I also celebrated in said way mentioned in said post.
Have I mentioned how much I love A Christmas Carol before? (Ok, I know I have. But I love it, I really, really do!) Even Jim Carrey can't tarnish the story with his sometimes over the top ridiculousness.
It's the perfect Christmas message I think. And rather than try to tell you how good it is myself, I'll let President Thomas S. Monson tell you:
If we remember, “When ye are in the service of your fellow beings ye are only in the service of your God” (Mosiah 2:17), we will not find ourselves in the unenviable position of Jacob Marley’s ghost. When he spoke to Ebenezer Scrooge in Dickens’ immortal A Christmas Carol, he spoke sadly of opportunities lost. Said he, “Not to know that any Christian spirit working kindly in its little sphere, whatever it may be, will find its mortal life too short for its vast means of usefulness! Not to know that no space of regret can make amends for one life’s opportunities misused! Yet such was I! Oh! such was I!”
Marley added: “Why did I walk through crowds of fellow-beings with my eyes turned down, and never raise them to that blessed Star which led Wise Men to a poor abode! Were there no poor homes to which its light would have conducted me!” (In The Best Short Stories of Charles Dickens, New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1947, p. 435.)
We can learn a treasured lesson from the pen of Dickens and from the example of Christ. As we lift our eyes heavenward and then remember to look outward into the lives of others, as we remember that it is more blessed to give than to receive, we, during this Christmas season, will come to see a bright, particular star that will guide us to our precious opportunity.
AND
The story is a portrayal of the Spirit of Christ, which can turn men’s lives completely around. It is a story of selfishness being replaced by generosity. It is a story of unconcern being replaced by deep concern. It is a story of hate being replaced by love. It is a story of sweet benediction when the little crippled child, Tiny Tim, calls out, “God bless us every one.”
I love that he loves Charles Dickens just as much as I do.
If all goes according to plan I'll be in Tennessee on Sunday! Somebody Scream!
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