Yep, I did it. I skipped the church party and went to hear the reading of "A Christmas Carol" at Williamstown on Saturday. It's the highlight of my Christmas season so far. Jonathon Epstein, from Shakespeare & Co., read the story, and it was all that I hoped for.
My favorite part, besides the first paragraph, is when Scrooge looks out of his window after Marley leaves. Luckily, Mr. Epstein didn't cut it out. Somehow I missed this passage when I read it as a child:
Scrooge followed to the window: desperate in his curiosity. He looked out.
The air was filled with phantoms, wandering hither and thither in restless haste, and moaning as they went. Every one of them wore chains like Marley's Ghost; some few (they might be guilty governments) were linked together; none were free.
Many had been personally known to Scrooge in their lives. He had been quite familiar with one old ghost, in a white waistcoat, with a monstrous iron safe attached to its ankle, who cried piteously at being unable to assist a wretched woman with an infant, whom it saw below, upon a doorstep- The misery with them all was, clearly, that they sought to interfere, for good, in human matters, and had lost the power for ever.
I'm not sure that all that gingerbread was necessary for good in human matters. Maybe I should have pulled out the Fezziwig's party chapter instead. Bah. What does necessary have to do with Christmas, after all? We were generous, we celebrated, and we kept Christmas well.
Now I just need to pay a little attention to my family...