Everyday Educator - The Power of Christmas
00:00:00.000 | (upbeat music)
00:00:03.220 | - Welcome friends to this episode
00:00:05.620 | of the "Everyday Educator" podcast.
00:00:08.540 | I'm your host, Lisa Bailey,
00:00:10.420 | and I'm excited to spend some time with you today
00:00:13.740 | as we encourage one another, learn together,
00:00:17.300 | and ponder the delights and challenges
00:00:20.260 | that make homeschooling the adventure of a lifetime.
00:00:23.740 | Whether you're just considering
00:00:25.780 | this homeschooling possibility,
00:00:28.020 | or deep into the daily delight of family learning,
00:00:32.540 | I believe you'll enjoy thinking along with us.
00:00:36.700 | But don't forget,
00:00:37.980 | although this online community is awesome,
00:00:41.900 | you'll find even closer support in a local CC community.
00:00:46.900 | So go to classicalconversations.com
00:00:51.580 | and find a community near you today.
00:00:56.580 | Listeners, Merry Christmas.
00:00:59.500 | Merry Christmas Eve.
00:01:02.500 | I'm so excited to spend a few minutes with you today
00:01:06.940 | and hope that you will enjoy our time together
00:01:10.700 | as much as I enjoyed designing it for you.
00:01:15.060 | It's kind of your gift from "Everyday Educator,"
00:01:19.400 | from all of us at the "Everyday Educator" podcast,
00:01:23.740 | our gift to your family this Christmas.
00:01:27.720 | A read aloud time, read aloud for you.
00:01:32.320 | I hope that you will enjoy listening
00:01:38.120 | and thinking on your own,
00:01:40.820 | or that you will enjoy listening and thinking
00:01:45.820 | and talking with your loved ones this Christmas.
00:01:50.560 | Most of all, I hope that you will recognize
00:01:55.560 | and harness the power of Christmas.
00:02:00.080 | I wanna begin our read aloud time together this morning
00:02:05.940 | with a passage from Isaiah.
00:02:08.900 | One of the prophetic writings
00:02:12.180 | that foretells the power of Christmas
00:02:16.820 | is in the book of Isaiah 9 in the first,
00:02:21.820 | oh, about seven verses.
00:02:24.140 | That's what I want to read for us today.
00:02:27.340 | Isaiah is speaking to the Lord's people
00:02:31.500 | on the Lord's behalf.
00:02:33.720 | He is speaking to those who are waiting for a Messiah,
00:02:38.720 | who are waiting for a deliverer,
00:02:44.220 | who are waiting for a savior.
00:02:47.540 | They've been waiting a long time,
00:02:51.740 | and they have searched in, much like we do,
00:02:55.860 | a lot of the wrong places.
00:02:59.140 | So listen to the words of Isaiah 9:1.
00:03:05.380 | "Nevertheless, there will be no more gloom
00:03:12.140 | for those who are in distress.
00:03:14.900 | In the past, he humbled the land of Zebulun
00:03:19.220 | and the land of Naphtali.
00:03:21.680 | But in the future, he will honor Galilee of the Gentiles
00:03:26.680 | by the way of the sea along the Jordan.
00:03:30.000 | The people walking in darkness have seen a great light
00:03:38.020 | on those living in the land of the shadow of death.
00:03:43.020 | A light has dawned.
00:03:45.680 | You have enlarged the nation and increased their joy.
00:03:51.580 | They rejoice before you as people rejoice at the harvest,
00:03:56.580 | as men rejoice when dividing the plunder.
00:04:00.520 | For as in the day of Midian's defeat,
00:04:05.460 | you have shattered the yoke that burdens them,
00:04:09.860 | the bar across their shoulders,
00:04:12.300 | the rod of their oppressor.
00:04:15.300 | Every warrior's boot used in battle
00:04:21.420 | and every garment rolled in blood
00:04:24.840 | will be destined for burning, will be fuel for the fire.
00:04:31.060 | For to us, a child is born.
00:04:36.060 | To us, a son is given
00:04:39.940 | and the government will be on his shoulders.
00:04:44.020 | And he will be called Wonderful Counselor,
00:04:48.060 | Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
00:04:53.060 | Of the increase of his government and peace,
00:05:00.300 | there will be no end.
00:05:02.660 | He will reign on David's throne and over his kingdom,
00:05:06.460 | establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness
00:05:11.460 | from that time on and forever.
00:05:16.240 | The zeal of the Lord Almighty will accomplish this.
00:05:21.240 | There is so much hope and so much excitement
00:05:29.660 | and so much peace in that passage.
00:05:33.700 | Look at the transforming power
00:05:38.460 | in the change that Isaiah is foretelling.
00:05:43.460 | Look, before this light dawns, what's it like?
00:05:48.580 | There's gloom.
00:05:53.680 | It says in the very first verse, it's gloom.
00:05:56.620 | There'll be no more gloom.
00:05:59.460 | And what else?
00:06:01.340 | There's been distress, gloom for those who were in distress.
00:06:05.980 | And in the past, those people of the Lord,
00:06:10.380 | they were humbled and they walked in darkness
00:06:15.380 | and they have been living in the land
00:06:20.640 | of the shadow of death.
00:06:23.780 | They have been the recipients of warrior's boots
00:06:28.380 | and there has been blood that has flowed.
00:06:31.820 | Things have been dark.
00:06:34.980 | Things have been hard, but what's the transformation?
00:06:39.980 | What's the light that dawns?
00:06:44.920 | What happens?
00:06:46.980 | What will happen?
00:06:49.320 | For those living in the shadow of death,
00:06:54.200 | a light has dawned.
00:06:58.640 | Out of the gloom, out of the distress, a light has dawned.
00:07:03.640 | And this light is going to honor Galilee
00:07:09.020 | and it's gonna be a great light.
00:07:11.540 | And you see that what God has done is enlarge the nation
00:07:16.540 | and brought joy, increased the joy of His people
00:07:23.760 | even more what He's done is shatter the yoke
00:07:27.800 | and moved the burdens.
00:07:30.720 | This is so cool.
00:07:33.440 | Unto us a child is born, not just any child, but a son.
00:07:38.040 | The Son of God is given and look,
00:07:41.160 | the government will be on His shoulders.
00:07:44.380 | All the responsibility will be on the shoulders
00:07:48.200 | of someone else, will be on this baby, this Son of God.
00:07:54.200 | And the responsibilities and the burdens can be passed on.
00:07:59.200 | And even more than that, that baby will grow to a man
00:08:05.760 | who can be called wonderful counselor, mighty God,
00:08:10.840 | everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
00:08:18.600 | And peace may be the very greatest transformation
00:08:23.600 | that these people are able to realize.
00:08:29.300 | That's a cool lesson for us to get from the scripture
00:08:35.480 | about the power of Christmas.
00:08:39.280 | And the scripture tells us lots of truths.
00:08:42.040 | And I encourage you and your family to look in the scripture
00:08:45.720 | and say, what is the power of this gift
00:08:50.720 | that God sent to us?
00:08:52.860 | But you know, fiction can tell us truths as well.
00:08:59.120 | Made up stories can tell us great truths
00:09:04.800 | and share with us, bring us to an understanding
00:09:12.040 | as a story draws us in.
00:09:15.400 | There is a powerful story of a changed life
00:09:21.480 | in a piece of literature you're probably very familiar with,
00:09:26.920 | A Christmas Carol written by Charles Dickens.
00:09:29.880 | There is a changed life.
00:09:33.840 | And so I want to share with you, not the whole story,
00:09:36.840 | we don't have that long together,
00:09:38.320 | but I encourage you to read it with your family.
00:09:41.000 | My family reads this aloud still,
00:09:43.960 | and my children are 28 and 30.
00:09:47.560 | But I'm gonna share an excerpt
00:09:49.920 | just so that we can get a hint of the power
00:09:53.960 | that the message of Christmas has to change a life.
00:10:00.880 | And as we read, I want you to think about
00:10:04.880 | poor old Ebenezer Scrooge
00:10:08.240 | and how the message of Christmas was needed
00:10:11.040 | and how it changed him when it came.
00:10:16.520 | I'm gonna read you first an excerpt
00:10:20.880 | from the very first chapter,
00:10:23.280 | kind of sets the stage for our story.
00:10:26.520 | Ebenezer Scrooge is a hardened businessman.
00:10:34.720 | He is bitter, he is crotchety,
00:10:39.720 | he is all about the money.
00:10:45.840 | He's not a very cheerful person.
00:10:49.080 | Listen, once upon a time of all the good days in the year,
00:10:55.160 | on Christmas Eve, old Scrooge sat busy in his counting house.
00:11:03.800 | It was cold, bleak, biting weather, foggy with all,
00:11:08.800 | and he could hear the people in the court outside
00:11:12.720 | go wheezing up and down,
00:11:14.600 | beating their hands upon their breasts
00:11:16.600 | and stamping their feet upon the pavement stones
00:11:21.160 | to warm them.
00:11:22.760 | The city clocks had only just gone three,
00:11:25.920 | but it was quite dark already.
00:11:28.400 | It had not been light all day,
00:11:30.480 | and candles were flaring in the windows
00:11:33.200 | of the neighboring offices,
00:11:35.080 | like ruddy smears upon the palpable brown air.
00:11:40.080 | The fog came pouring in at every chink and keyhole
00:11:44.200 | and was so dense without that,
00:11:47.080 | although the court was of the narrowest,
00:11:50.080 | the houses opposite were mere phantoms.
00:11:53.920 | To see the dingy cloud that came drooping down,
00:11:58.520 | obscuring everything,
00:12:00.360 | one might have thought that nature lived hard by
00:12:03.680 | and was brewing on a large scale.
00:12:06.120 | The door of Scrooge's counting house was open
00:12:10.880 | that he might keep his eye upon his clerk,
00:12:14.560 | who in a dismal little cell beyond a sort of tank
00:12:19.000 | was copying letters.
00:12:21.600 | Scrooge had a very small fire,
00:12:25.360 | but the clerk's fire was so very much smaller
00:12:29.480 | that it looked like one coal,
00:12:31.880 | but he couldn't replenish it
00:12:33.160 | for Scrooge kept the coal box in his own room.
00:12:37.600 | And so surely as the clerk came in with the shovel,
00:12:40.920 | the master predicted that it would be necessary
00:12:43.840 | for them to part.
00:12:45.120 | Wherefore, the clerk put on his white comforter
00:12:48.920 | and tried to warm himself at the candle,
00:12:52.400 | in which effort, not being a man of strong imagination,
00:12:56.800 | he failed.
00:12:57.720 | "A Merry Christmas, Uncle, God save you,"
00:13:01.760 | cried a cheerful voice.
00:13:04.000 | It was the voice of Scrooge's nephew
00:13:06.600 | who came upon him so quickly
00:13:08.200 | that this was the first intimation
00:13:10.800 | he had had of his approach.
00:13:12.640 | "Bah," said Scrooge, "humbug."
00:13:17.040 | He had so heated himself with rapid walking
00:13:20.080 | in the fog and frost, this nephew of Scrooge's,
00:13:23.040 | that he was all in a glow.
00:13:24.440 | His face was ruddy and handsome.
00:13:27.160 | His eyes sparkled and his breath smoked again.
00:13:31.600 | "Christmas, a humbug, Uncle," said Scrooge's nephew.
00:13:35.400 | "You don't mean that, I'm sure."
00:13:38.080 | "I do," said Scrooge, "Merry Christmas.
00:13:41.920 | "What right have you to be merry?
00:13:44.200 | "What reason have you to be merry?
00:13:46.640 | "You're poor enough.
00:13:49.280 | "Come then," returned the nephew gaily,
00:13:52.120 | "What right have you to be dismal?
00:13:54.680 | "What reason have you to be morose?
00:13:57.520 | "You're rich enough."
00:13:59.120 | Scrooge, having no better answer ready
00:14:02.800 | on the spur of the moment, said, "Bah," again,
00:14:06.520 | and followed it up with, "Humbug."
00:14:09.680 | "Oh, don't be cross, Uncle," said the nephew.
00:14:14.120 | "What else can I be," returned the uncle,
00:14:16.920 | "when I live in such a world of fools as this?
00:14:20.080 | "Merry Christmas.
00:14:22.320 | "Out upon merry Christmas.
00:14:24.960 | "What's Christmas time to you
00:14:27.280 | "but a time for paying bills without money,
00:14:30.400 | "a time for finding yourself a year older
00:14:33.200 | "and not an hour richer,
00:14:35.320 | "a time for balancing your books
00:14:37.440 | "and having every item in 'em
00:14:39.480 | "through a round dozen of months
00:14:41.440 | "presented dead against you?
00:14:44.600 | "If I could work my will," said Scrooge indignantly,
00:14:48.320 | "every idiot who goes about with merry Christmas
00:14:51.640 | "on his lips should be boiled with his own pudding
00:14:54.720 | "and buried with a stake of holly through his heart.
00:14:57.960 | "He should."
00:14:59.920 | "Uncle," pleaded his nephew.
00:15:03.560 | "Nephew," returned the uncle sternly,
00:15:06.920 | "keep Christmas in your own way
00:15:09.960 | "and let me keep it in mine."
00:15:13.760 | "Keep it?" repeated Scrooge's nephew.
00:15:16.800 | "But you don't keep it."
00:15:19.600 | "Let me leave it alone then," said Scrooge.
00:15:22.560 | "Much good may it do you.
00:15:25.040 | "Much good it has ever done you."
00:15:28.040 | "There are many things from which I might have derived good
00:15:32.480 | "by which I have not profited, I dare say,"
00:15:35.680 | returned the nephew.
00:15:36.920 | "Christmas among the rest.
00:15:39.160 | "But I am sure I have always thought of Christmastime,
00:15:43.760 | "when it has come round, apart from the veneration
00:15:47.400 | "due to its sacred name and origin,
00:15:50.120 | "if anything belonging to it can be apart from that,
00:15:54.680 | "as a good time, a kind, forgiving, charitable, pleasant time,
00:15:59.680 | "the only time I know of in the long calendar year
00:16:05.480 | "when men and women seem by one consent
00:16:08.680 | "to open their shut-up hearts freely
00:16:11.800 | "and to think of people below them
00:16:14.280 | "as if they really were fellow passengers to the grave
00:16:17.680 | "and not another race of creatures bound on other journeys.
00:16:21.720 | "And therefore, uncle, though it's never put a scrap
00:16:25.320 | "of gold or silver in my pocket,
00:16:27.960 | "I believe that it has done me some good
00:16:31.320 | "and will do me good, and I say, God bless it."
00:16:35.960 | The clerk in the tank involuntarily applauded.
00:16:41.840 | Becoming immediately sensible of the impropriety,
00:16:46.280 | he poked the fire and extinguished
00:16:48.920 | the last frail spark forever.
00:16:52.000 | "Let me hear another sound from you," said Scrooge,
00:16:55.160 | "and you'll keep your Christmas by losing your situation.
00:16:59.440 | "You're quite a powerful speaker, sir."
00:17:03.040 | He added, turning to his nephew,
00:17:06.120 | "I wonder you don't go into Parliament.
00:17:09.520 | "Don't be angry, uncle.
00:17:11.480 | "Come, dine with us tomorrow."
00:17:14.840 | Scrooge said that he would see him.
00:17:17.440 | Yes, indeed, he did.
00:17:18.840 | He went the whole length of the expression
00:17:21.000 | and said that he would see him in that extremity first.
00:17:25.280 | "But why?" asked Scrooge's nephew.
00:17:28.040 | "Why?"
00:17:29.840 | "Why did you get married?" said Scrooge.
00:17:33.240 | "Because I fell in love."
00:17:35.560 | "Because you fell in love?" growled Scrooge,
00:17:38.720 | as if that were the only one thing in the world
00:17:41.160 | more ridiculous than a Merry Christmas.
00:17:43.920 | "Good afternoon."
00:17:47.040 | "Nay, uncle, but you never came to see me
00:17:49.800 | "before that happened.
00:17:51.440 | "Why give it as a reason for not coming now?"
00:17:54.800 | "Good afternoon," said Scrooge.
00:17:58.280 | "I want nothing from you.
00:18:00.040 | "I ask nothing of you.
00:18:02.480 | "Why cannot we be friends?"
00:18:04.800 | "Good afternoon," said Scrooge.
00:18:08.720 | "I'm sorry with all my heart to find you so resolute.
00:18:12.640 | "We have never had any quarrel to which I've been a party,
00:18:16.480 | "but I've made the trial an homage to Christmas
00:18:19.760 | "and I'll keep my Christmas humor to the last.
00:18:22.840 | "So Merry Christmas, uncle."
00:18:25.800 | "Good afternoon," said Scrooge.
00:18:29.600 | "And a Happy New Year."
00:18:32.040 | "Good afternoon."
00:18:35.040 | Now,
00:18:38.480 | Scrooge goes home, finally, through the day.
00:18:45.000 | After having another group of people come and visit him,
00:18:51.560 | asking for money, seeking some help for the poor,
00:18:56.560 | Scrooge, of course, turns them down.
00:18:59.280 | He wishes his workmen off and he goes home.
00:19:05.320 | And he has dinner in his usual melancholy restaurant.
00:19:14.320 | He reads the newspapers and finally he goes home to bed.
00:19:20.520 | And while he is preparing for bed,
00:19:25.360 | he is visited.
00:19:28.720 | And some say he was visited by a dream.
00:19:34.000 | Some say he was visited by the Spirit, the Holy Spirit.
00:19:39.000 | Some say he was visited by the ghosts of Christmas past
00:19:45.840 | and Christmas present and Christmas future
00:19:50.040 | and each of these visitors to Scrooge on Christmas Eve
00:19:55.040 | try to teach him a lesson,
00:19:59.920 | try to turn his heart with the message of Christmas.
00:20:04.920 | But Scrooge remains very resolute
00:20:12.560 | through all the sights, the memories that he sees,
00:20:16.960 | the present circumstances he's reminded of,
00:20:21.240 | his heart doesn't change.
00:20:24.000 | And the final visitor, the ghost of Christmas future comes,
00:20:31.320 | or the ghost of Christmas yet to come, as Dickens calls it,
00:20:37.400 | he takes him on a journey and they stop at a churchyard.
00:20:45.720 | And this is very near the end of the story.
00:20:48.520 | He comes to a churchyard overrun by grass and weeds,
00:20:54.480 | a burying place and the Spirit stood among the graves
00:21:02.760 | and pointed down to one grave.
00:21:07.000 | He advanced toward it, trembling, Scrooge did.
00:21:13.680 | The phantom was exactly as it had been,
00:21:17.160 | but he dreaded that he saw new meaning in its solemn shape.
00:21:22.160 | "Before I draw nearer to that stone to which you point,"
00:21:27.920 | asked Scrooge, "answer me one question.
00:21:31.720 | Are these the shadows of the things that will be
00:21:36.720 | or are they shadows of the things that may be only?"
00:21:43.240 | "I think Scrooge's heart is turning, what do you think?"
00:21:48.240 | Still the ghost pointed downward to the grave
00:21:52.280 | by which it stood.
00:21:53.640 | "Men's courses will foreshadow certain ends to which,
00:22:00.640 | if persevered in, they must lead," said Scrooge.
00:22:06.360 | "But if the courses be departed from,
00:22:10.120 | the ends will change.
00:22:12.920 | Say it is thus with what you show me," Scrooge is begging.
00:22:17.920 | The Spirit was immovable as ever.
00:22:23.600 | Scrooge crept toward it, trembling as he went
00:22:26.680 | and following the finger read upon the stone
00:22:31.360 | of the neglected grave his own name.
00:22:36.920 | Ebenezer Scrooge.
00:22:40.120 | "Am I that man who lay upon the bed?"
00:22:45.120 | He cried upon his knees.
00:22:48.040 | The finger pointed from the grave to him and back again.
00:22:52.480 | "No, Spirit, oh no, no."
00:22:56.280 | The finger still was there.
00:22:57.880 | "Spirit," he cried, clutching tightly at the robe.
00:23:01.840 | "Hear me, I am not the man I was.
00:23:06.120 | I will not be the man I must have been,
00:23:09.800 | but for this intercourse.
00:23:11.560 | Why show me this if I'm past all hope?"
00:23:15.760 | For the first time, the hand appeared to shake.
00:23:22.720 | "Good Spirit," he pursued as down upon the ground
00:23:28.360 | he fell before it, "your nature intercedes for me
00:23:32.560 | and pities me.
00:23:33.720 | Assure me that I yet may change these shadows
00:23:38.440 | you have shown me by an altered life."
00:23:42.280 | The kind hand trembled.
00:23:45.200 | "I will honor Christmas in my heart
00:23:50.480 | and try to keep it all the year.
00:23:52.760 | I will live in the past, the present, and the future.
00:23:57.400 | The spirits of all three shall strive within me.
00:24:01.280 | I will not shut out the lessons that they teach.
00:24:05.520 | Oh, tell me I may sponge away the writing on this stone."
00:24:10.520 | In his agony, he caught the spectral hand.
00:24:14.280 | It sought to free itself,
00:24:15.880 | but he was strong in his entreaty and detained it.
00:24:20.440 | The Spirit, stronger yet, repulsed him.
00:24:24.200 | Holding up his hands in a last prayer
00:24:26.560 | to have his fate reversed,
00:24:28.520 | he saw an alteration in the phantom's hood and dress.
00:24:32.880 | It shrunk, collapsed, and dwindled down into a bedpost.
00:24:37.880 | Yes, and the bedpost was his own.
00:24:46.600 | The bed was his own.
00:24:48.840 | The room was his own.
00:24:50.960 | Best and happiest of all, the time before him was his own.
00:24:56.960 | To make amends in.
00:24:59.940 | "I will live in the past, the present, and the future,"
00:25:04.520 | Scrooge repeated as he scrambled out of bed.
00:25:07.840 | "The spirits of all three shall strive within me.
00:25:11.000 | Oh, Jacob Marley Heaven and the Christmas time,
00:25:14.480 | be praised for this.
00:25:16.520 | I say it on my knees, old Jacob, on my knees."
00:25:21.520 | He was so fluttered and so glowing with his good intentions
00:25:26.800 | that his broken voice could scarcely answer to his call.
00:25:30.600 | He had been sobbing violently
00:25:32.400 | in his conflict with the Spirit,
00:25:33.800 | and his face was wet with tears.
00:25:36.360 | "They are not torn down," cried Scrooge,
00:25:40.460 | folding one of his bed curtains in his arm.
00:25:42.100 | "They are not torn down rings and all.
00:25:44.500 | They are here, I am here.
00:25:47.320 | The shadows of the things that have been may be dispelled.
00:25:52.060 | They will be, I know they will."
00:25:55.880 | His hands were busy with his garments all this time,
00:25:58.580 | turning them inside out, putting them on upside down,
00:26:01.160 | tearing them, mislaying them,
00:26:02.920 | making them parties to every kind of extravagance.
00:26:06.020 | "I don't know what to do," cried Scrooge,
00:26:08.280 | laughing and crying in the same breath
00:26:10.520 | and making a perfect lacoon of himself with his stockings.
00:26:13.980 | "I'm as light as a feather.
00:26:15.480 | I'm as happy as an angel.
00:26:17.280 | I am as merry as a schoolboy.
00:26:19.160 | I'm as giddy as a drunken man.
00:26:21.160 | A merry Christmas to everybody.
00:26:23.520 | Oh, a happy new year to all the world.
00:26:26.400 | Hello there, whoop, hello."
00:26:28.920 | He had frisked into the sitting room
00:26:30.680 | and was now standing there perfectly winded.
00:26:34.140 | "Oh, there's the saucepan that the gruel was in,"
00:26:36.920 | cried Scrooge, starting off again
00:26:38.640 | and going round the fireplace.
00:26:40.580 | "There's the door by which the ghost
00:26:42.260 | of Jacob Marley entered.
00:26:43.720 | There's the corner where the ghost
00:26:45.240 | of Christmas present sat.
00:26:47.480 | There's the window where I saw the wandering spirits.
00:26:50.000 | It's all right, it's all true.
00:26:51.680 | It all happened. (laughs)
00:26:54.480 | Really?"
00:26:55.400 | For a man who had been out of practice for so many years,
00:26:58.100 | it was a splendid laugh, a most illustrious laugh.
00:27:01.960 | The father of a long, long line of brilliant laughs.
00:27:06.620 | "I don't know what day of the month it is," said Scrooge.
00:27:10.080 | "I don't know how long I've been among the spirits.
00:27:13.400 | I don't know anything.
00:27:14.560 | I'm quite a baby.
00:27:16.440 | Nevermind, I don't care.
00:27:18.200 | I'd rather be a baby.
00:27:20.080 | Hello, whoop, hello there."
00:27:22.560 | He was checked in his transports by the churches
00:27:25.200 | ringing out the lustiest peals he had ever heard.
00:27:29.520 | "Clash, clash, hammer, ding, dong, bell, bell, dong, ding.
00:27:34.520 | Hammer, clang, clash, oh, glorious, glorious."
00:27:41.120 | Running to the window, he opened it and put out his head.
00:27:44.360 | No fog, no mist, clear, bright, jovial, stirring colors.
00:27:49.360 | Stirring cold, cold, piping for the blood to dance to.
00:27:53.640 | Golden sunlight, heavenly day, sweet, fresh air.
00:27:58.120 | Merry bells, oh, glorious, glorious.
00:28:01.840 | "What's today?" cried Scrooge,
00:28:04.400 | calling downward to a boy in Sunday clothes
00:28:07.000 | who perhaps had lordered in to look about him.
00:28:10.280 | "Eh?"
00:28:11.640 | Returned the boy with all his might of wonder.
00:28:14.780 | "What's today, my fine fellow?" said Scrooge.
00:28:18.280 | "Today," replied the boy, "why, Christmas day."
00:28:22.820 | "It's Christmas day," said Scrooge to himself.
00:28:25.120 | "I haven't missed it.
00:28:26.240 | The spirits have done it all in one night.
00:28:28.840 | They can do anything they like.
00:28:30.600 | Of course they can, of course they can.
00:28:32.000 | Hello, my fine fellow."
00:28:33.840 | "Hello," returned the boy.
00:28:36.280 | "Do you know the poulterers in the next street
00:28:39.760 | but one at the corner?"
00:28:41.760 | Scrooge inquired.
00:28:43.080 | "I should hope I did," replied the lad.
00:28:46.440 | "Oh, an intelligent boy," said Scrooge, "a remarkable boy.
00:28:50.200 | Do you know whether they've sold the prized turkey
00:28:53.600 | that was hanging up there?
00:28:54.600 | Not the little prized turkey, the big one."
00:28:57.200 | "What, the one as big as me?" returned the boy.
00:29:00.760 | "Oh, what a delightful boy," said Scrooge.
00:29:03.260 | "It's a pleasure to talk to him.
00:29:04.880 | Yes, yes, my buck."
00:29:07.060 | "It's hanging there now," replied the boy.
00:29:10.340 | "Is it?" said Scrooge.
00:29:11.960 | "Go and buy it."
00:29:13.560 | "Walker," replied the boy.
00:29:15.940 | "No, no, no, no, no.
00:29:16.920 | I am in earnest.
00:29:18.200 | Go and buy it and tell them to bring it here
00:29:21.440 | that I may give them the directions where to take it.
00:29:24.760 | Come back with the man and I'll give you a shilling.
00:29:28.440 | Come back with them in less than five minutes,
00:29:31.000 | I'll give you half a crown."
00:29:33.080 | The boy was off like a shot.
00:29:35.400 | He must've had a steady hand at a trigger
00:29:37.320 | who could've gone, got off a shot half as fast.
00:29:41.440 | "I'll send it to Bob Cratchit," whispered Scrooge,
00:29:45.080 | rubbing his hands and splitting with a laugh.
00:29:47.600 | "He shan't know who sends it.
00:29:49.900 | It's twice the size of Tiny Tim.
00:29:52.460 | Joe Miller never made such a joke
00:29:54.460 | as sending it to Bob's will be."
00:29:57.500 | The hand in which he wrote the address was not a steady one,
00:30:00.620 | but right it he did somehow,
00:30:03.180 | and went downstairs to open the street door
00:30:05.580 | ready for the coming of the polterer's man.
00:30:08.720 | As he stood there, waiting his arrival,
00:30:11.300 | the knocker caught his eye.
00:30:14.220 | "I shall love it as long as I live," cried Scrooge,
00:30:17.360 | patting it with his hand.
00:30:18.620 | "I scarcely ever looked at it before.
00:30:21.180 | What an honest expression it has in its face.
00:30:24.580 | Oh, it's a wonderful knocker.
00:30:26.140 | Here's the turkey.
00:30:26.980 | Hello, whoop, how are you?
00:30:28.340 | Merry Christmas."
00:30:29.700 | It was a turkey.
00:30:32.060 | He never could've stood upon its legs, that bird.
00:30:35.460 | He would've snapped him short off in a minute
00:30:37.580 | like sticks of sealing wax.
00:30:39.780 | "Why, it's impossible to carry that to Camden Town,"
00:30:43.420 | said Scrooge.
00:30:44.420 | "You must have a cab."
00:30:47.100 | The chuckle with which he said this,
00:30:48.820 | and the chuckle with which he paid for the turkey,
00:30:51.580 | and the chuckle with which he paid for the cab,
00:30:54.340 | and the chuckle with which he recompensed the boy,
00:30:57.820 | were only to be exceeded by the chuckle
00:30:59.940 | with which he sat down breathless in his chair again,
00:31:02.980 | and chuckled till he cried.
00:31:05.460 | Shaving was not an easy task,
00:31:07.040 | for his hand continued to shake very much,
00:31:09.620 | and shaving requires attention,
00:31:11.940 | even when you don't dance while you're at it.
00:31:15.220 | But if he had cut the end of his nose off,
00:31:17.260 | he would've put a piece of sticking plaster over it,
00:31:20.140 | and been quite satisfied.
00:31:21.560 | He dressed himself all in his best,
00:31:25.660 | and at last got out into the streets.
00:31:28.340 | The people were by this time pouring forth,
00:31:31.180 | as he had seen them with the ghost of Christmas present,
00:31:34.060 | and walking with his hands behind him,
00:31:36.620 | Scrooge regarded everyone with a delighted smile.
00:31:41.180 | He looked so irresistibly pleasant in a word,
00:31:44.140 | that three or four good-natured fellows said,
00:31:47.020 | "Good morning, sir, a Merry Christmas to you."
00:31:50.020 | And Scrooge said often afterwards
00:31:52.260 | that of all the blithe sounds he had ever heard,
00:31:56.660 | those were the blithest in his ears.
00:31:59.580 | He had not gone far when coming on towards him,
00:32:02.300 | he beheld the portly gentleman,
00:32:04.420 | who had walked into his counting house the day before,
00:32:06.900 | and said, "Scrooge and Marley's, I believe."
00:32:11.220 | It sent a pang across his heart
00:32:13.180 | to think how this old gentleman
00:32:14.740 | would look upon him when they met,
00:32:16.300 | but he knew what path lay straight before him,
00:32:18.980 | and he took it.
00:32:20.480 | "My dear sir," said Scrooge, quickening his pace,
00:32:23.660 | and taking the old man by both hands,
00:32:25.880 | "How do you do?
00:32:26.940 | I hope you succeeded yesterday, it was very kind of you.
00:32:30.620 | A Merry Christmas to you, sir."
00:32:33.620 | "Mr. Scrooge?"
00:32:35.780 | "Yes," said Scrooge, "that is my name,
00:32:37.700 | and I fear it may not be a pleasant one to you.
00:32:40.840 | Allow me to ask your pardon,
00:32:43.460 | and will you have the goodness?"
00:32:46.500 | Here Scrooge whispered in his ears,
00:32:48.640 | (imitates whistling)
00:32:50.980 | "Lord, bless me!" cried the gentleman,
00:32:53.820 | as if his breath were taken away.
00:32:55.620 | "My dear Mr. Scrooge, are you serious?"
00:33:00.140 | "If you please," said Scrooge,
00:33:02.100 | "not a farthing less,
00:33:03.520 | a great many back payments are included in it,
00:33:06.260 | I assure you.
00:33:07.540 | Will you do me that favor?"
00:33:10.140 | "My dear sir," said the other, shaking hands with him,
00:33:13.900 | "I don't know what to say to such munificent,
00:33:17.660 | don't say anything please," retorted Scrooge.
00:33:20.940 | "Come and see me."
00:33:22.280 | "Will you come and see me?"
00:33:24.320 | "I will," cried the old gentleman,
00:33:26.700 | and it was clear he meant to do so.
00:33:29.120 | "Thank you," said Scrooge, "I'm much obliged to you.
00:33:32.200 | I thank you 50 times, bless you."
00:33:35.720 | He went to church, and walked about the streets,
00:33:38.640 | and watched the people hurrying to and fro,
00:33:41.240 | and patted the children on the head,
00:33:43.160 | and questioned beggars,
00:33:44.800 | and looked down into the kitchens of houses,
00:33:47.080 | and up to the windows,
00:33:48.680 | and he found that everything could yield him pleasure.
00:33:53.240 | He had never dreamed that any walk,
00:33:55.500 | that anything could give him so much happiness.
00:33:59.180 | In the afternoon,
00:34:00.100 | he turned his steps toward his nephew's house.
00:34:03.220 | He passed the door a dozen times
00:34:04.980 | before he had the courage to go up and knock,
00:34:07.220 | but he made a dash and did it.
00:34:10.540 | (knocking)
00:34:12.820 | "Is your master at home, my dear?"
00:34:14.980 | said Scrooge to the girl.
00:34:16.440 | "Oh, nice girl, very."
00:34:18.460 | "Yes, sir."
00:34:20.040 | "Where is he, my love?" said Scrooge.
00:34:22.260 | "He's in the dining room, sir, along with mistress.
00:34:25.020 | I'll show you upstairs, if you please."
00:34:27.360 | "Thank you, he knows me," said Scrooge,
00:34:29.300 | with his hand already on the dining room lock.
00:34:31.180 | "I'll go in here, my dear."
00:34:33.580 | He turned it gently,
00:34:34.540 | and sidled his face in round the door.
00:34:37.820 | They were looking at the table,
00:34:39.140 | which was spread out in great array,
00:34:42.140 | for these young housekeepers are always nervous
00:34:44.580 | on such points, and like to see that everything is right.
00:34:47.640 | "Fred," said Scrooge.
00:34:50.020 | Dear heart alive, how his niece by marriage started.
00:34:53.980 | Scrooge had forgotten for the moment
00:34:55.740 | about her sitting in the corner with the footstool,
00:34:57.740 | or he wouldn't have done it on any account.
00:35:00.140 | "Why, bless my soul!" cried Fred.
00:35:02.860 | "Who's that?"
00:35:04.260 | "It's I, your uncle Scrooge.
00:35:06.100 | I've come to dinner.
00:35:07.660 | Will you let me in, Fred?"
00:35:10.160 | Let him in?
00:35:11.500 | It's a mercy he didn't shake his arm off.
00:35:13.540 | He was at home in five minutes.
00:35:15.940 | Nothing could be heartier.
00:35:18.100 | His niece looked just the same.
00:35:20.260 | So did Topper when he came.
00:35:22.260 | So did the plump sister when she came.
00:35:24.780 | So did everyone when they came.
00:35:26.740 | Wonderful party, wonderful games,
00:35:28.940 | wonderful unanimity, wonderful happiness.
00:35:32.660 | But he was early at the office next morning.
00:35:36.940 | Oh, he was early there.
00:35:39.020 | If he could only be there first
00:35:41.840 | and catch Bob Cratchit coming late.
00:35:44.820 | That was the thing he had set his heart upon.
00:35:47.100 | And he did it.
00:35:47.940 | Yes, he did.
00:35:49.380 | The clock struck nine.
00:35:51.340 | No Bob.
00:35:52.860 | A quarter passed.
00:35:54.580 | No Bob.
00:35:55.940 | He was full 18 and a half minutes behind his time.
00:36:00.580 | Scrooge sat with his door wide open
00:36:02.820 | that he might see him come into the tank.
00:36:05.460 | His hat was off before he opened the door.
00:36:07.460 | His comforter too.
00:36:08.300 | He was on his stool in a jiffy driving away with his pen
00:36:11.660 | as if he were trying to overtake nine o'clock.
00:36:14.760 | "Hello," growled Scrooge in his accustomed voice
00:36:18.060 | as near as he could feign it.
00:36:19.740 | "What do you mean by coming here at this time of day?"
00:36:22.980 | "Oh, I'm very sorry, sir," said Bob.
00:36:25.540 | "I am behind my time."
00:36:28.300 | "You are," repeated Scrooge.
00:36:30.480 | "Yes, I think you are.
00:36:31.740 | Step this way, sir, if you please."
00:36:34.000 | "It's only once a year, sir,"
00:36:36.740 | pleaded Bob appearing from the tank.
00:36:38.660 | "It shall not be repeated.
00:36:40.220 | I was making rather merry yesterday, sir."
00:36:44.700 | "Now I tell you what, my friend," said Scrooge.
00:36:47.460 | "I'm not gonna stand this sort of thing any longer."
00:36:50.700 | And therefore, he continued leaping from his stool
00:36:53.860 | and giving Bob such a dig in the waistcoat
00:36:55.940 | he staggered back into the tank again.
00:36:58.280 | "And therefore, I'm about to raise your salary."
00:37:01.780 | Bob trembled and got a little nearer to the ruler.
00:37:05.020 | He had a momentary idea of knocking Scrooge down with it,
00:37:08.020 | holding him and calling to the people in the court
00:37:10.140 | for help in a straight waistcoat.
00:37:12.780 | "A merry Christmas, Bob," said Scrooge
00:37:15.860 | with an earnestness that could not be mistaken
00:37:18.940 | as he clapped him on the back.
00:37:20.260 | "A merrier Christmas, Bob, my good fellow,
00:37:22.820 | than I have given you for many a year.
00:37:25.540 | I'll raise your salary
00:37:27.340 | and endeavor to assist your struggling family
00:37:29.900 | and we'll discuss your affairs this very afternoon
00:37:33.060 | over a Christmas bowl of smoking, Bishop Bob.
00:37:36.220 | Make up the fire and buy another cold scuttle
00:37:39.060 | before you dot another I, Bob."
00:37:40.660 | Cratchit, Scrooge was better than his word.
00:37:43.540 | He did it all and infinitely more.
00:37:47.180 | And to Tiny Tim, who did not die, he was a second father.
00:37:51.660 | He became as good a friend, as good a master,
00:37:55.780 | and as good a man as the good old city knew
00:37:59.580 | or any other good old city, town, or borough
00:38:02.100 | in the good old world.
00:38:03.820 | Some people laughed to see the alteration in him,
00:38:06.500 | but he let them laugh and little heeded them,
00:38:09.740 | for he was wise enough to know
00:38:11.820 | that nothing ever happened on this globe for good,
00:38:15.900 | at which some people did not have their fill of laughter
00:38:18.900 | at the outset.
00:38:20.260 | And knowing that such as these would be blind anyway,
00:38:23.140 | he thought it quite as well
00:38:24.940 | that they should wrinkle up their eyes and grins
00:38:27.300 | as have the malady in less attractive forms.
00:38:30.460 | His own heart laughed and that was quite enough for him.
00:38:34.300 | He had no further intercourse with the spirits,
00:38:37.820 | but lived upon the total abstinence principle
00:38:40.980 | ever afterwards.
00:38:42.300 | And it was always said of him
00:38:43.820 | that he knew how to keep Christmas well,
00:38:48.020 | if any man alive possessed the knowledge.
00:38:51.380 | May that be truly said of us and all of us.
00:38:55.460 | And so as Tiny Tim observed,
00:38:58.340 | God bless us, every one.
00:39:05.980 | There's some timeless truths there too.
00:39:09.060 | There was a lot that Scrooge,
00:39:11.060 | a lot of transformation for Scrooge.
00:39:14.820 | There's definitely a before
00:39:17.100 | where he is a bitter, selfish, penurious man,
00:39:21.820 | fond of his own company.
00:39:24.700 | And then Scrooge after, joyful, gracious,
00:39:29.420 | embracing fellowship and truly generous.
00:39:34.600 | There's one more poem I wanna share with you.
00:39:38.800 | And it's a poem by an author that you know
00:39:42.240 | and probably love, J.R.R. Tolkien.
00:39:45.880 | Did you know he wrote a Christmas poem?
00:39:48.320 | This poem, "Noel" was written
00:39:50.040 | actually before "The Hobbit" was published,
00:39:53.400 | but it was only discovered about 11 years ago.
00:39:58.400 | It was found in a 1936 edition of "The Hobbit"
00:40:03.680 | of "The Tablet," a Catholic journal
00:40:06.400 | that was published in a Catholic schools journal.
00:40:11.120 | And some Tolkien scholars found the poem in 2013.
00:40:16.120 | And it really goes with our theme
00:40:21.040 | of the power of Christmas.
00:40:22.520 | It shows the change that happened,
00:40:27.520 | not just in man, even in nature.
00:40:32.240 | When God above blessed us with that Christmas child.
00:40:37.240 | This is "Noel" by J.R.R. Tolkien.
00:40:46.340 | Grim was the world and gray last night.
00:40:52.120 | The moon and stars were fled.
00:40:54.600 | The hall was dark without song or light.
00:40:57.540 | The fires were fallen dead.
00:41:00.440 | The wind in the trees was like to the sea.
00:41:05.320 | And over the mountain's teeth,
00:41:07.040 | it whistled bitter, cold, and free
00:41:09.560 | as a sword leaped from its sheath.
00:41:12.560 | The Lord of snows upreared his head.
00:41:16.480 | His mantle long and pale upon the bitter blast
00:41:19.500 | was spread and hung o'er hill and dale.
00:41:22.740 | The world was blind.
00:41:26.000 | The boughs were bent all ways and paths were wild.
00:41:31.000 | Then the veil of cloud apart was rent
00:41:34.960 | and here was born a child.
00:41:39.020 | The ancient dome of heaven's sheer
00:41:42.480 | was pricked with distant light.
00:41:45.760 | A star came shining white and clear alone above the night.
00:41:50.760 | In the dale of dark in that hour of birth,
00:41:53.820 | one voice on a sudden sang.
00:41:57.020 | Then all the bells in heaven and earth
00:41:59.240 | together at midnight rang.
00:42:02.800 | Mary sang in this world below.
00:42:05.580 | They heard her song arise or missed
00:42:08.000 | in or of a mountain snow to the walls of paradise.
00:42:11.960 | And the tongue of many bells was stirred
00:42:14.400 | and heaven's towers to ring
00:42:16.640 | when the voice of mortal maid was heard
00:42:20.680 | that was mother of heaven's king.
00:42:24.520 | Glad is the world and fair this night
00:42:28.440 | with stars about its head.
00:42:31.000 | And the hall is filled with laughter and light
00:42:34.740 | and fires are burning red.
00:42:37.160 | The bells of paradise now ring with bells of Christendom
00:42:42.060 | and Gloria, Gloria, we will sing
00:42:46.120 | that God on earth is come.
00:42:50.080 | May the Lord change you daily
00:42:55.080 | into the one he has designed you to become.
00:43:01.700 | That is the power and joy of Christmas.
00:43:07.920 | Merry Christmas, you guys.
00:43:12.940 | (gentle music)
00:43:15.520 | you
00:43:17.580 | [BLANK_AUDIO]