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THE ONE WITH THE HOLIDAY READING CONT.
This is the Granddaddy of all Christmas stories, and just about everyone is familiar with the redemption of Ebeneezer Scrooge. Hollywood certainly loves it, as there are no fewer than 25 movies or made for TV programs that use the theme. From Bill Murray in “Scrooged” to “The Muppet Christmas Carol,” the story of Ebeneezer and his ghosts has been thoroughly covered.
However, if you are only relying on the video versions, you are missing out on Dickens’ beautiful prose. You won’t be getting the true despair that drives Ebeneezer, nor will you fully grasp his growing realization of how his choices have shaped his life.
The moment of Scrooge’s redemption is always the heart of any retelling, but in reading the book, you get a much more in depth feeling of how his change truly affects everyone, not just the man himself but the Cratchit family as well. When Tiny Tim says “God Bless Us, Everyone” you realize that there is much more to that message than just what is on the surface.
Based on: A Christmas Carol, written by Charles Dickens (1845)
By the same author: The Cricket on the Hearth; Oliver Twist
Also take a look at: A Child’s Christmas in Wales by Dylan Thomas; Christmas Day in the Morning by Pearl S. Buck