A book lover's Advent calendar: Day 19

Today, on the fourth Sunday of Advent, we find Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol behind the door of the Advent calendar. We love just about every version of this story: it's a treat to curl up under a blanket and listen as the story is read aloud, but there are also so many wonderful movie versions of the tale! Whether we watch George C. Scott or Patrick Stewart or Michael Caine (love me some Muppets!), it's hard to beat the story of Scrooge's Yuletide change of heart. Coleen and I went with our fabulous friend Sylvia last Christmas to see the production offered at the newly refurbished Ford's Theater. Oh, have mercy -- I'm so glad I saw it there!

But I do always keep coming back to the book. I know I have a bias toward the printed page, but I just cannot help but believe that this is a story that everyone should read. I challenge you and your family to plunge into the book together. Dickens wrote this Christmas ghost story knowing that it would be read aloud -- and I believe that everyone should experience the story this way at least once.