Group post - the ghost of past stuffing?

(Scrooged)

Most are familiar with the story of Ebenezer Scrooge in A Christmas Carol and his visitations from the ghosts of Christmas Past, Present, and Future. We at Untethered Realms have our own ghosties in residence and tweaked the idea for the holidays. Ready for an adventure? Where would you like to go?

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River Fairchild –

I’m snagging the ghostie of the Future and heading straight for the invention of the food replicators used in Star Trek! It’s the love to eat / hate to cook and clean syndrome. I’ll snag the first one off the assembly line and take it back home with me!

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Christine Rains -

Oh! I like River's idea. Calorie free hot fudge sundaes like Deanna always ate! Yeah. But since River already went on that adventure, I'd like to go on one closer to our time. I'd have the ghost of the Future take me ahead about forty years or so to see how my son is doing. Because as a mom, I'm always worried if I'm messing things up.

And look. Wow. Who is that handsome doctor/chef/astronaut/comic book writer in the future tech glasses? A parent can dream!

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Gwen Gardner -

No trip with the ghostie of Christmas Future for me -- I don't want to know what's in store. 

And I'm well acquainted with the present already, so that's out, as well. 

That leaves a tour with the ghost of Christmas Past. While I'd love to visit Victorian times, I wouldn't want to live there. I sort of love our modern instant gratification thing; hot water, convenient transportation, fast food. 

But if I could go back about 30 years in the past, I'd tell my younger self: 1) get your butt in gear and start chasing dreams, and, 2) quit wasting precious time just because you're afraid to fail,

So now I'm just going to have to live an extra long life, just like Scrooge, to make sure I fit everything in. #NoRegrets

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M. Pax -

Bet you expect me to take the future ghostie way ahead to see if the Backworlds is true or not. It's tempting, but I also have a passion for history. Did you know Thanksgiving was created by aliens? They gifted us the ambrosia of stuffing. Mmm. My favorite food. So, I'd have to venture into the past to see the aliens bringing us the sweet nectar of stuffing. Yes!!

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Ellie Garratt -

I'd have the ghostie of Christmas Past take me back to 1977, so that I could see the first Star Wars film at the cinema. I was only five years old when it came out, so I never had the chance to see it or the other two on the big screen. I was obsessed (still am) with Star Wars. I asked for a Millennium Falcon and stormtroopers for Christmas that year! Alas, I was given a Barbie doll. I'm still waiting for my Millennium Falcon. Maybe this year I'll be lucky?

Creative Commons 2.0 (by-nc-sa)

Julie Flanders -

I'm another who would choose the Ghost of Christmas Past. I'd go back in time to 1930s Cincinnati so that I could spend Christmas with my maternal grandparents. I never knew my grandfather as he died decades before I was born, and I was only nine when my grandmother died, so I've always wished I could have spent more time with her. Even though the country was in the midst of the Great Depression, my mom's family still loved Christmas and celebrated it in the traditional German ways. Being German, they also loved their beer. I'd ask Mr. Past to take me back to one of their Christmas Eve celebrations for the night so I could enjoy sitting down for a beer (or two) with my grandparents. 

Scenes from Christmas Eve in Cincinnati - 1920 (from the Taft Museum of Art) 

A Secret Christmas Carol Pictograph

Sooo, I guess this is the month for confessions. Last week, Catherine Stine confessed her current bookish fetish about Marilyn Manson. Today, I'm confessing...my fascination with graveyards. Not just any graveyard, though. Only old ones, especially Victorian.

When the hubs looked over at my laptop this morning and noticed I was on the Billion Graves website, he mentioned that most men might be concerned about their wives having this bizarre fascination. Murder, ghosts, graveyards...yeah, that's just a start.

But he's a brave man and we've been married a really long time, so some of my strange proclivities are just another day in the life of Gwen Gardner for him. And actually, I'm going to show you a photo of him posing, in a graveyard, as the Ghost of Christmas Future--without any prompting from me.

It started at the Old Saint Chad Church Cemetery in Shrewsbury, England, where we recently visited. We'd been there before, about twenty five years ago. We knew the secret, you see, and had gone back to find it.



Old Saint Chad Church, photo by Gwen Gardner





We went through the gates,

just as we had twenty-five years ago...



Old Saint Chad entrance, photo by Gwen Gardner

 

 

We searched,

and saw this...

Old Saint Chad Church Cemetery, photo by Gwen Gardner

 

...this...

 

...this...

...and this...

 

We couldn't remember exactly where it was...

...but the Ghost of Christmas Future showed up to point the way, just as he had in A Christmas Carol. Remember the scene when the Ghost of Christmas Future is pointing out a headstone to Scrooge, but Scrooge is too afraid to look in case it's his own?



The hubs at Old Saint Chad Church Cemetery, photo by Gwen Gardner

What was he pointing to?

Don't be shy. Come a little closer...



Old Saint Chad Church Cemetery, photo by Gwen Gardner

Still not quite sure?



 

 

 

Ebenezer Scrooge!

 

photo by Gwen Gardner

 

 

And now you know the secret.

 

The hubs and I stayed at a bed & breakfast in Shrewsbury twenty-five years ago. The landlady told us that the 1984 version of A Christmas Carol was filmed right there, and in fact, Scrooge's headstone was still in the cemetery. They used the back of an old existing headstone to make one for Scrooge.

 

Here's a little factoid: A Christmas Carol was filmed in the summer, so the actors were sweating their buns off during filming, all wrapped up because it was supposed to be December. A lot of locals were hired as extras. In fact, many of the locals were upset because an American, George C. Scott, was hired to play Scrooge, rather than an Englishman as Charles Dickens intended. But all was forgiven because George C. Scott did an excellent job of acting.

 

Here's a snippet from Youtube. The part of Ghost of Christmas Future doesn't show up until minute 4:35, but it doesn't contain the scene I mentioned above. 



 

What is your secret obsession?