Though the current project started as a series of posts charting my grief journey after the death of my mother, I am no longer actively grieving. Now, the blog charts a conversation in living, mainly whatever I want it to be. This is an activity that goes well with the theme of this blog (updated 2018). The Sense of Doubt blog is dedicated to my motto: EMBRACE UNCERTAINTY. I promote questioning everything because just when I think I know something is concrete, I find out that it’s not.
Hey, Mom! The Explanation.
Here's the permanent dedicated link to my first Hey, Mom! post and the explanation of the feature it contains.
A Sense of Doubt blog post #4000 - Letter to Dad #20 - POST 4000 - Christmas and Birthday Round Up
Hi Big Guy, This is post #4000 on the SENSE OF DOUBT BLOG. That's a momentous occasion and a notable accomplishment.
It is very fitting that the 4000th post fell on a Letter to Dad day, also letter #20, which is a round number and a notable number.
I started this blog in 2007 with a post that has been viewed 61.6K times. I know a lot of those are bots because it's the first post on the blog, but many are not. I only posted a few times from 2007-2013 (about 17 times). I did the T-Shirts blog separately from 2013-2014. In 2014, I tried to maintain a weekly schedule and only managed maybe every other week.
Then on January 6th 2015, two days after Mom died, I started HEY MOM that ran daily for three years, and I have not stopped daily posting since then, nearly 11 years ago! For a while in 2016, I was posting twice daily as I did over 70 Daily Bowie posts after he died on January 10th, 2016.
And here we are, post #4000.
I am blessed and privileged to be able to make so many posts.
If you are a regular or semi-regular reader, thank you.
Dad, I expect you to be here.
On with the show...
I am delayed in posting this entry (it's Sunday) because I was hammered in the final week of the Winter quarter for Walden with some tough classes with final projects and extra assignments besides because why limit what we have to do when we have final projects due?
I also delayed this entry, originally scheduled for after Christmas, to include my birthday.
I am keeping many of our traditions alive.
I will now curate the following photos.
Love you Dad.
More next week. -christopher
Christmas presents part one: Leather note book, more on that below.
Only three CDs, which I have not yet imported and listened to. Two by Laurie Anderson and one by Radiohead.
A hard cover set of Sherlock Holmes books to replace the paperback set I have had since middle school. I hope to re-read several of the Sherlock Holmes books in the next year or three.
First of two volumes of the Annotated Sherlock Holmes, which I learned about last year in reading through all the Nicholas Meyer Sherlock Holmes pastiches. I have read them all though I want to re-read Seven Percent Solution and my favorite The West End Horror. The Annotated Sherlock Holmes is a fascinating resource that also contains essays on Holmesian topics.
Also, the hardcover new release of Warren Ellis' Desolation Jones, which I have read but wanted the hardcover edition.
In 2024, I read the first book in Brandon Sanderson's The Way of Kings series. I was listening to it during the time you died, Dad. Not literally when you died but in the car all during that trip. I did not finish the book until months later. I was not blown away. It was good. Worth reading. But it did not light a fire under me. But many people told me that books two and three are even better, so at some point, I will read number two pictured below.
Very interested in a critical analysis of the Lost TV show and the script for Shortcomings by Adrian Tomine. So those.
A friend with whom I play D&D recommended Dungeon Crawler Carl, and I do take recommendations especially when they relate to the kind of thing I am writing.
I read a review of The Dream Hotel even before another friend recommended it. I had not decided to get it and read it until that friend's recommendation.
Obviously, I get all the books Alan Moore does but have not read the other two I have yet. This one may get read before those others.
Jackson "Butch" Guice died last year, which reminded me of how much I loved his work with Mantlo on Swords of the Swashbucklers, which I read in its entirety before working at EPIC, who published it. Mantlo is in a care facility after suffering a closed head injury many years ago. So sad.
I am a big fan of Marvel's Kung Fu offerings, and I never read enough of the black & white magazine Deadly Hands of Kung Fu when it came out as it was a bit pricey for my budget at the time, though I often received issues as gifts.
Lastly, the Darth Vader book, which is attractive, but I have already read it now, since Christmas, and it was under-whelming.
Here's the three before the presents were put beneath it.
Yes, I know it's leaning to the left. I had a difficult time getting it straight and then just gave up trying.
Here's the companion photo to last year's photo from Christmas presents opening. Remembering that I drank out of my I LOVE MY WIFE coffee mug last year (and probably in many of the years) I replicated that as a now tradition as are the photos.
Another photo of Christmas presents from this year. The coffee mug was a present. Not the Christmas-themed couch covers.
So, I received as a gift a leather notebook from Portland Leather that replaces my mostly destroyed note pad that is now inside of it. I carry this around all the time. It contains my blog schedules, peeking through the top. You can also see your obituary, Dad. I do not write in the notebook part as often, though it is a useful way to carry key pens, pencils, and erasers.
Several T-shirt photos in a row, pretty self explanatory.
Not that I needed more t-shirts...
I like to wear D&D shirts when I play D&D. I now own six shirts, not counting my DIE shirts which sort of count.
I am planning to make new shirts with Star Trek patches: light weight ones.
Stocking stuffers:
And so, Dad, you know about this tradition but other readers will not. Starting from our first Christmases and birthdays, Mom wrote down all of our gifts and who gave them to us. When we could write well enough or were old enough to shoulder the responsibility, I forget which, we took over writing our lists. I have all the lists somewhere as I saved them with the Mom stuff. Here's this year's lists.
I wish I had close up pictures of both ALL the lists and all the presents from my childhood.
Another reason I waited on this post was for my sister's gifts to arrive (pictured below). I also updated the birthday list. Those are HER crochet works, and I think they are beautiful. She sent Mom's PB cookie recipe as PB cookies are my favorite. Two ornaments as I keep breaking some, and that was another tradition of Mom's to give ornaments as gifts. I still have all of mine. AND Lori agreed to bake a whole batch of Molasses cookies (Mom's recipe that she has improved upon) for my birthday. I am so blessed and loved. I know you and Mom are smiling down on us for keep our relationship alive. It means a lot to me, my relationship with my sister.
- Bloggery committed by chris tower - 2601.29 - 10:10
- Days ago: MOM = 3863 days ago & DAD = 518 days ago
- New note - On 1807.06, I ceased daily transmission of my Hey Mom feature after three years of daily conversations. I post Hey Mom blog entries on special occasions. I post the days since ("Days Ago") count on my blog each day, and now I have a second count for Days since my Dad died on August 28, 2024. I am now in the same time zone as Google! So, when I post at 10:10 a.m. PDT to coincide with the time of Mom's death, I am now actually posting late, so it's really 1:10 p.m. EDT. But I will continue to use the time stamp of 10:10 a.m. to remember the time of her death and sometimes 13:40 EDT for the time of Dad's death. The blog entry numbering in the title has changed to reflect total Sense of Doubt posts since I began the blog on 0705.04, which include Hey Mom posts, Daily Bowie posts, and Sense of Doubt posts. Hey Mom posts will still be numbered sequentially. New Hey Mom posts will use the same format as all the other Hey Mom posts; all other posts will feature this format seen here.
- Bloggery committed by chris tower - 2512.29 - 10:10
- Days ago: MOM = 3832 days ago & DAD = 487 days ago
- New note - On 1807.06, I ceased daily transmission of my Hey Mom feature after three years of daily conversations. I post Hey Mom blog entries on special occasions. I post the days since ("Days Ago") count on my blog each day, and now I have a second count for Days since my Dad died on August 28, 2024. I am now in the same time zone as Google! So, when I post at 10:10 a.m. PDT to coincide with the time of Mom's death, I am now actually posting late, so it's really 1:10 p.m. EDT. But I will continue to use the time stamp of 10:10 a.m. to remember the time of her death and sometimes 13:40 EDT for the time of Dad's death. The blog entry numbering in the title has changed to reflect total Sense of Doubt posts since I began the blog on 0705.04, which include Hey Mom posts, Daily Bowie posts, and Sense of Doubt posts. Hey Mom posts will still be numbered sequentially. New Hey Mom posts will use the same format as all the other Hey Mom posts; all other posts will feature this format seen here.
Jimmy Kimmel delivers Channel 4's alternative Christmas message, reflecting on a tumultuous year. The talk show host discusses threats to free speech and political unrest, comparing situations across the Atlantic. A surprisingly personal message follows, addressing both nations' shared anxieties.
LONDON — Talk show host Jimmy Kimmel took aim at U.S. President Donald Trump as he warned Thursday about the rise of fascism in an address to U.K. viewers dubbed "The Alternative Christmas Message."
The message, aired on Channel 4 on Christmas day, reflected on the impact from the second term in office for Trump, who Kimmel said acts like he's a king.
"From a fascism perspective, this has been a really great year," he said. "Tyranny is booming over here."
The channel began a tradition of airing an alternative Christmas message in 1993, as a counterpart to the British monarch's annual televised address to the nation. Channel 4 said the message is often a thought-provoking and personal reflection pertinent to the events of the year.
The comedian has skewered Trump since returning to the air after ABC indefinitely suspended the "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" show in September following criticism of comments the host made over the killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.
Kimmel made remarks in reference to the reaction to Kirk's shooting suggesting that many Trump supporters were trying to capitalize on the death.
Trump celebrated the suspension of the veteran late-night comic and his frequent critic, calling it "great news for America." He also called for other late night hosts to be fired.
The incident, one of Trump's many disputes and legal battles waged with the media, drew widespread concerns about freedom of speech and freedom of the press.
Hundreds of leading Hollywood stars and others in the entertainment industry urged Americans to "fight to defend and preserve our constitutionally protected rights." The show returned to the air less than a week later.
Kimmel told the U.K. audience that a Christmas miracle had happened in September when millions of people — some who hated his show — had spoken up for free speech.
"We won, the president lost, and now I'm back on the air every night giving the most powerful politician on earth a right and richly deserved bollocking," he said.
Channel 4 previously invited whistle-blower Edward Snowden and Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to deliver the alternative Christmas message.
Kimmel, who said he didn't expect Brits to know who he was, warned that silencing critics is not just something that happens in Russia or North Korea.
Despite the split that led to the American Revolution 250 years ago, he said the two nations still shared a special relationship and urged the U.K. not to give up on the U.S. as it was "going through a bit of a wobble right now."
"Here in the United States right now, we are both figuratively and literally tearing down the structures of our democracy from the free press to science to medicine to judicial independence to the actual White House itself," Kimmel said, in reference to demolition of the building's East Wing. "We are a right mess, and we know this is also affecting you, and I just wanted to say sorry."
- Bloggery committed by chris tower - 2512.26 - 10:10
- Days ago: MOM = 3829 days ago & DAD = 484 days ago
- New note - On 1807.06, I ceased daily transmission of my Hey Mom feature after three years of daily conversations. I post Hey Mom blog entries on special occasions. I post the days since ("Days Ago") count on my blog each day, and now I have a second count for Days since my Dad died on August 28, 2024. I am now in the same time zone as Google! So, when I post at 10:10 a.m. PDT to coincide with the time of Mom's death, I am now actually posting late, so it's really 1:10 p.m. EDT. But I will continue to use the time stamp of 10:10 a.m. to remember the time of her death and sometimes 13:40 EDT for the time of Dad's death. The blog entry numbering in the title has changed to reflect total Sense of Doubt posts since I began the blog on 0705.04, which include Hey Mom posts, Daily Bowie posts, and Sense of Doubt posts. Hey Mom posts will still be numbered sequentially. New Hey Mom posts will use the same format as all the other Hey Mom posts; all other posts will feature this format seen here.
A Sense of Doubt blog post #3964 - Letter to Dad #16 - Christmas Day 2025 - Writing about 1972-1973
Hi Dad, It's Christmas Day; the second without you. 483 days since I held your hand as you drew your last breaths and 3828 days since I wanted to do that with Mom but wasn't there.
Of course, I feel both of you with me all the time, but even more strongly at the holidays.
You and Mom gave me and Lori the best life. I am so grateful for what you both provided for our family. I cannot even express how much gratitude I have. These words are insufficient.
At the very least, I try to pay it all forward and spread love into the world as you two showed me was the best way to shine our light.
Unlike usual weekly letters, I have collected some photos from Christmases (and obviously one birthday because you didn't take care with the sorting of photos, Big Guy) and will caption them all with my observations. Not much news in the last week anyway. Just wrapping, cooking, a little homework, taking care of the puppies.
Starting with the top picture, (and there's a companion below), I am not sure if we visited Santa the same day as a Cub Scouts meeting or I chose to wear my uniform out of pride. I think I am in the second tier of Webelos at this point judging by the kerchief. I am ten years old but almost 11.
1972
Opening presents Christmas morning was always a major operation. Lori and I usually woke up in the middle of the night but couldn't wake you and Mom until what? 5 a.m.? 6 a.m.? I forget.
As I have explained previously, I always got to open the box of comics on Christmas Eve so as to have something to do when I woke in the middle of the night. Once Lori woke, we would hang out together until it was time to get you two up. This time is where many of the stories involving the stuffed animals were born and a character from another dimension known as "Red" because it appeared under a red blanket.
Present opening was a free for all. I don't believe we took turns. I think we opened simultaneously though with some pauses for other pictures that must be somewhere.
Some will chide me for wearing New York Jets pajamas, but let's remember that this is the era of Joe Namath, so I should be forgiven. Plus, other pictures show me in my Detroit Lions hat.
I want to get the films transferred. Every year we had to wait as you set up with the camera and flood lights before we could charge in to see what Santa brought and go through stockings and then wrapped presents. Santa's things were not wrapped.
We never crept into the living room in the middle of the night to peek nor did we unwrap and re-wrap gifts. We were such good kids.
I loved to shake gifts and try to figure out what was in them. At least, one year, I kept a list to track my guesses. Mom had to make the gifts shake proof, allowing them to be shaken without anything getting broken or damaged inside as I was known to shake vigorously. I believe I taught Lori to also shake with vigor.
This was an important Christmas as I will describe with the gift photos below.
The Bronson Park decorations were an annual tradition, and here we are with the manger scene and the baby Jesus that is lit up with holy light, which is pretty cool.
Here's the companion photo of us with Santa Claus and Mrs. Claus at Gilmore's downtown Kalamazoo in the toy shop that they ran for many years. I remember that these people were very good at their roles.
Another picture from the annual tour of Bronson Park. I do not know if they still put out this giant snow man.
Can't really parse much in this photo but Lori is excited about opening her gift and I am not opening at the time. Is that her Baby Dreams doll?
See how Mom is collecting all the ribbons, bows, and tags?
Also, see the stand up lamp you made next to Mom that I used for many years (through to 2009 for sure). I don't think that's still in my storage facility. Did you get rid of it Dad? I wish I had it here!!
Every year we posed with all of our gifts some time after Christmas, often, if I recall, a week or more later.
This Christmas was significant. See the gun in the back corner. That may be a pop gun and not a BB gun. I am pretty sure that's right. I was getting into music, so I got that little amplifier and microphone.
This is the year I got the GI Joe headquarters seen just to Lori's right. There's also the colorful and very cool car park with elevator at my left foot. There's the geology set next to that. The Battleboard game and several things I cannot parse very easily. Of course, lots of comics. There's a Batman puppet in the lower right of the picture. Also, to the left of Batman's head (not his left, our left) I see the Partridge Family Crossword album and probably some others that I cannot discern. I see Detroit Lions clothes or pajamas. So very blessed.
This was the year Lori got Baby Dreams, her all time favorite doll, who become a leader in the Protectors Five series of stories that were born in those early Christmas mornings. Those were some of my first stories. This is also the year, you built the crib and diaper changing table for Lori seen in the lower right of the photo (our right). I cannot discern everything (I wish you had taken close ups, Dad!) but some things are clear, like that Flintstones thing which is either an album or a game. More doll stuff. And our aquarium is very clearly seen. This Christmas is before you built the thing on the other side of the room to house the rock collection, the stereo, and the aquarium.
1973
Here we are at the Delbridge home receiving quilts made by Grandma Hazel, also something I used until it literally fell apart sometime between 2003-2009.
This picture is my birthday 1973 even though you put it in the Christmas folder, Dad. The lamp I wrote about above is very clearly seen here, though I don't remember it being next to the door to the porch, unless that's not the door to the porch behind me but I am pretty positive it is.
What's on the wall? Are those drawings? Mine? Lori's?
Lots of comics. The ventriloquist doll at the dawn of my magic and performance work. Marie Osmond's solo album Paper Roses. The MEGO Tarzan and Captain America as well as a doll of a boxer: Muhammed Ali?? Some cool diorama on the far right of the picture (our right), and next to that the gifts Lori received as you and Mom were so good to give us one or two gifts on the other's birthday so we did not feel left out. I wonder if any other families or how many families did such things.
I think I see the round orange pillow that I also used for decades until it literally fell apart.
That's a theme: using things until they fall apart.
I wrote about this picture recently with the Annual Christmas Tree "Slaughter" post. There's that Detroit Lions hat!! Obviously, it was cold but where's the snow?? Mom would never wear a stocking cap because of her hair.
This picture is from Christmas 1973 because if compared to the 1972 pictures above there are differences. Even though the Santa wall hanging with moveable arms, legs, and head is in the same spot, the plant by the door to the porch is different, and ornaments on the tree are not in the same places.
But in your folder for 1973, Dad, there were no pictures of us unwrapping or posing by photos.
I just brought in the boxes of photos I had shipped here last year that I have been meaning to go through. I noticed lots of slides and wish you had kept your digitizer for slides and left it for me. Why didn't you think of that? I see a lot of slides sent to you in Schoolcraft as you had to, apparently, send away to have them developed.
So many great memories of our family time together. I wish I had more pictures of you at those times. Mom should have switched off and taken some photos.
- Bloggery committed by chris tower - 2512.25 - 10:10
- Days ago: MOM = 3828 days ago & DAD = 483 days ago
- New note - On 1807.06, I ceased daily transmission of my Hey Mom feature after three years of daily conversations. I post Hey Mom blog entries on special occasions. I post the days since ("Days Ago") count on my blog each day, and now I have a second count for Days since my Dad died on August 28, 2024. I am now in the same time zone as Google! So, when I post at 10:10 a.m. PDT to coincide with the time of Mom's death, I am now actually posting late, so it's really 1:10 p.m. EDT. But I will continue to use the time stamp of 10:10 a.m. to remember the time of her death and sometimes 13:40 EDT for the time of Dad's death. The blog entry numbering in the title has changed to reflect total Sense of Doubt posts since I began the blog on 0705.04, which include Hey Mom posts, Daily Bowie posts, and Sense of Doubt posts. Hey Mom posts will still be numbered sequentially. New Hey Mom posts will use the same format as all the other Hey Mom posts; all other posts will feature this format seen here.
- Bloggery committed by chris tower - 2512. 24 - 10:10
- Days ago: MOM = 3827 days ago & DAD = 482 days ago
- New note - On 1807.06, I ceased daily transmission of my Hey Mom feature after three years of daily conversations. I post Hey Mom blog entries on special occasions. I post the days since ("Days Ago") count on my blog each day, and now I have a second count for Days since my Dad died on August 28, 2024. I am now in the same time zone as Google! So, when I post at 10:10 a.m. PDT to coincide with the time of Mom's death, I am now actually posting late, so it's really 1:10 p.m. EDT. But I will continue to use the time stamp of 10:10 a.m. to remember the time of her death and sometimes 13:40 EDT for the time of Dad's death. The blog entry numbering in the title has changed to reflect total Sense of Doubt posts since I began the blog on 0705.04, which include Hey Mom posts, Daily Bowie posts, and Sense of Doubt posts. Hey Mom posts will still be numbered sequentially. New Hey Mom posts will use the same format as all the other Hey Mom posts; all other posts will feature this format seen here.
Let the snow fall, light up the tree, grab a warm drink, and enjoy this cozy Christmas music journey with Lofi Girl. 🎄
Lofi Girl Christmas edition delivers 8 hours of chill Christmas music designed to help you focus, unwind, and enjoy the magic of the season. Whether you are studying, decorating your home, working late, or simply relaxing by the fireplace, this playlist is your perfect soundtrack.
🤗 Thank you for listening, I hope you will have a good time here
🧡 All visuals and music in this video are 100% crafted by talented human artists, without the use of AI. We’re committed to delivering genuine, hand-made creations for our audience to enjoy.
Snow is falling, lights are twinkling, and the holidays are calling. Christmas 2025 has arrived, bringing 25 cozy melodies carefully curated to fill your space with nostalgic warmth and gentle festive beats. These tracks blend soft piano and warm, deep grooves to capture the calm and pure comfort of the season. Slip on your favorite sweater, curl up by the fire, and watch the snow drift past as you embrace the spirit of the holidays. Take a moment to slow down, unwind, and let this timeless collection bring peace and joy to every listen!
🎶 | Tracklist
[00:00] No Spirit - A Wish For Us
[02:53] No Spirit - Christmas Together
[05:55] JazzyHan, BreadSim - Snow Drop
[08:23] Mondo Loops - Cosy By The Hearth
[10:20] vhskid. - Warm Hearts
[12:39] morningtime - winter whispers
[15:24] maeLstro, Mondo Loops - By Candlelight
[17:42] pajama boy, Drunk Urameshi - hot chocolate by the fire
[19:37] steezy prime, Spaniel Mac - Peppermint Mocha
[21:34] Kiabits, Dani Catalá - Snowlight
[23:31] Casiio, Sling Dilly - All These Presents (And Still No Socks)
[25:27] Krynoze, meno - Merry Christmas
[27:59] flowray, okinami - snowflake
[30:33] okinami, Solar Body - Sleigh Bells
[32:34] Kiabits, Dani Catalá - White Village
[35:13] Dani Catalá, Casiio - The Old Town
[37:30] softy, Lucid Keys - Home in Christmas
[39:58] Erwin Do, Coloured Rocks, Sheath - December Glow
[41:49] Lock, Toti Cisneros - Noel Harmony
[44:18] Jam'addict - Merry Haze
[46:46] softy, Lock - Snow All Day
[48:50] Phlocalyst, Viktor Minsky, Lofiluc - Rudolph's Eve
[51:09] softy, Kainbeats - Grandma's Gift
[53:50] xander., Lucid Keys - opening presents
[56:56] Lucid Keys, marsquake - Toys Under The Tree
- Bloggery committed by chris tower - 2512.22 - 10:10
- Days ago: MOM = 3825 days ago & DAD = 480 days ago
- New note - On 1807.06, I ceased daily transmission of my Hey Mom feature after three years of daily conversations. I post Hey Mom blog entries on special occasions. I post the days since ("Days Ago") count on my blog each day, and now I have a second count for Days since my Dad died on August 28, 2024. I am now in the same time zone as Google! So, when I post at 10:10 a.m. PDT to coincide with the time of Mom's death, I am now actually posting late, so it's really 1:10 p.m. EDT. But I will continue to use the time stamp of 10:10 a.m. to remember the time of her death and sometimes 13:40 EDT for the time of Dad's death. The blog entry numbering in the title has changed to reflect total Sense of Doubt posts since I began the blog on 0705.04, which include Hey Mom posts, Daily Bowie posts, and Sense of Doubt posts. Hey Mom posts will still be numbered sequentially. New Hey Mom posts will use the same format as all the other Hey Mom posts; all other posts will feature this format seen here.
A Sense of Doubt blog post #3958 - Today is the 182nd Anniversary of A Christmas Carol - SoD Reprint of #3593 with Collected Reprints and My Annual Re-Reads
I am reprinting a post from last year that in turn reprints many other posts, but I have also added new material that appears first.
Every year, I re-read via audio and sometimes just print Dickens classic novella “A Christmas Carol.”
I have many reasons for doing this and connections with this tale. I wrote some of my thoughts last year that appear in the reprint below.
The story of a wicked man’s redemption and his transformation is the perfect moral tale for the Christmas season. The emotional weight of the story and the catharsis it delivers never fails to move me, often to tears.
As a structural piece of writing, it’s a masterpiece, much like a Shakespearean tragedy with three core acts or “staves” of ghostly visitations framed by an introductory stave – the problem of Scrooge – and the finale, Scrooge’s transformation, and so five acts in all, essentially. The plot zips along just as it should with no more than it needs to set forth its premise and pay off on it promise.
The writing itself is a study in active, forward-driving, rich, and beautiful work. Some may eschew much of it as over-written, especially in Dickens’ side jokes (such as the early one on the most dead iron mongery being door nails or coffin nails) or the overuse of adverbs as well seen in the description of the feast and forest grove festooning the Ghost of Christmas present. And yet, without those adverbs – luscious pears, cherry-cheeked apples – the plump plenty of that cornucopia of bounty for a proper holiday feast would be lost. And yet Dickens takes care not to adorn each item with an adverb. Some are simply brawn or mince-pies. The writing is just ornate enough for the fashion of the times and yet does not unduly waste the reader’s time with asides and unnecessary descriptive language.
And we learn so much of Victorian times in our glimpse of England, London specifically, in 1843, the year of the book’s publication. I had to look up brawn. But there’s so much more like Cratchit’s comforter (exclusive of the fringe), the Cratchit women “brave in ribbons,” and the pudding “singing in the copper.” There are so many little things in the story that inform us 182 years later of life in London at the dawn of Queen Victoria’s reign (begun in 1837) that any Anglophile and even those with passing interest should be captivated.
Audio books are great because they are nearly all narrated by actual Brits who pronounce words like “clerk” (Cla-rk) and “six-pence” (slurred together) and more with the proper British accent.
Also, I played Scrooge in a musical my senior year of high school, and so he has a fond place in my heart.
I highly recommend an annual re-read as I do. In fact, much like last year, I may do TWO READS (listens) as well as review of the print text.
Robert Eggers is directing a new, dark take on A Christmas Carol, but his film doesn't have a set release date yet; however, other directors are also tackling the story, with Ti West's Ebenezer: A Christmas Carol, starring Johnny Depp, already dated for November 13, 2026, while Eggers' own medieval horror film, Werwolf, is slated for Christmas 2026, suggesting Eggers' Carol might follow in 2027 or later.
Key Details:
Eggers' Version: Expected to be a gothic horror adaptation, but timing is TBD after his Werwolf.
Ti West's Version: Releasing November 13, 2026, with Johnny Depp as Scrooge.
So, while you can expect Eggers' version eventually, focus on late 2026 for West's take and potentially 2027 for Eggers'.
BBC documentary. Griff Rhys Jones reveals how Dickens created the idea of a traditional family Christmas through one of his best-known books, A Christmas Carol. From the moment it was published in 1843, the story of miserly Ebeneezer Scrooge captured the imagination of Victorian Britain. Santa Claus, Christmas cards and crackers were invented around the same time, but it was Dickens's book that boosted the craze for Christmas, above all promoting the idea that Christmas is best celebrated with the family.
Interviewees include former on-screen Scrooge, Patrick Stewart, and writer Lucinda Hawksley, great-great-great-granddaughter of Charles Dickens himself.
[Given that this missive includes twelve footnotes, I might do well to remind you that you don’t have to violently scroll down and up and down and up to read them; you can simply, depending on what sort of machine you’re reading on, hover over or click on the superscript numbers, and the footnotes will make themselves available to you.]
Tomorrow, December 19, is the 182nd anniversary of the publication of Charles Dickens’s A Christmas Carol, and if you’ve worked in publishing more recently than 1843 you might well be thinking right this moment: That’s rather late for Christmas sales, innit.
Indeed, nowadays one would expect a Very Special Holiday Volume by a noted writer to go on sale no later than U.S. Thanksgiving week,1 the better to move a ton of books in that key month between the big birds.2 And quite possibly that Very Special Holiday Volume would makes its way into the world, and the marketplace, with all the publishing bells and whistles known to humankind, including four-color illustrations3 throughout,4 a decorative case,5 embossing and/or foil on the jacket,6 perhaps a ribbon marker, and perhaps even those sprayed edges that were not yet a big thing when I retired from Random House almost precisely two years ago but are now, I’m advised, endemic.7
In any event, however you wrap it, or slice it, A Christmas Carol is a masterly8 novella,9 and I do tend to read it annually around this time of year, because it’s simply, besides blessedly short, so much fun.10
Plus I like my rituals.
And I do also tend, annually around this time of year, to ruminate on the fate of Jacob Marley, specifically:
Does Jacob Marley’s labor in the service of Scrooge’s redemption redeem Marley himself and free him of his chains?
People’s answers to this question (which I tend to post publicly, annually around this time of year) are often detailed and (to me) fascinating,11 so in the service of detail and fascination I’m going to leave the comments on this week’s missive open to all and even sundry. Feel free to weigh in!12 And if you have any other more or less relevant questions, feel free. I’m in rather a chatty mood today.
Cover illustration: Scrooge and Marley (including his pigtail) by John Leech, a very jaunty-looking fellow whose friends, I am told, called him Blicky.
In the United States, books almost invariably go on sale on Tuesday, for myriad stated, and possibly accurately stated, reasons that I don’t need to enumerate here. In Great Britain, Tuesdays are Thursdays, for presumably different myriad stated, and possibly accurately stated, reasons.
Both goose (“with apple-sauce and mashed potatoes”) and turkey make appearances in the Carol, but of course it’s turkey—the “prize Turkey” from “the Poulterer’s, in the next street but one, at the corner”—for the celebrated finale. “What, the one as big as me?” Et cetera.
The case is that solid thing holding a hardcover book’s pages together. I just a second ago rapped my knuckles against the hardcover case nearest to my fingers, as if to prove that one can indeed rap one’s knuckles against a hardcover case and make a jaunty, bracing noise. One indeed can. The hardcover in question: Three Plays by [Harley] Granville Barker: The Marrying of Ann Leete, The Voysey Inheritance, and Waste. I’ve pretty much concluded my recent John van Druten spree; now it’s Harley’s turn.
Here’s Harley, cute as the dickens (sorry) (ish) and doesn’t he know it. He started out as Harley Granville Barker; at some point he hurled a hyphen into his surname, which apparently is read over on the east side of the Big Water as self-imposed fanciness. There’ll always be an England, as they say, and I’ll never entirely understand it.
The detachable paper thing that wraps around a hardcover is a jacket (a dust jacket if you want to be old-school about it). Till the day I die, and possibly even beyond that day, I will remain molecularly incapable of referring to a jacket as, as many folk do, a cover. Paperbacks have covers.
I was taught, long ago, to use “masterly” to mean “expert”/“accomplished” and to reserve “masterful” for “domineering”/“bossy.” I’ve learned, though, that this is a somewhat bogus distinction, as I’ve also learned, through repeated pushback, that many writers can’t abide the word “masterly.” (I have no idea why they can’t abide it, and I try not to ask; for the record, the adverbial form of the adjective “masterly” is also “masterly,” though I attempt every now and then to get away with “masterlily,” just to vex people. As far back as 1820 the writer George Beard, in his Introduction to English Grammar, admitted that constructions like “masterlily,” to say nothing of “godlily” and “heavenlily,” were “disagreeable to the ear” and thus “could never gain admittance into common use.” Well, he’s not wrong.) In any event, I’ve stopped attempting to impose “masterly” on those many writers’ writing, though I like it well enough for my own use. Feel free to observe the distinction or not as you see fit. There are, I’d say, many better battles to fight.
The Carol weighs in at about thirty thousand words, which, I’d say, indeed qualifies it to be called a novella, noting, though, that most modern publishers, at least in my experience, would rather literally die than refer to a novella as a novella, so you wouldn’t be surprised to see the Carol published today with the subtitle “A Novel.”
I’ve also written about it before (I like everything about my little essay of 2022 except its ghastly headline), and I think that this link should get you there without fuss (or payment to a formerly, sigh, respectable newspaper).
My pet theory, based less on Dickens than on Alec Guinness’s exuberant performance in the 1970 musical filming of A Christmas Carol titled Scrooge, is that Marley has already been redeemed and is well aware of the fact, and he’s leaning into all that shrieking and chain rattling for the sheer fun of it.
“[Scrooge] marked the very texture of the folded kerchief bound about [Marley’s] head and chin, which wrapper he had not observed before.” It was, I read, Victorian practice to bind a corpse’s head with some handy schmatte or other to prevent its jaw from dropping open.
Why Dicken’s Scrooge still walks among us at Christmas, 182 years on?
Britain in 2025 has lessons to earn from that great work of the writer
By Keith Flett
LONDON: Charles Dickens’s Christmas Carol was published on December 19 1843. Eleven days later the Chartist Northern Star had this response, which was headed “a Christmas Carol”:“According to annual and praise-worthy custom the unfortunate inmates both of the workhouse and prison throughout the metropolis, will, upon Christmas-day be regaled with the usual good fare of the season. The proportions of the allowances will vary slightly in different institutions, but in all & good dinner will be provided.”
There followed a poem noting that on one day a year workhouse inhabitants ate decently but for the other 364 days it noted: “Come to-morrow how it will; Diet scant and usage rough.”The message of a Christmas Carol remains perpetually relevant in a market capitalist society and several updated stage versions of the Dickens classic are being performed around the country this year.
Before the 2019 general election at a hustings Jeremy Corbyn was asked what he would give Boris Johnson for a Christmas present.“I know Mr Johnson likes a good read,” he said, “so what I would probably leave under the tree for him would be A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens, and he could then understand how nasty Scrooge was.”
Dickens’s story focused on Scrooge in his City of London counting house seeing the error of his ways and ultimately through a familiar device of festive fiction-ghosts-making amends. His employee Bob Cratchit’s family did get a Christmas turkey.However the attitudes that the liberals of the 1840s displayed on helping the less well-off and indeed on turkeys remain at the centre of right-wing thought.
Bob Cratchit’s family getting a turkey didn’t go down well with the liberals of the day. Commenting on the book in passing in the Westminster Review in 1844, a reviewer noted that since there weren’t enough top-notch turkeys to go round if the lower orders like the Cratchits got one, than others — the deserving rich — would not.
“Who went without turkey and punch in order that Bob Cratchit might get them — for, unless there were turkey and punch in surplus, someone must go without — is a disagreeable reflection kept wholly out of sight,” wrote William Bridges Adams in the Westminster Review, 1844.
The Times reported in 2022 that researchers think Henry VIII was responsible for bringing the turkey to Britain. Its editorial rightly noted that it is the bird of choice for those who eat poultry and that it features in Dickens’s Christmas Carol. It missed the point, perhaps deliberately, about why Dickens had Scrooge buy the Cratchits a turkey.
The poor in the 1840s would eat goose at Christmas if they could afford it. Turkeys were unaffordable except for the rich. Dickens was attacking a market system that rationed food by class. Dickens also focused on the wider attitude of the wealthy to the less well-off.
Scrooge is visited by “two portly gentlemen” seeking to collect funds for the poor at Christmas. They tell him that “many thousands are in want of common necessaries; hundreds of thousands are in want of common comforts.”
Scrooge asks the charity collectors if by some chance the workhouses and prisons are no longer operating. He goes on to make it clear that he will be contributing nothing to the less well off at Christmas: “I don’t make myself merry at Christmas and I can’t afford to make idle people merry. I help to support the establishments I have mentioned (prisons and workhouses): they cost enough: and those who are badly off must go there.”
While exact policies do vary a little it’s a reminder that Scrooge remains with us at Christmas 2025 with politicians from Labour, Tory and Reform. (IPA Service)
I am listening to two versions this year. I started with the Patrick Stewart version because I love him, and I have never listened to that one. However, it's abridged and altered for his performance.
I liked it, but I had to listen to another to get the full effect.
I listened to this version also, which is not only unabridged, but it's nearly an hour longer due to special effects, carols, and pacing. The large cast as opposed to a single narrator is great. Very enjoyable. I also add to my library a version narrated by Hugh Grant, but I doubt I want to do THREE versions, despite how much I love this story.
Though I have not considered my forthcoming argument compared to other stories, I have been asserting that "A Christmas Carol" is the mostly finely crafted, well-written, most enjoyable, and favorite stories of all time. If I were to think about it, maybe I could think of other comparable stories or those for which the argument could b made from an artistic point of view as superior to this Dickens tale. However, when one considers longevity and influence, the way that this story rejuvenated the celebration of Christmas and fixed many of its traditions in stone, then there is no contest. This story reigns supreme.
Some may find the prose over-wrought with its use of adjectives and adverbs, but not only does this composition conform to the style of the time, but its manner is most appropriate for the tale.
The structure fits the purpose perfectly as the characters are concisely introduced with key detail and elements that are re-used later in the story. Then, the inciting incident of Marley's visit lays in the premise that is then executed in three "staves" as the three spirits visit Scrooge. His transformation is slow and a bit understated, mostly through the character's questions, and then the ending that shows him as a new man unfolds with just enough scenes of the new Scrooge but not overdone in its narrative; there's just enough. This kind of satisfying closure make me happy as I want the important character moments after getting so invested in their lives.
Reading the Wikipedia page, I was unaware of how "A Christmas Carol" was the saving measure of Dickens' life and struggles with debt and supporting a large family. I was also unaware that his story revived Christmas celebration and promoted new traditions that are now taken for granted. Lastly, I did not ever think of the story as a Christian allegory as the saving of the awful sinner. The Christian theme is hardly overt or possibly even the real intent of Dickens' work. Why can't a transformation be of a spiritual or personal kind without being Christian?
The story is my favorite piece of fiction, and I love having this tradition of re-reading it annually (or at least listening to it, which I may like even better in this case).
Thanks for tuning in.
Happy Christmas!
Here's my other Dickens posts, two of which (#2866 and #1396) are reprinted below.
LOW POWER MODE: I sometimes put the blog in what I call LOW POWER MODE. If you see this note, the blog is operating like a sleeping computer, maintaining static memory, but making no new computations. If I am in low power mode, it's because I do not have time to do much that's inventive, original, or even substantive on the blog. This means I am posting straight shares, limited content posts, reprints, often something qualifying for the THAT ONE THING category and other easy to make posts to keep me daily. That's the deal. Thanks for reading.
A Sense of Doubt blog post #2866 - Hear Neil Gaiman Read A Christmas Carol Just Like Charles Dickens Read It
I always read/listen to "A Christmas Carol" at least once each year at this time of the season. Now, I have to explore Gaiman's reading as I usually listen to one of the half dozen I have saved in my library, usually the one by Tim Curry.
I had planned to reprint my Dickens-tastic post on Christmas Day.
In Christmases past, we featured Charles Dickens’ hand-edited copy of his beloved 1843 novella A Christmas Carol. He did that hand editing for the purposes of giving public readings, a practice that, in his time, “was considered a desecration of one’s art and a lowering of one’s dignity.” That time, however, has gone, and many of the most prestigious writers alive today take the reading aloud of their own work to the level of art, or at least high entertainment, that Dickens must have suspected one could. Some writers even do a bang-up job of reading other writers’ work: modern master storyteller Neil Gaiman gave us a dose of that when we featured his recitation of Lewis Carroll’s “Jabberwocky” from memory. Today, however, comes the full meal: Gaiman’s telling of A Christmas Carolstraight from that very Dickens-edited reading copy.
Gaiman read to a full house at the New York Public Library, an institution known for its stimulating events, holiday-themed or otherwise. But he didn’t have to hold up the afternoon himself; taking the stage before him, BBC researcher and The Secret Museumauthor Molly Oldfield talked about her two years spent seeking out fascinating cultural artifacts the world over, including but not limited to the NYPL’s own collection of things Dickensian. You can hear both Oldfield and Gaiman in the recording below. But perhaps the greatest gift of all came in the form of the latter’s attire for his reading: not only did he go fully Victorian, he even went to the length of replicating the 19th-century literary superstar’s own severe hair part and long goatee. And School Library Journal has pictures. The story really gets started around the 11:00 mark. Gaiman’s reading will be added to our list of Free Audio Books. You can find the text of Dickens’ classic here.
Based in Seoul, Colin Marshall writes and broadcasts on cities, language, and culture. His projects include the Substack newsletterBooks on Cities, the book The Stateless City: a Walk through 21st-Century Los Angeles and the video series The City in Cinema. Follow him on Twitter at @colinmarshall or on Facebook.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ - Bloggery committed by chris tower - 2212.23 - 10:10 - Days ago = 2730 days ago +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
A Sense of Doubt blog post #1396 - Christmastime Is Here - part two
Okay, I am putting this here, just because I want to remember it
Normally, I do a musical mix today. I have many in various states of completion ready to go. Maybe the best use of some free time while off the daily grind of blog broadcast will be to prepare ahead some of these treasures, such as a revisit of the Jam mix with commentary on each song; the Coccteau Twin mix, which is mostly complete; and others like the one I just started with Sinead O'Connor's "Fourth and Vine" as the core or the mix I have been playing for at least a year with Peter Gabriel's "Solsbury Hill" as the foundation.
So today, I thought I would start the Christmas theme with some of my favorite tunes from the Charlie Brown Christmas Special. I tend to listen to this music year around, but more often at Christmas. After all, "Linus and Lucy" was Liesel and my outro (recessional) music at our wedding.
I love this music. Watching the Charlie Brown Christmas Special is required viewing for me every year.
Also required, the re-read -- these days on audio -- of Dickens' A Christmas Carol. I will be doing so very soon. Or perhaps a reading via YOU TUBE.
OR... I just bought it on AMAZON. Here's a clip.
or this....
I have sampled many versions of A Christmas Carol, but so far the one narrated by Tim Curry is my favorite.
There's a couple of songs in the mix on You Tube not featured in the individual videos below, but scroll down for LoFi and other goodies!!
So, as I complete some other original materials and also do my jobs for which I am paid, presumably, then here's some of the GREATEST music EVER WRITTEN.
Christmas St. Antoine 2011 - two months after we moved in
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- Bloggery committed by chris tower - 2412.19 - 10:10 - Days ago: MOM = 3457 days ago & DAD = 113 days ago +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
- Bloggery committed by chris tower - 2512.19 - 10:10
- Days ago: MOM = 3822 days ago & DAD = 477 days ago
- New note - On 1807.06, I ceased daily transmission of my Hey Mom feature after three years of daily conversations. I post Hey Mom blog entries on special occasions. I post the days since ("Days Ago") count on my blog each day, and now I have a second count for Days since my Dad died on August 28, 2024. I am now in the same time zone as Google! So, when I post at 10:10 a.m. PDT to coincide with the time of Mom's death, I am now actually posting late, so it's really 1:10 p.m. EDT. But I will continue to use the time stamp of 10:10 a.m. to remember the time of her death and sometimes 13:40 EDT for the time of Dad's death. The blog entry numbering in the title has changed to reflect total Sense of Doubt posts since I began the blog on 0705.04, which include Hey Mom posts, Daily Bowie posts, and Sense of Doubt posts. Hey Mom posts will still be numbered sequentially. New Hey Mom posts will use the same format as all the other Hey Mom posts; all other posts will feature this format seen here.
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