I have fond memories of Dickens’ tale A CHRISTMAS CAROL. I remember the lines like old friends, really, with their own character. Those adjectives! I’ve heard an anecdote that ol’ Charlie was paid by the word when he was published…

I have watched  many renditions of the holiday classic. I have read the original text many times. I have worked on music for productions of the play. But today I had the very distinct pleasure of hearing our very own Cody Nickell portray 18 separate characters in this heart-warming, redemptive, joyful, and genuine retelling of Dickens’ classic. JACOB MARLEY’S CHRISTMAS CAROL is a true delight, my friends. It’s energetic and a HUGE undertaking for the team and the cast (of one). Just fantastic stuff.

It got me thinking about the source material. Listening today, I loved that I knew the story the play is based on, but was able to hear it in a new way during our first read through. I started thinking of my own holiday memories with the text – its joy and redemption and heart.

Which is why today I use the blog as my own personification of Fred, Scrooge’s joyous nephew. I’m encouraging Christmas cheer and games! (Fred actually plays the game “Yes and No” in Dickens’ story, but we’re filling in the blank here.)

Here goes! A tiny Holiday treat on this very warm, November afternoon. Let’s test your Christmas Carol knowledge.

Dickens describes Scrooge as a squeezing, wrenching, grasping, scraping, clutching, ___________ old sinner.

In what year was A Christmas Carol written?

Which character is Fred’s mother?

What is the Ghost of Christmas Present’s throne made of?

Complete this phrase: “Come in, and ____ me better, man!”

Who were Fezziwig’s apprentices?

What Christmas Carol did the caroler begin to sing at Scrooge’s office door in the beginning of the book?

What were the names of the children below the robe of Christmas Present?

What were the items wound about Marley when he appears to Scrooge apart from the “chains he forged in life”?

How many years ago did Marley die at the start of the book A Christmas Carol?

Old Marley was dead as a _______ .

JACOB MARLEY’S CHRISTMAS CAROL is a perfect combination of the story you’re familiar with and the story you never got to hear from Jacob Marley’s journey. It is powerful. It calls forth laughter and giggles from even the coldest, tightfisted hand at the grindstone. At least it did for me today, and it’s only the first read.