![\"\"](\"https:\/\/4.bp.blogspot.com\/_b7Eh98KJ_qI\/TRQ5QxDbM_I\/AAAAAAAABLs\/WuW1leG6jSE\/s1600\/gonzo.jpg\")
<\/a><\/div>\nMy family may be entirely composed of atheists, but we do have some important Christmas traditions (even beyond Chinese food on Christmas day). \u00a0On Christmas Eve, we watch The Muppet Christmas Carol<\/em>. \u00a0It is the best Christmas Carol on film (it has Michael Caine as Scrooge) and I will fight anyone who says different. The movie is narrated by Gonzo, playing Charles Dickens.<\/p>\n I\u2019ve scheduled this to post in the morning, before I get up, so you\u2019ll have time to rent it before nightfall, as you will surely want \u00a0to do after seeing the number that introduces Scrooge below:<\/p>\nhttp:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=KBthi_An5qQ<\/a>\n If you watch it with children, fair warning: the Ghost of Christmas Yet-to-Come is pretty frightening<\/a>. \u00a0It remains my mental image of the Dementors from Harry Potter. Luckily, the movie helps to balance fear with humor, particularly in this sequence:<\/p>\n Rizzo the Rat<\/strong>: Boy, that\u2019s scary stuff! Should we be worried about the kids in the audience? I\u2019ll post the other half of my family\u2019s Christmas Eve traditions in the afternoon.<\/p>\n *The Marleyes in the title are plural, a deviation from Dickens. Henson doubled the character so the Marley brothers could be played by Statler and Waldorf<\/a>, the kvetching old men of the Muppet world. \u00a0Their big number is embedded below.<\/p>\nhttp:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=VsiKOJOXMJU<\/a>\n My family may be entirely composed of atheists, but we do have some important Christmas traditions (even beyond Chinese food on Christmas day). \u00a0On Christmas Eve, we watch The Muppet Christmas Carol. \u00a0It is the best Christmas Carol on film (it has Michael Caine as Scrooge) and I will fight anyone who says different. The […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":127,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[51,129],"class_list":["post-273","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-at-the-theatre","tag-christmas"],"yoast_head":"\n
\nGonzo<\/strong>: Nah, it\u2019s all right. This is culture!
\n[\u2026]
\n[Scrooge has met the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come] <\/em>
\nRizzo the Rat<\/strong>: Oh, this is too scary. I don\u2019t think I wanna see any more!
\nGonzo<\/strong>: When you\u2019re right, you\u2019re right.
\n[turning to face the audience] <\/em>
\nGonzo<\/strong>: You\u2019re on your own, folks. We\u2019ll meet you at the finale!
\nRizzo the Rat<\/strong>: Yeah!<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/a><\/div>\n