SCREEN SCROOGES: Scrooge’s Christmas

     The hand in which he wrote the address was not a steady one, but write it he did, somehow, and went down stairs to open the street door, ready for the coming of the poulterer’s man.  As he stood there, waiting his arrival, the knocker caught his eye.      “I shall love it asContinue reading “SCREEN SCROOGES: Scrooge’s Christmas”

Screen Scrooges: The Boy

     Rushing to the window, he opened it, and put out his head.  No fog, no mist; clear, bright, jovial. Stirring, cold; cold piping for the blood to dance to; Golden sunlight; Heavenly sky; sweet fresh air, merry bells.  Oh, glorious.  Glorious!      “What’s to-day?” cried Scrooge, calling downward to a boy in Sunday clothes,Continue reading “Screen Scrooges: The Boy”

2024 Self-Improvement (Yours)

     One of the services any good blogger should be ready to perform for readers is help out with New Year’s Resolutions.  This might seem a little late to some of you, but the people who get their Christmas shopping done by Halloween are not exactly my core audience.      And, anyway, by this timeContinue reading “2024 Self-Improvement (Yours)”

Screen Scrooges: Oh, Glorious! Glorious!

STAVE FIVE: The End Of It      Yes!  And the bedpost was his own.  The bed was his own, the room was his own.  Best and happiest of all, the time before him was his own, to make amends in!      “I shall live in the Past, the Present, and the Future!” Scrooge repeated, asContinue reading “Screen Scrooges: Oh, Glorious! Glorious!”

The Gobble-Uns Who Getcha

     Every culture on the Earth, it seems, has a demonic creature designed to punish, terrify, or simply eat disobedient children.  Sometimes demons, sometimes cranky witches, children are informed, will carry them away or sometimes just give them a solid thrashing.  And no holiday draws them out, at least in Europe, like Christmas.  Pere FouettardContinue reading “The Gobble-Uns Who Getcha”

Carol of the Yells II

     Once upon a time, the story goes, a Methodist preacher was on a voyage when a horrible storm sprang up.  The crew of the ship was doing its best to keep the vessel from coming to grief in the high winds, and several able-bodied passengers, including the preacher, had come on deck to helpContinue reading “Carol of the Yells II”

Screen Scrooges: The Stone

      “Spirit,” said Scrooge, “Something informs me that our moment of parting is at hand.  I know it, but I know not how.  Tell me what man that was we saw lying dead?”      The Ghost of Christmas Yet To Come conveyed him, as before—though at a different time, he thought; indeed, there seemed noContinue reading “Screen Scrooges: The Stone”