Snowflakes fall steadily
As the wind blows
Laying deeper and deeper
As her progress slows
Knee deep she trudged
Through the deep snows
So, I go and rescue her
From out of the snows
To get her safe indoors
Out of the snows
Though not for kindness
Heaven only knows
It was to get her out
Of her ho ho hose
A Mexican legend tells of the reason for the Poinsettia becoming the Christmas flower.
There
was a poor peasant girl really wanted to take a gift to honour the Virgin Mary
at the Christmas Eve service, but she had nothing to give.
Although
she was very upset and disappointed, she knew she still had to go to the service,
and she decided that she would have to go with nothing.
On
the way to the church, she was met by an angel, who asked her why she was sad.
The
peasant girl told the angel it was because she had no gift for the virgin.
The
angel told the girl to pick some weeds.
The
girl was a little unconvinced that weeds would be suitable, but she did it
anyway.
She
turned back towards the angle to show her the bunch of weeds she had picked as
saw that they had been transformed into the bright scarlet 'flowers'.
Ever
since that miracle poinsettias have graced churches and homes during the
Christmas festival.
No Christmas would be complete with watching Frank Capra’s 1946 classic “It’s A Wonderful Life”.
It
was not a success at the box office at the time, but it is now one of the most
popular and heartwarming films ever made.
A
typical performance by the ever-dependable James Stewart is supported by the
beautiful Donna Reed and playing the grasping villain of the piece Lionel
Barrymore.
The
film is a slightly dark almost bittersweet tale of a savings and loan manager,
and a bit an Earnest do-gooder George Bailey (James Stewart) who struggles
against a greedy banker and his own self-doubting nature in a small town.
After
suffering a financial catastrophe, he sees suicide as a possible solution to
his predicament only to be rescued by a whimsical, endearing, trainee-angel
named Clarence (Henry Travers).
Bailey
after years of feeling trapped in a small town finally recognizes his life as
wonderful and truly rich.
It’s
definitely not the kind of film that would be made today as nobody writes happy
endings anymore.
The Queen it would appear
Gets
a TV special every year
But
one of my many queries
Is
why does she never get a series?
The Christmas spoilers
Will
soon be with us again
And
that as you well know
Means
the bloody children
Some drunken bimbo
With
legs akimbo
Showing
off her bits
From
ankle to pits
Lay
in the gutter
And
was heard to utter
To
a fellow bimbo
Hacky
crambo
No Christmas would be complete without the Dickens classic tale of redemption and a list of Christmas films without Scrooge in it would be unthinkable.
There
have been many film adaptations over the years since the first made in the
silent era
1910
(Marc McDermott) Silent
1913
(Seymour Hicks) Silent
1935
(Seymour Hicks)
1938
(Reginald Owen)
1951
Scrooge (Alistair Sim)
1970
Scrooge (Albert Finney) Musical
1971 (Alistair
Sim) Animated
1984
(George C. Scott)
1988
Scrooged (Bill Murray) Comedy
1997
(Tim Curry) Animated
1999
(Patrick Stewart)
2004
(Kelsey Grammer) Musical
2006
Disney Animated
2009
(Jim Carey) Animated
And
even more TV adaptation, variations and spoofs and I would defy anyone to say
that at least one of them didn’t strike a chord on some level.
My
own personal favourite is the 1984 version with George C. Scott as Ebenezer
Scrooge, Frank Finlay as Marley's Ghost and David Warner as Bob Cratchit.
But special mention has to go to the very excellent
Edward Woodward as the most wonderful Ghost of Christmas Present.
Now I find it very difficult to believe that there is a
soul on the planet who is unfamiliar with the story but if there is one this
bit is for them.
A Christmas Carol tells the story of the embittered old
miser Ebenezer Scrooge, who after being visited by a succession of spirits on
Christmas Eve transformed into a warm-hearted kindly philanthropist.
