghosts who are weeping and wailing and lamenting their own mistakes. Many of them were people that Scrooge knew. How terrifying!
The ghost that I actually found the least interesting was the Ghost of Christmas Past. Its entrance is super startling, if you read closely enough and didn't miss the sentence where Dickens says the ghost was "as close to it as I am now to you, and I am standing in the spirit at your elbow". CREEPY. I got chills when I read it. Although I did learn that Scrooge only had one sister, who had one child, who was his nephew Fred. What also surprised me while reading these events was how quickly Scrooge seemed to lighten up, and enjoy the spirit of Christmas. I always thought he was more hesitant than he was in the story.
The Ghost of Christmas Present seemed to be exactly as I expected him to be. He is kind of sassy, throwing Scrooge's words back at him when he wants to be more charitable. That is a way to make sure that Scrooge not only wants to be better, but see where he went wrong for so many years. There is actually a quote that I LOVE, because it applies so aptly to the political climate of fear that is happening right now. Scrooge asks him why he (I'm assuming he means Christianity) allows people to shut the poor out and close their doors every 7 days. The ghost replies, "`There are some upon this earth of yours who lay claim to know us, and who do their deeds of passion, pride, ill-will, hatred, envy, bigotry, and selfishness in our name, who are as strange to us and all our kith and kin, as if they had never lived. Remember that, and charge their doings on themselves, not us.'" Hopefully we can all remember that with all the stories and news that are being spread around right now.
The other part of the story of the Ghost of Christmas Present that was not present in the Muppets version (or any other version that I can recall) are the two children who hang onto his robes. Ignorance and Want. Just as applicable today as it was then.
The part that I found most interesting with the Spirit of Christmas Yet to Come is that the spirit seems to pity and have compassion for Scrooge. When Scrooge is kneeling before his grave begging to change his own future, the spirit seems to tremble and shake. Scrooge was awfully bold to grab his hand... Eesh.
When he goes through all this, and sees how he could have helped the world and his future if nothing changes, Scrooge says, "I will honour Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year. I will live in the Past, the Present, and the Future. The Spirits of all Three shall strive within me. I will not shut out the lessons that they teach". And he really doesn't. I almost got teary reading about how grateful he was to have this second chance. I'm sure if I had a boss who was as awful to me as Scrooge was to Cratchit, I would not be so quickly receptive to his new mentality. I would wonder what he was trying to get at, or what he would extort me for later. But that just shows how good of people Scrooge had been surrounded with, even if he didn't know it.
So I HIGHLY recommend this story for anyone. It is a perfect story for Christmas time, and helps you get into the right spirit about the season.
