When I walked off the hectic San Francisco streets to watch Disney's 200 million dollar take on Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol, I thought I was in for a slapstick-laced bore. Turn my slightly skeptical mood up to an official "out of place and cynical" level as I grab my chic pair of 3D shades. Donning my new accessory and pulling my hood over my head, I sat back in the nearly empty theater, in for quite an impactful surprise. Perhaps I had forgotten the power—at once disturbing, absorbing (especially in 3D), and inspiring—of Dickens' familiar tale.

Jim Carrey's famously expressive acting style brings Ebenezer Scrooge vividly to life as the striking effects render the story almost tangible. I got unmistakably acquainted with the infamous miser, all the way down to the little hairs protruding out of the tip of his nose in his old age, and the pimples of his teenaged complexion during the foray through Christmases past. While this palpable rendition of the holiday canon staple takes liberties in order to literally flesh out the intimate details of the characters and setting, it remains quite true to the original story.

Taking a hairpin turn away from the light family fare that I anticipated based on posters and previews, this film whisks the audience through a tumultuous series of supernatural nightmares designed to rouse Ebenezer Scrooge's dark and hardened soul. The hauntings trace the crooked alleys of the past (guided by an impish, flickering ghost in the shape of a candle), introduce disturbing truth about the present (with the help of a burly and eerie-yet-jolly hulk of a red-headed ghost), and violently project the horror of what is to come (under the ominous direction of a boney grim reaper, accompanied by hellish red-eyed horses). While all of these well-known plot elements are no surprise, I must confess that in the highest pitches of intensity, I actually closed my eyes once or twice, realizing that twenty years ago, this might have terrified me out of my six-year-old skin.

The icy London winter comes alive with shiver-inducing detail as well, complete with puffs of steam escaping with each breath, slippery ice underfoot, and chilled calluses on Bob Crachit's fingers as he quills through the hours near a pathetically dying fire under Scrooge's sharp-nosed and tempered watch.

Creating a convincing depiction of frigid, harsh reality was no stretch for Dickens. Born in 1812, the son of a financially unstable Naval Pay Office clerk, Charles found himself working a grueling factory job at the age of twelve as the rest of his family endured debtor's prison. Upon the family's release, Charles' mother insisted that he continue his work at the factory. Charles' father finally released him from his miserable occupation and sent him back to school at the age of fifteen, but the experience inflicted a dark scar that Charles quietly carried for the rest of his life. He rarely spoke of this suffering or the sense of betrayal at the hands of his mother, yet his writing lets on, through knowing and empathetic detail, to the indelible imprint it left upon him.

The story of Scrooge and that of Dickens' own childhood highlight the human yearning and need for generosity and togetherness, unified against the toils of winter, and of life. Transforming a spirit of isolation and "humbug" into one of "goodwill to men" and Tiny Tim's "God bless us, every one," is an age-old endeavor.

The practice of coming together for hope and warmth in the coldest season dates back thousands of years. For ancient pagans, winter was marked with the Yule festival, celebrated around an open fire (presumably without chestnuts). For the Romans, the rowdy festival of Saturnalia included familiar elements like decorative holly and an inkling of "goodwill to men." Then Pope Julius in 320 AD transformed Saturnalia from a celebration of the invincible sun god, Mithras, to the Feast of Christmas in celebration of the invincible Son, Jesus. The Pope knew he couldn't stop the Romans from observing this festival, but he could appropriate it.

Such mixed history behind the December celebration of Christ's birth incited controversy that far predates the political-correctness debates that surround our current holiday greetings and festivities. During the 16th and 17th centuries, Puritans banned the celebration of Christmas. In Boston, from the years 1659-1681, anyone caught celebrating Christmas was fined five shillings. The Puritan disdain landed upon multiple facets of Christmas: the name's Roman Catholic root (mass of Christ), the date of the celebration (not the true day of Jesus' birth), and the nature of the festivities (Puritans weren't much for feasting, drinking, or wassailing as it turns out). Scrooge might have thought the Puritans quite sensible.

Even after the ban was lifted, negative connotations lingered around Christmas. The 1843 release of A Christmas Carol played no small role in a sort of holiday re-branding campaign, emphasizing family, goodwill, and compassion. Bound with determination to publish promptly, Dickens wrote the novel in just six weeks’ time and funded the expensive illustrations himself. Though it instantly grew to popularity, the high production cost kept monetary profit minimal. But the influence of the story helped to coax the celebration of Christmas out of the shadows of Puritan disapproval. The new face of Christmas embraced merrymaking, family love, the delights of home, and taking the time to look at strangers as "fellow travelers to the grave" with whom we share the tempestuous human experience. These are the cherished traditions that we continue to associate with Christ’s birth.

…So after a tempestuous night indeed, Scrooge awakens in his bed on Christmas morning to find himself alive with a second chance. In light of his nocturnal realizations, he sees the treasure in his possession. He leaps from his bed into a jig that channels the beloved over-the- top Jim Carrey charm, slides down the banister, swings his housekeeper in a reeling circle of a dance (which sends her shrieking away thinking he has gone mad), and sends the prized turkey to the needy Crachit family.

The retelling of this yuletide favorite provides a renewed invitation by Dickens (to Ebenezer and the rest of us) to be people who know how to keep Christmas well. Merry Christmas!

Queen Victoria and Prince Albert Popularized the Tradition of the Decorated Christmas Tree in Victorian England

"In 1848, a print showing the Royal couple with their children was published in the Illustrated London News. From this time onwards, the popularity of decorated fir trees spread beyond Royal circles and throughout society. Charles Dickens referred to the Christmas tree as that 'new German toy'."

BBC History

http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/ten_ages_gallery_05.shtml

The long and sorted history of Christmas traditions

Ancient pagans thought that on the last night of winter, the "Great Mother Goddess" gave birth to the Sun God. Every year he would go to sleep, bringing about winter. To wake him, people held a festival called Yule. They would put a large log on a bonfire, sing, and dance.

The Romans celebrated Saturnalia, a festival honoring Saturnus (the god of harvest) and Mithras (the ancient god of light). Saturnalia was to celebrate the end of winter and the promise of a bountiful harvest during the upcoming season. This happened between December 17 and 24. Early Christians feared that the pagan Romans would persecute them during this time, so they put up Saturnalia holly. As more and more people became Christians, it soon became a tradition.

To the Romans, Saturnalia was more than just a festival around a fire. This was a time of great peace and compassion. No wars could be declared during this time. This was the only time of the year where slaves and masters took meals together. They gave presents to friends, family, and neighbors as part of the celebration.

As Christians would get together to decorate, they started participating in customs similar to the Romans. They, too, began a tradition of peace and brotherhood during Saturnalia. This is most likely when the first Christian gift exchanges and feasts occurred.

While Christians did celebrate this holiday season, they were not yet celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ. Between 125 and 136 AD, the Bishop of Rome said that "the Nativity of our Lord and Savior" should be honored with special church services. Only one problem remained - no one knew exactly when to celebrate. Some celebrated during the traditional Saturnalia dates. Others celebrated in September during the Jewish Feast of Trumpets.

Not long before his death in 275 AD, the Roman Emperor declared that the solstice be celebrated with a festival. On that year, the solstice fell on December 25th. He called this the "birth of the invincible sun". It was not until 320 AD that Pope Julius I declared December 25 to be the official birthday of Jesus Christ - the birth of the invincible son. In 325 AD, Constantine the Great (the first emperor to become Christian), declared December 25 to be Christmas. It showed up on Roman calendars in 336 AD.

So now that a pope and an emperor declared this date to be Christ's birthday, it would be celebrated, right? Not exactly. Because December 25 was also the day that the pagan Romans honored various gods, Christians didn't want to celebrate then. In 354, the Bishop of Rome actually had to order Christians to celebrate Christmas.

Still, Christmas wasn't a universally celebrated holiday among Christians. It did grow in popularity until the Reformation in the 1500’s. Later, Christmas even became illegal in many places including England and parts of the American colonies. People did celebrate again, but it wasn't until the 1800s that Christmas became a widely honored holiday among Christians.

In 1836, Alabama became the first state in the US to declare Christmas an official holiday. Oklahoma was the last state to follow, in 1907.

Northpole Broadcasting

http://www.northpole.ca/history-of-christmas.html

There can be no question of the importance of Dickens as a human event in history; a sort of conflagration and transfiguration in the very heart of what is called the conventional Victorian era; a naked flame of mere natural genius, breaking out in a man without culture, without tradition, without help from historic religions or philosophies or from the great foreign schools; and revealing a light that never was on sea or land, if only in the long fantastic shadows that it threw from common things.

G.K. Chesterton

Engaging Your Child’s Cooperation

According to Myrna Shure’s Raising a Thinking Child, there are 4 ways of asking a child for behavior.

LEVEL 1 Negative interactions: yelling, belittling, shaming
Once again, you made a mess.
Why can’t you do it like your brother?
How many times do I have to tell you?
Do you listen?

LEVEL 2 Saying what you want positively.

Instead of telling your child what not to do, tell them what you do want using more positive language. The Bible is said to have 800 instances of talking about being joyful, praising, etc.

Think of a time you were in a negative group of people- a work place, group of friends. How did it feel to spend a lot of time with them?

Will saying things positively always lead to cooperation? No. Remember this is one of many tools. Generally, though, it is setting a positive tone. Dr. Bruce Perry says that when children are in a chronically negative or unpredictably stressful environment their IQs are lowered by 15 points. Also, children often don’t know what they are supposed to do and need specific guidance and modeling.

Suggestions for Saying Things Positively

- Don’t jump on couch.
+ Bottom stays on couch or feet on floor.
- Don’t yell.
+ Speak softly. (Model this for younger children because they probably don’t know what your standard for “softly” is.)
+ Or: You can go outside to yell.
- Don’t drink juice on couch.
+ We drink juice in the kitchen.
- Don’t splash me.
+ Water stays in the bathtub.
- Don’t eat that cookie.
+ We eat cookies after lunch.
- Don’t touch the painting.
+ Hands to your sides.

Next newsletter:
LEVEL 3 Giving information or talking about feelings.

LEVEL 4 Asking thinking questions.

Charles Dickens' novel, A Christmas Carol, was written in six weeks and became an instant hit

"Originally published on 17 December 1843, the book was rapturously reviewed and became an instant success, the first 6,000 copies of its initial print-run being sold out by Christmas, with 2,000 further copies from the second printing snapped up by the 6th of January. While obviously enormously popular from the outset, it has remained Dickens's most widely enjoyed work, with hundreds of further reprints and adaptations.

Dickens was completely responsible for the entire production of the book, and he commissioned John Leech (1817-1864) to produce four hand coloured etchings and four wood engravings to illustrate the volume.

Leech had become an artist to support himself after the bankruptcy of his family forced him to abandon the medical studies in which he had excelled in anatomical drawing."

"As in his previous novels, real social concern motivated Dickens to write A Christmas Carol. In this instance, he was inspired to write a Christmas story highlighting the plight of the poor as an appeal for charity from those better-off . Such charity was desperately needed during the severe economic depression of the 1840s. Having suffered considerable hardship and poverty during his upbringing, the passionate feelings evoked in Dickens' writings by social inequalities were based on bitter experience. Indeed, it is suggested that the Cratchit's house is modelled on the small four-room house at 16 Bayham Street in Camden Town where Dickens lived at the age of ten: the six Cratchit children correspond to the Dickens children of that time, the character of Tiny Tim being echoed in Charles's youngest, sickly brother who was known as "Tiny Fred".

But sheer necessity as well as altruism was also a major factor in the creation of A Christmas Carol. Dickens' current serial, Martin Chuzzlewit, was selling badly and he was consequently being threatened by his publishers with a reduction in salary: in debt, and with his wife expecting their fifth child, royalties from a bestseller were required to bring in money quickly. However, despite the very favourable sales of the book, the sale price of five shillings was not sufficient to make a profit considering the expense of its production: this was largely Dickens' fault in commissioning eight illustrations (four of which were to be hand coloured) and insisting upon lavish end-papers and a coloured title-page. Bitterly frustrated in his great expectations of a massive revenue, Dickens unfairly blamed his publishers Chapman and Hall; following his next contracted work, The Chimes, he broke off relations with them altogether and published elsewhere for the following fifteen years."

University of Glasgow

http://special.lib.gla.ac.uk/exhibns/month/dec1999.html

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