A stake of holly through his heart.

There are literally dozens of adaptations of A Christmas Carol. Let's take a look at a few of them:

A Christmas Carol  (1910) -



This is one of the earliest film adaptations of the story. It featured Marc McDermott as Ebenezer Scrooge and Charles S. Ogle as Bob Cratchit.


A Christmas Carol (1938) -



MGM released a record-breaking 375 prints of the film so that as many people as possible could see it during the Christmas season.


The Christmas Carol (1949 TV special) -



The cast is led by Taylor Holmes as Scrooge and includes an early appearance by Jill St. John, then age 9 and billed as Jill Oppenheim, who plays one of the Cratchit daughters


Scrooge (1951) -



Child actor Glyn Dearman (who played Tiny Tim) became a radio drama producer and, in 1990, produced A Christmas Carol for the BBC. (It isn't really Christmas in our home unless we are watching this at about 2 am Christmas morning 'assisting Santa' with the gifts.)


Scrooge (1970) -



It took more than three hours each day to apply the old-age Scrooge make-up to Albert Finney, who was only thirty-three years old at the time. Finney was actually younger than his nephew Fred, played by the then forty-six year old Michael Medwin.


A Christmas Carol (1971) -



The animation is based on John Leech's illustrations for the original edition of the novel A Christmas Carol. It's the only film version of A Christmas Carol to win an Oscar.


Blackadders Christmas Carol (1988) -




It has been noticed by some that Robbie Coltrane's costume and character in this Christmas special, has a nearly identical portrayal to his much later role as Hagrid, in the film versions of J.K.Rowling's series of Harry Potter books. Also, its been claimed that JK Rowling herself had said Robbie Coltrane was always intended to have been cast as Hagrid in the films, suggesting that this Blackadder episode may in part have inspired the creation of Hagrid.


This could be the greatest mash-up ever, or at least the most labor intensive. Heath Waterman has spent 18 months putting together this labor of love, retelling the story of Ebenezer Scrooge in his video Twelve Hundred Ghosts - A Christmas Carol in Supercut.



Mr. Waterman uses clips from over over 400 versions of the holiday classic. (Make it your business to watch this!)


And there is no better way to get into the holiday spirit than drinking spirits -

Eggnog is usually thought of as a Christmas beverage and to tell the truth I am not a huge fan of Eggnog. So I find it amusing that the recipe that I'm posting is for Eggnog (Above is a copy of my family recipe - my father sent it to his sister in 1962.)

Coquito, a Puerto Rican twist on the classic, is a family favorite and I thought I'd share it with you and perhaps you can try it out on your family.

Please note: these drinks go down quite smoothly and are very potent - they could be administered as a calmative for frayed nerves during the holiday season.

Ingredients:

* 4 large egg yolks
* 1/4 cup of sugar
* 1/2 can of (14-ounces) condensed milk
* 1 14-ounce cans evaporated milk
* 1 1/2 cans of 15-ounce cans cream of coconut
* 1/2 of a Fifth of white rum (or more)
* 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
* 1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
* 1 teaspoon coconut (or vanilla) extract


Tools:

* Drink Blender
* Can opener
* Glass


Directions:


Add the egg yolks, sugar, spices and vanilla into the blender. Mix until well blended.

Add the evaporated & condensed milk to the blender and briefly mix. (Condensed milk is very thick - you may want to open the can up all the way and scrap out all of the milk with a spatula.)

Vigorously shack the can of cream of coconut (it tends to separate.) Pour the cream of coconut into the blender and mix well. Scrap out any remaining coconut stuff from the can.

Add the rum and mix. Taste. If you think you need more rum, add it.

Refrigerate for at least an hour before serving. Serve cold.


A Christmas Carol  Tom Lehrer -

Demand Euphoria!