This plaque graced the walls of my mom's home. Loving it, she kept it up year-round.
For years, our family, like countless others, has enjoyed Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol. We read it. We watch the movies, ranging from my favorite animated version, the vintage Mister Magoo's Christmas Carol, to my husband's favorite version with George C. Scott. We attend theatrical stage productions. Proudly, my husband wears his traditional "God Bless Us Everyone," Tiny Tim tie every Christmas Eve. A Christmas Carol has become part of who we are as a family, I think.
That is why I love recommending our latest "find," A Christmas Carol: Special Church Edition. It is a simple paperback book containing the complete novel with insightful, running notes by Stephen Skelton. Don't you love finding a classic novel, like Gulliver's Travels, for instance, with marginal notes which help you de-code the meaning of the book? Such does this one, with Mr. Skelton helping to reveal just how fully the story of Ebeneezer Scrooge was influenced by the teachings of Jesus Christ.
For instance, his notes referring to the title, A Christmas Carol:
While today we may think of a "carol" as a secular seasonal song like "Jingle Bells," Dickens is using the original meaning of a carol: a song celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ.
And the explanation of the use of "staves" vs. "chapters":
Dickens extends the concept of his book being a carol, a song celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ, by calling each chapter a "stave," a stanza of a song.
Also available, the author has developed a Bible study series based on A Christmas Carol, and including a movie.
There is so much in history... in art... in nature...in literature... which points to Christ, if we but search for God's Hand. What a delight to see Christ in this classic Christmas masterpiece.
"I have always striven in my writings to express the veneration for the life and lessons of our Savior..." ~ Charles Dickens
