Spoilers ahead for a 26-year-old movie based on a 175-year-old novella.
Every year on Thanksgiving, as we’re digesting turkey and pecan pie, Jessi and I go ahead and turn on our favorite Christmas movie: The Muppet Christmas Carol. If you’ve never seen Muppet Christmas Carol, it’s a surprisingly faithful retelling of the classic Dickens story with the added bonus of Muppets. Jokes and musical numbers abound as Gonzo and Rizzo the Rat narrate; Bean Bunny stirs hearts as a Dickensian street urchin; and Miss Piggy steals every scene she’s in as Emily Cratchit. Still, Michael Caine provides the movie’s standout performance, playing Ebenezer Scrooge with unflinching earnestness, never once winking to the camera as so many of the Muppets do. Sure, Dickens’s original work doesn’t feature a talking rat or a Swedish chef, yet Muppet Christmas Carol offers possibly the best Scrooge of any film adaptation and maybe the best Tiny Tim as well.
If you’re not familiar with A Christmas Carol, Bob Cratchit (Scrooge’s browbeaten office manager played by Kermit the Frog in the Muppet version) has a chronically ill son named Tiny Tim. Despite his difficulties walking and breathing, this child exudes joy, gratitude, and charity— the cornerstones of Dickens’s take on Christmas. In the Muppet version, Tiny Tim even has a heart-melting musical number built around his iconic catchphrase, “God bless us, everyone.” When three ghosts visit Scrooge to show him the error of his ways, Scrooge learns about Tiny Tim and sees a possible future where both he and the child die, prompting Scrooge to change his ways. As Gonzo implies in his closing narration, Scrooge’s intervention in Tiny Tim’s life gives the Cratchit family access to treatments to help the boy, resulting in both Scrooge and Tim living longer and happier lives.
This holiday season, Muppet Christmas Carol felt a little different, as the scenes with Tiny Tim hit a little harder. I’m not a father, but over the past year, I’ve been working in hospitals with pediatric ICUs and trauma centers. I’ve walked alongside a handful of sick kids and their parents, and I’ve even been present for a handful of deaths. I’ve felt the sadness and anger author John Green described when asked about his experience working in a children’s hospital. I’ve felt the unbelief.
Seeing Tiny Tim sing his song and get his second chance, I can’t help thinking about all the families who didn’t get that miracle. If you know someone who’s been through this, give them a call this December. Check in on them. Set a date to grab a meal or cup of coffee. Let them know they and their children are not forgotten.
It’s not an easy season for everyone.
Make sure to show love.