We wished for a white Christmas, and we got it. So all we can do is laugh!!! Merry Christmas, everyone!!!!
"...Scrooge was better than his word. He did it all and infinitely more; and to Tiny Tim who did NOT die he was a second father. He became as good a friend, as good a master, and as good a man as the good old city knew, or any other good old city, town, or borough, in the good old world. Some people laughed to see the alteration in him, but he let them laugh, and little heeded them; for he was wise enough to know that nothing ever happened on this globe, for good, at which some people did not have their fill of laughter in the outset; and knowing that such as these would be blind anyway, he thought it quite as well that they should wrinkle up their eyes in grins, as have the malady in less attractive forms. His own heart laughed: and that was quite enough for him.
He had no further intercourse with Spirits, but lived upon the Total Abstinence Principle*, ever afterwards; and it was always said of him, that he knew how to keep Christmas well, if any man alive possessed the knowledge. May that be truly said of us, and all of us! And so, as Tiny Tim observed, God bless Us Every One! "
from "A Christmas Carol," By Charles Dickens.
* The Total Abstinence Principle is a bit of a play on words, with the double meaning of ghostly Spirits, like the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come, which no longer troubled Scrooge. And also alcoholic spirits like whiskey, a prominent feature of life in Victorian England. There is also an abstinence from being bitter, mean-spirited, angry, dour, greedy, grasping, self-centered, and unforgiving. Especially dour.
10 comments :
Total abstinence Principal. I sure hope Ella gets the message. Merry Christmas, Baby Belle! Did the farmer give you any Christmas treats???
Just some tap water, Marigold. I bet you and Peanut and Watson and the two big buses got a box of applets and cotlets.
Well said, Belle, well said! Is there an echo in here? Yes, anything but dour, I say! Speaking of Christmas treats, we all got some nice, big fir branches with cones on them and everything that came down in the storm, delivered to us AND extra Peanuts!!! :):):). I don't mean to sound greedy (because that's part of the TAB) but we were hoping for peanut brittle but of course in the spirit of Christmas, we were happy with just plain peanuts!! :)
Actually we got Peanuts, Cookies, Alfalfa, and a special apple (which only Boo and I would eat). Tap water? Are you in solitary confinement for the holidays? I would have thought that would be Hannah Belle Lecter.
I don't know why it is but Nubians love apples especially the cores. You people. Give me some ginger snaps any day.
I think in Japan many translaters misunderstood abstentionism .
At first I became acquainted with Scrooge in the film .
Recently I read " A Christmas Carol " in Japanese and it struck me strange that he lived upon as prohibitionist .
Today I was lucky enough to come across this site and I was able to get an accurate knowledge of Total abstinence Principal .
God bless us , everyone .
Awwww.....
this was so long before I knew everyone....and there you all are............
God Bless Us......everyone.
*hugs*
~Mimi
Hello! I've been reading your weblog for a while now and finally got
the courage to go ahead and give you a shout out from Huffman Texas!
Just wanted to tell you keep up the fantastic
work!
Thanks so much for this helpful info on the T.A.P., may I ask how you found this out?? I’m intrigued! I’ve recently finished reading Dickens’
A Christmas Carol & adored it!
It's a pun - he had no further intercourse with 'spirits'. It is indeed a joke about teetotaling.
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