"A Christmas Carol"

I have recently become obsessed with "A Christmas Carol."

Last week, after a long day of work, I curled up in my chair and turned on Jim Hensen's "A Muppet Christmas Carol." I've since seen it and the 1935 version of the famous Charles Dickens about 4 times.  I'm listening to the soundtrack of the Muppet version as I blog. This is not some nutter obsession. I've always been an enormous fan of Dickens and I haven't read his works or seen renditions of his stories in a while. I was delightfully reminded of how great a story teller he was - I love how he conveyed that one's soul may be redeemed if only they turn their hearts from being filled with hate, to being filled with love. 

There could not have been a better pair than that between "A Christmas Carole" and the Muppets. Alright, if you haven't seen the movie, it is honest to goodness worth the 1.5 hours of your life, for you and your kiddos. 

The "Muppet Christmas Carole" Cast 

My favorite song and scene is "Thankful Heart" sang by Sir Michael Caine. Yep, Sir Michael Caine. He plays Scrooge and he does so brilliantly. 

Mr. Scrooge and Bob Crachet, as played by Kermit the Frog.

This movie is sooooooo sweet. Not convinced? Read through the below song and see if you're enticed:

"Thankful Heart"

"With a thankful heart, with an endless joy, 

With a growing family every girl and boy will be nephew and niece to me.

Will bring love hope and peace to me,

Yes and every night will end, and every day will start, 

With a grateful prayer and a thankful heart.

"With an open smile and with open doors, I will bid you welcome what is mine is yours,

With a glass raised to toast your health.

And a promise to share the wealth,

I will sail a friendly course, file a friendly chart,

On a sea of love and a thankful heart.

"Life is like a journey, who knows when it ends, 

Yes, and if you need to know the measure of a man, you simply count his friends.

"Stop and look arround you,

The glory that you see,

Is born again each day, 

Don't let it slip away, how precious life can be.

"With a thankful heart that is wide awake, I do make this promise, every breath I take will be used now to sing your praise.

And to beg you to share my days.

With a loving guarantee that even if we part, 

I will hold you close in a thankful heart

I will hold you close in a thankful heart."

God bless the Muppets! (And Charles Dickens and Sir Michael Caine!)

I've been in such a great mood since I first watched the Muppets - I have a bit of a stressful job and I have to deal with an hour of traffic on my commute home, but the spirit of this song and the other beautiful messages from a "Christmas Carole" have kept a grateful smile on my face. 

So go on, enjoy your recommended viewing from the Weekly Read. See if this doesn't absolutely put you in the Christmas mood. Remember, Christmas is not about the gifts, it's about the giving. 

I may not check in next week, so if I don't see you until after Christmas, may you and your loved ones, have a warm, wonderful, merry, happy, loving, Christmas! For those of you who are celebrating Hanukah, I wish you many evenings of happiness with the holiday! For those of you who celebrate Kwanza, many happy cheers to you as well! And for those of you who don't celebrate anything this time of year, may the warmth, and welcoming of the season fill your hearts with joy!

See you soon, dear readers! And thank you as always for tuning in!

Your humble author,

S. Faxon

Thanksgiving

*Heaved sigh of relief* Ahh, I don't know about you all, but I'm feeling relaxed and recharged after a beautiful, restful post-Thanksgiving weekend. So many of us get caught up in the Black Friday-Don't Burn the Bird weekend, that the reason for why we have Thanksgiving becomes muddled in the dust of shoppers running for discounts. As you can likely tell, I'm not an enormous fan of Black Friday, although admittedly I did go to Verizon to get a new phone (not because of the sales, but because after 2 years with my handy-dandy Motorola, it was time to upgrade), which resulted with me leaving with a new phone and 2 tablets...so take my commentary as you may.

Anyway, back to the thanks giving aspect of Thanksgiving weekend. As I was preparing the kitchen for the family to arrive on Thursday, I had the Macy's Day parade on in the background and it was positively delightful, until, the official parade began. Honestly, please don't think I have anything against the parade, but something struck me that I had never noticed before and which was the inspiration for this post; when the announcer said, "And here are the reminders of why we have this holiday, the very first two people to celebrate Thanksgiving, the Pilgrims!" Thus followed two large headed pilgrim balloons. Indeed, I do understand that this is a parade and historical accuracy is a minor detail, but lest history slips any farther, let us not forget the other half of the party without whom so lovely a premier feast likely would not have occurred, the Wampanoag. Yes, that is the name of the tribe of Native Americans who helped to keep the pilgrims slide that winter. I remember growing up not really being taught enough about Thanksgiving and in case you're now scratching your head like I was about what children of present day are being taught, I highly suggest checking out Plymoth's website for youngsters about the first Thanksgiving. In my humble opinion, I think they've done a really nice job at making a historical event that is an integral part of our American culture interactive and informative.

For you bigger kids out there like me, here's a website that I'd also recommend, and the History Channel has a nice "did you know" type of video on their website, mostly about the tradition of Thanksgiving itself.

So there's a couple of entertaining reads and things to see for the week. I'm going g to enjoy my rainy day off by sipping coco and getting my pen to the page.

Until next week.
I hope you all had beautiful, wonderful Thanksgivings!
Your humble author,
S. Faxon