![\"\"](\"http:\/\/teensleuth.com\/hauntedlibrary\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/12\/046_768px.jpg\" "\\"046_768px\\"")
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As a kid, “Christmas Present” was my favorite of all the Scrooge ghosts, because I thought – of course <\/em>–\u00a0that he was “the ghost of Christmas Presents<\/em>“. And a ghost of Christmas Presents had to be the best of all possible ghosts. Dickens describes him thusly:\u00a0<\/p>\n It was his own room. There was no doubt about that.<\/em> ‘Come in.’ exclaimed the Ghost. ‘Come in. and know<\/em> – A Christmas Carol, Stave 3: The Second of the Three Spirits<\/p>\n In the movie version I’d seen, Christmas Presents wore those velvet, ermine-trimmed king’s robes, hanging loosely to expose a capacious breast “as if disdaining to be warded or concealed by any artifice” – <\/em>and a Christmas wreath on his head of cherubic curls. He lorded pompously over piles of jewels and food and candelabras. After scene after scene of grey, miserly, scrawny, Scrooge austerity, the camera unfurls a resplendent and monarchical banquet room, literally ablaze with candles and glittering with gold and silver and tinsels. Atop the gaudy pile sits the roaring, boastful, shirtless, red-bearded glutton. Christmas Presents loudly pontificates amongst legs o’mutton, suckling pigs, baskets of chestnuts, fruits clustered high in blooming pyramids,\u00a0B\u00fbche de\u00a0No\u00ebl and holiday stollen,\u00a0guzzling “the milk of human kindness” from an oversized goblet clenched in fat, bejeweled fingers. You know, THIS:<\/p>\n As a kid, “Christmas Present” was my favorite of all the Scrooge ghosts, because I thought – of course –\u00a0that he was “the ghost of Christmas Presents“. And a ghost of Christmas Presents had to be the best of all … Continue reading
\nBut it had undergone a surprising transformation. The walls<\/em>
\nand ceiling were so hung with living green, that it looked a<\/em>
\nperfect grove; from every part of which, bright gleaming<\/em>
\nberries glistened. The crisp leaves of holly, mistletoe, and<\/em>
\nivy reflected back the light, as if so many little mirrors had<\/em>
\nbeen scattered there; and such a mighty blaze went roaring<\/em>
\nup the chimney, as that dull petrification of a hearth had<\/em>
\nnever known in Scrooge’s time, or Marley’s, or for many and<\/em>
\nmany a winter season gone. Heaped up on the floor, to form<\/em>
\na kind of throne, were turkeys, geese, game, poultry, brawn,<\/em>
\ngreat joints of meat, sucking-pigs, long wreaths of sausages,<\/em>
\nmince-pies, plum-puddings, barrels of oysters, red-hot chestnuts,<\/em>
\ncherry-cheeked apples, juicy oranges, luscious pears,<\/em>
\nimmense twelfth-cakes, and seething bowls of punch, that<\/em>
\nmade the chamber dim with their delicious steam. In easy<\/em>
\nstate upon this couch, there sat a jolly Giant, glorious to<\/em>
\nsee:, who bore a glowing torch, in shape not unlike Plenty’s<\/em>
\nhorn, and held it up, high up, to shed its light on Scrooge,<\/em>
\nas he came peeping round the door.<\/em><\/p>\n
\nme better, man.'”<\/em><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/teensleuth.com\/hauntedlibrary\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/06\/1984-xmas-present1.jpg\" "\\"1984-xmas-present\\"")
<\/p>\nThere are other versions of Christmas Presents, but none so resplendent at Mr. 1984.<\/div>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/teensleuth.com\/hauntedlibrary\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/12\/christmas_present-1.jpg\" "\\"christmas_present-1\\"")
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