A Christmas Carol

This morning I drove the kids to school. The school band concert was last night, and though it was not a particularly late night, spirits were high afterwards and it was rather past bedtime when I finally got rid of settled the kids for the night. The kids like it when I drive them to school, probably because it doesn't happen very often. At least they DID like it. Not sure if that's still true.

You see Erik is reading A Christmas Carol for his grade 6 novel study, and I took advantage of our 20 minute drive to engage him in a discussion of the thematic importance of a story I have long loved. It's a bit of a challenge, eliciting expansive responses from my son, but hey, in a car, there is no escape. By the time we got to school, he was

• able to comment intelligently on the significance of Scrooge's "transformation" and the three-fold process that got him there;
• somewhat able to identify similarities and differences between 19th century social conditions and today;
• tell me his favourite scenes and why they are important, and expand on how the lessons in A Christmas Carol could be applied to everyday life ("it's all about making the right choices and having the courage to change."); and
• thinking that maybe taking the bus to school wasn't so bad after all. LOLOL

We watched the Jim Carrey A Christmas Carol the other week. I personally have a soft spot for the Muppet version. But my all time favourite - sorry Alistair Sim (who also stars in a great version) - is the 1970 musical film starring Albert Finney and Sir Alex Guinness.