On December 19, 1843 Charles Dickens published “A Christmas Carol” – the original title was “A Christmas Carol in Prose, Being a Ghost-Story of Christmas”.

The first time I recall seeing it was actually in cartoon with “Mr. Magoo’s Christmas Carol” (1962) and it was made for television with Jim Backus as the voice of Ebenezer Scrooge/Mr. Magoo.  Fast forward and in 1983 on the large screen “Mickey’s Christmas Carol” watching it recently out of college.  And then there was “The Muppet Christmas Carol” (1992) with Michael Caine and of course the Muppets.  Over fifteen years ago  I discovered the Christmas CD from 1979 with John Denver & The Muppets and shared it with my family – it is still one of my favorite Christmas CDs.  There have been versions of the movie which have included: Alastair Sim (1951), with George C. Scott (1984), and Bill Murray (1988), and Patrick Stewart (1999).

For me my favorite is to take an evening and read the entire short story from my Grandparent’s library they gave me their book many years ago – the inside cover has their name with the date “Nov. 29, 1946” written on it and the pages of the hardback have a little bit of that musty smell and is kept lovingly on display on my bookcase.  It is a well loved book and I still envision them huddled over it reading it – and my Dad would have been 17 at the time if we go by this date on the inside cover.  How I wish that between those pages there was a letter about Christmas tucked in among the pages for me to discover!   So this year when reading it I will tuck in a print out of this blog post today and add a handwritten note on it to include and tuck it among the pages.

Here from YouTube the trailer for “The Muppet Christmas Carol”

As we find ourselves on this final weekend before Christmas  I hope it includes the time to enjoy this Christmas classic whether read or watched.   And so for today I’m closing with quoting Tiny Tim: “God bless us, every one!”
Anchors Aweigh,

Helen

Attribution & Thank you to the following who are referenced today — 

Image shown upper left cover of book “A Christmas Carol” by Charles Dickens, Photographer: Heritage Auctions, Inc. Dallas, Texas [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons.   “Charles Dickens: A Christmas Carol. In Prose. Being a Ghost Story of Christmas. With Illustrations by John Leech. London: Chapman & Hall, 1843. First edition. Original publisher’s cinnamon vertically-ribbed cloth. Sold for: $33,460.00 (Jun 3, 2008)

YouTube: “The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992) Original Trailer” posted by TheTrailerGal