The ‘Chuckster’ family tradition each Christmas is enjoying the local ‘Hale Theater‘ production of Charles Dickens “A Christmas Carol”. A wonderfully vibrant production ideally suited for ‘The American Beagle’. This classic live stage production successfully merges a Victorian English Christmas with the Arizona Sonoran Desert. This well crafted musical centers around a very grumpy geezer much too akin to myself!

Indeed, ‘A Christmas Carol’ may as well be a ‘Nick And Neville’ podcast as performed live before a theater audience.

I love the Hale Theater presentation of the Christmas classic for many reasons. The rich nostalgia laden Christmas carols performed throughout the play are joyous and festive. The period costumes are exquisite, and the skilled acting is stirring.

The story line and themes are timeless. I have not come across a better-arranged tale to show the true spirit of Christmas. Only the original nativities as told by Mathew and Luke in the New Testament could trump this Victorian story.

There is much to love about this presentation. I have found my own enjoyment stems from the family related themes key to this tale.

The joy and love of the Cratchit family is the epitome of Christmas for me. Their love for each other and for Tiny Tim is heart wrenching and real.

Bob Cratchit (raising his glass):

“A Merry Christmas to us all, my dears. God bless us!”

Tiny Tim:

“God bless us every one!”

The flashback to Ebenezer Scrooge’s childhood is tender and reminds me much of some of my own childhood experiences.

The scenes of cheery games and merriment during the Christmas party hosted by Scrooge’s nephew are a vivid blueprint. I can grasp onto this in hope to be more like the charitable ‘Nephew Fred.’ I aim to be less like the grumpy miserly Ebenezer. Please contemplate these words of Fred as spoken to Ebenezer as he extends his invitation to embrace the giving spirit of Christmas:

Fred:

“I have always thought of Christmas time, when it has come round—apart from the veneration due to its sacred name and origin, if anything belonging to it can be apart from that—as a good time; a kind, forgiving, charitable, pleasant time; the only time I know of, in the long calendar of the year, when men and women seem by one consent to open their shut-up hearts freely, and to think of people below them as if they really were fellow-passengers to the grave, and not another race of creatures bound on other journeys. And therefore, uncle, though it has never put a scrap of gold or silver in my pocket, I believe that it has done me good, and will do me good; and I say, God bless it!”

Neville and I both have terrific loving families whereby we have been blessed to be central father and grandfather figures. Through our families, we both need to fend off our internal ‘Ebenezer‘. We can do this by embracing the gallant and giving example of the nephew ‘Fred’ whom cohabits within us.

The Holiday celebration time is a time for family bonding, joy, and merriment! For me, Christmas is my yearly reminder to cherish the loved ones I have been blessed to know.

Christmas is also a great time to act upon our innate need to be charitable, loving, and giving to our fellow man. As Ebenezer comes to reflect upon his own humanity, so too can we.

Scrooge:

“I will honor Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year. I will live in the Past, the Present, and the Future. The Spirits of all three shall strive within me. I will not shut out the lessons that they teach. Oh, tell me I may sponge away the writing on this stone!”

“I don’t know what to do!” cried Scrooge, laughing and crying in the same breath…. “I am as light as a feather, I am as happy as an angel, I am as merry as school-boy. I am as giddy as a drunken man. A merry Christmas to everybody!“

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I propose that we all learn from the ghostly dreams experienced by Ebenezer Scrooge. Life can be oh so rich if we warmly embrace the loved ones who touch our lives! And by embracing the charitable nature of our humanity, our lives can be oh so rewarding!

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“There is nothing in the world so irresistibly contagious as laughter and good humor.”

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From Nick (The Chuckster) and Neville

Happy Holidays to All!

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Cheers, nca