I've always wondered about this one line in that Christmas song, "It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year," the line about there being "scary ghost stories." Christmas, at least as I've known it, isn't the time for scary ghost stories; that's why we have Halloween, slumber parties and camping. Christmas has one scary ghost story: A Christmas Carol. My husband pointed out that there are many different renditions of A Christmas Carol, but I hardly think that counts.
Because I am a Dickens freak, and because my husband and I love to read aloud, we've been spending some time reading this particular scary ghost story, in its original, to each other and the kids. What my kids have taken away from this so far (we're only a few pages in) is that Scrooge hates Christmas, that he told some people to "get out" of his office and that he says "Bah! Humbug!" So they spent the weekend saying "Bah! Humbug!" and having conversations in which they reassured each other that they do not hate Christmas.
Daughter: "Brother, do you hate Christmas?"
Son: "No, I like Christmas. Do you hate Christmas?"
Daughter: "No, I like Christmas too. But Scrooge hates it."
Son: "Yeah, he hates it. But we like it."
Daughter: "Bah! Humbug!"
I spent the weekend putting together our annual cards and letters, which is my favorite part of a holiday season I'm overall quite ambivalent about. On a scale of my kids to Scrooge, I fall somewhere in the middle. My own Christmas song sounds more like, "It's the most wonderful... Bah! Whatever." But you'll have to wait until I'm less absorbed in greeting cards for me to flesh out those thoughts.
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