My relationship with Mr. Scrooge began when I was six and my father played him in the production by Hardy Station Baptist Church. I don’t recall a lot about it, but I put importance on what I remember. It was faithful enough to the Dickens version that I had no surprises when I read the book for the first time. The scene I remember best was the last one when Scrooge chastises Bob Cratchit for coming in late the morning after Christmas. Even as a first grader, I loved the doubletake as Scrooge upends the scene by raising Bob’s salary and insisting that he throw another scuttle of coal on the fire.
Scrooge and I have become close. My personal readings of The Christmas Carol are numberless. As our children grew up, we spent nine years in San Antonio, Texas making long Christmas trips to North Mississippi before the days of electronic gadgets. Out came The Christmas Carol for a read-aloud to pass the time. Later, I had the pleasure (not joking) of teaching junior high for eight years. Guess what my December read-aloud became! With three two-hour classes, that’s three times each year. I own a copy or two of the book, but my favorite remains the cheap Scholastic Book Club copy with my margin notes to be sure my students didn’t miss Dickens having fun with his characters. I can repeat lines in my sleep if necessary.
You might think I would not want to ever see or hear of Scrooge again. Not so. My first Christmas movie this year was the 1938 version with Reginald Owen. I am aware that no movie can contain every element of the book but there are some sacred things. This movie does pretty well until it gets to the end and has Scrooge come to Bob’s house for Christmas dinner. Ebenezer and I both know he sent a walloping turkey to the Cratchits, went to Fred’s for dinner, and played the prank on Bob the next morning. Some things you just don’t mess with.
I’ve never understood why TV and movie writers felt the need to edit Dickens at all. However, I have a few favorite lines that must absolutely be left alone. Early in the story, Scrooge’s comment to his nephew so effectively shows his character, “If I could work my will, every idiot who goes about with ‘Merry Christmas’ on his lips should be boiled in his own pudding, and buried with a stake of holly in his heart.” The heart of the story comes in the line at the end of the scene with the Spirit of Christmas Present when Ebenezer asks about the two waifs hidden under her robe. She says, “This boy is Ignorance. This girl is Want. Beware of them both . . . but most of all beware of this boy, for on his brow, I see that written which is Doom.”
One of my teacher colleagues did yard art for a hobby. I commissioned a Dickens scene for my yard, and I’ve enjoyed welcoming Tiny Tim and Mr. Scrooge each Christmas since. Especially this year, the three of us share our greeting, “God bless us, every one.”