The favorite thing I'm going to talk about today is not going to come as a big surprise to any of my faithful disciples. If you have been reading Saint Marty over the past 365 days, you know I made an oath last Christmas to focus on Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol for a full year. Well, as we draw nigh to the yuletide season once more, I have a confession: I collect editions of A Christmas Carol. I have illustrated editions. I have paperback editions. I have it on cassette tape. I have it on CD. I have just about every film adaptation that's ever been made. I have been obsessed with A Christmas Carol since I was a kid.
The edition I carry around with me for my blog is in a collection titled Charles Dickens' Christmas Ghost Stories. In this anthology, all of Dickens' creepy Christmas tales are brought together. There's A Christmas Carol, but there's also Ghosts at Christmas and The Goblins Who Stole a Sexton and The Rapping Spirits, among others. As I've explained before, Dickens started the tradition of telling ghost stories during the Christmas holidays. With A Christmas Carol, Dickens basically invented Christmas as we know it. That's why I love editions of Scrooge's story. In them, you can find the genesis of modern Christmas traditions.
One of my dreams is owning a first edition of A Christmas Carol. When I have a spare hundred thousand dollars or so, I may investigate the possibility. Right now, I will have to satisfy my Carol jones with George C. Scott or Kermit the Frog or Patrick Stewart.
Saint Marty will be doing that tonight, when he decorates his Christmas tree with his family.
Confessions of Saint Marty
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