There is one specific thing I have NEVER seen included in a Christmas Carol adaptation, and which I think those adaptations are lesser for.
It’s the Fezziwig Christmas party.
I’m not insane; obviously, the Fozziwig Fezziwig party is in ALL the adaptations, but there’s one tiny, gorgeous, heartbreaking little detail that always seems to be cut.
Two, actually–the first is that it’s made explicit that, even for the time period, Fezziwig’s party is a budget production; it’s not a massive, expensive, fancy get-together with all the stops pulled out. Christmas Past actually cites this in one of their pointed attempts to shake Scrooge into realizing what an asshole he’s become. Christmas Past mocks the young boy-Scrooge for loving his employer so much and being so grateful for the party; after all, he probably spent less than four pounds all told to throw it, hired a single fiddler, provided inexpensive refreshments and minimal or no decoration at all; what a foolish child, right, to think that made him such an incredible master?
(And Scrooge cuts himself off halfway through a rant about how that’s not the point, it was the kindness that mattered, he made them happier with four pounds and kind treatment than any amount of money ever could–
Oh. Well fuck.)
But the other detail is the one that fucks me up every time, and it’s the guest list.
Obviously, Fezziwig and his wife and daughters are there. All of his employees are there, and the fact that this list includes his young apprentices is a genuine above-and-beyond act of generosity for the time period! Personal friends of the family are there, and some of the employees brought guests…but that’s not all.
In the long list of everyone who’s entering the ballroom, we get this little interlude:
…In came the boy from over the way, who was suspected of not having board enough from his master; trying to hide himself behind the girl from next door but one, who was proved to have had her ears pulled by her mistress. In they all came, one after another…
It’s not just his friends, family, and employees. Not just the people he has a societal expectation of responsibility toward. Fezziwig has quietly, without fanfare, gone out of his way to find the people around him who are most desperately in need of compassion. Victims of neglect and abuse, with no one to defend them and nowhere to turn, being failed by those who are meant to care for them. The simple act of inviting them tells them, silently and without pressure, that their community knowsthey’re being mistreated. That there’s a place of safety, the promise that they’re not alone and that the people around them do care about the wrong that’s been done to them.
And then he gives them all the food and drink they want in a warm, bright dance hall, because they’re kids, because they deserve more than just surviving, because it costs so very, very little to be kind.
Hot take, but you never needed Yoshi P’s, or anyone’s for that matter, permission to do what you wanted. But the devs can’t keep their own lore straight, and I believe it was more a over-arching message of “do what makes you happy” rather than this is absolute canon now.
I wasn’t going to say anything but it’s almost 4am and I keep seeing posts about this reblogged and I’m salty. Don’t use this as an excuse to attack folks who like adhering to a stricter set of rules than you do. That “elitism” is a two way road. If someone declines to RP with your character from the First, character who’s traveled to the First, or whatever, it’s okay. It should be okay. You don’t get to say “Well Yoshi P said I’m right—!” The above scenario (declining RP) does not make someone an elitist.
I am not, nor will I ever condone policing someone’s fun. It’s about respect. Personally, I find fun in RPing in a world with certain limitations and like the challenge of finding ways to make stories in a world with pre-existing rules. Other people like more freedom. All the power to you.
If an expansion down the line wants to prove me wrong, I’ll happily accept it. But I’m not taking this statement as law, because it ain’t. Again, I reiterate, I believe he is encouraging people to create what they want, how they want. Which I agree with. What I don’t agree with is how many people seem to think that means they can force someone else to accept it as validation.
Seriously. Do what you want. Everyone else is. Agree to disagree. Don’t be a dick. Have fun.
So last night was my first welding class and the second i walked through the door the teacher said “hey you’re zoe right” and I started to panic because how does the teacher immediately know who I am fuck did I have this teacher before how come i don’t recognize him fuck fuck i’m a terrible person
turns out i’m just the youngest person in the class by about 30 years so the deduction wasn’t that hard
anyways, apparently people keep taking the welding class over and over again and the wait list is like 100 people long and so it was by some act of providence of pure dumb luck that I managed to get a spot. This also means I was the only person there who hadn’t welded before.
I’m stationed at a big center table where the teacher can keep an eye on me, and everyone else is in booths on the surrounding walls each making their own projects. And these are impressive looking projects. One guy is making a side table, a woman is making a giant metal rocking chair, and another guy was making a wind chime out of old compressed air canisters.
The elderly gentlemen in the booth right behind me introduces himself to me as Jim and asks me if this is my first time and I say yeah and he smiles at me and tells me I’m gonna love it and how this class is so fun.
Immediately Jim becomes my new best friend. He comes over whenever I stop to take a break and asks how I’m doing and even helps me take the welding mask off when I couldn’t figure out how to do it myself.
at one point i see Jim and another old guy talking to the teacher and i catch the old guy pointing at me. now being pointed at is usually never a good thing. the teacher has had me welding edges of scrap metal together so I can get a feel for the equipment. The teacher comes to check on me and I jokingly as him if those seasoned guys were making fun of me.
Turns out I’m super good at welding and the old guy didn’t believe it was my first time welding ever and Jim was trying to convince him I was a newbie. :D
So for the entire 3 hour long class, like 15 middle aged and elderly people would periodically come by my table and check in with me, making sure I’m having fun and asking me questions about my life, and things like, do you know where the drinking fountain is, making sure I’m taking breaks, looking out for me and that kind of thing, all while being completely kind and supporting and complimenting me on my welding skills.
and that’s how a community center welding class gave me 15 new grandparents. i love them all and this class is going to be amazing
important addition 3 years later because I forgot:
the other elderly gentleman’s name is Gino and spoke with a thick Italian accent and took to calling me Bella for the rest of the semester. Jim made sure to always take the booth closest to me.
Another guy in the class named Mike did salvage diving as a hobby and always showed me pictures of the cool stuff he’d found. He also made very cool sculptures out of spoons, forks and knives. I at one point made an offhand joke that I was moving soon, and was jealous that Mike had all this cutlery to spare to make sculptures out of. (I was going to be moving in with my boyfriend and neither of us really had a lot of kitchenware) The next class he brought in an entire cutlery set insisting that he was trying to clean out his house because he had so many and wouldn’t take no for an answer. We still have them to this day :)
They had cupcakes waiting for me on my birthday and on the last day they had framed picture of me with my final project because “it’s important to celebrate your successes” and encouraged me to give it to my mom (which of course I did, along with my cattail sculpture)
long story short I would die for each and every one of them and there’s a group email chain that we all still keep in touch with and as of a few months ago it was Gino’s 85th birthday.
It’s stories like these that shake me to my core and remind me that while I am not surrounded by the kindest people, kindness is innate and human. I’m so happy for you, op
Be kind. Do better. No one deserves to be treated differently because of the color of their skin. Take care of one another. Make the world a better place. ✊✊✊✊✊
