After the Macy's Light Show, we went upstairs to visit an animated display of A Christmas Carol. We want to tell the story, so we jumped into the scenes.

As we went down the first hallway, we found this HUGE wreath. We sat in it, and Daddy stood next to it. Mommy just couldn't back up far enough to take a whole picture, but aren't those huge decorations on it?

Axlerod (the basset hound on the pulpit): This is Charles Dickens, the man who wrote A Christmas Carol. Dickens wrote this book in six weeks, a'cuz he was broke and had to pay off a debt. It sold 6,000 copies in its first week – a nice sum, considering when it was written.

Pez (the Pez Dispenser little buddy next to Axlerod): He talked on and on about something, and he moved as he talked. We'd tell you what he said, but we were too busy trying not to be smacked off our platform. He needs to watch how he's moving!

Ding (the light brown Teddy Bear sitting on the boy's right hand): This boy is selling fruit for Christmas money.

Tee (the black cat sitting on the boy's other elbow): We were going to buy some, but he wouldn't tell us how much.

Tine (the polar bear on the windowsill to the left): This is the butcher shop with the huge goose in the window. Hey, that goose is much bigger than me?! (It looks like a turkey to me, too?!)

Dee (the stuffed doggy on the windowsill to the right): Where are the hotdogs?!

Lady (the stuffed doggy on the windowsill): We tried to tell these guys that Scrooge doesn't give to the poor, but they tried anyway.

Valentine (the stuffed bunny on the railing): Mr. Scrooge asked, "Are their no workhouses? Are there no prisons?"

Teddy (the Teddy Bear standing on Bob Cratchit's desk, closest to Scrooge): Uncle Scrooge turns down his nephew Fred's request to spend Christmas at the nephew's house.

Spaulding (the Teddy Bear standing next to Teddy): Mr. Scrooge asks Bob Cratchit if he is going to beg for Christmas Day off. And when Bob does, he says, "It is not convenient. It is a poor excuse for picking a man's pocket every twenty-fifth of December. See to it to be here all the earlier the next morning. Christmas! Bah-humbug!"

Phil (the Teddy Bear on the chair with the money, right below Fred): Ummmm, did Fred really want to invite Scrooge over, or was he eyeballing all this loot?"

Tee (in a loud whisper): I see dead people! Tehehehehehe

(Both boys laugh for a while.)

Tee: Yeah! We know it was Grandpa Ax and Pez's turn to tell what's happening, but dead people freaked out Pez, and Grandpa doesn't want his buddy scared, so we're taking their turn for now.

Ding: Ummmm, these are the ghosts with chains that the ghost of Marley shows Scrooge. We think this is cutting through a bit of the story.

Axlerod: I'm protecting Pez from Marley's ghost. I've assured Pez that Marley and Scrooge cannot see him, because I'm hiding him.

Pez: And they don't dare mess with Ax, a'cuz they know they have to take me on to get to him. Anyway, Marley, Scrooge's partner, "dead seven years, this very night," tells Scrooge he will be visited by three ghosts tonight. It's for his own good, but Scrooge isn't liking it. And for the record, Scrooge isn't eating hotdogs out of this bowl. No wonder he is so grumpy!

Dee: Christmas Past takes Scrooge to see himself as the lonely boy, abandoned in the school house, after everyone else left for Christmas. The boy cannot see Scrooge, the ghost, or us. Maybe he needs glasses?!

Tine: His beary nice sister, Fan, comes to take him home, because their Daddy was finally beginning not to be mad at Ebenezer. Ebenezer's Mommy died when she gave birth to him, and his Daddy blames him. Peoples! Some of them can be so hard to understand!

Valentine: Christmas Past took Scrooge to Fezziwig's Party. Fezziwig was Scrooge's first boss, and a beary nice man. He held a Christmas Party for all his workers every Christmas Eve.

Teddy: It was such a nice party, I just had to dance with my honey. She's a beary good dancer!

Valentine: He's a beary good dancer, too. He never steps on my feet – and, since I'm a bunny, that's saying a lot!

Teddy: We saw Scrooge. He was enjoying himself!

Lady: The entire display was placed in an area of Macy's that had beary thin hallways. Mommy couldn't back up far enough to take a picture of the whole party, so she took two pictures.

Spaulding: I think that was just an excuse. Mommy saw how well we were dancing, and wanted a picture of us, too. You are a wonderful dancer, Sweetie. With that loverly music, I just had to dance with you.

Lady: I love dancing with you, too, Handsome!

Tee: Christmas Past shows Scrooge when he let his girlfriend, Belle, leave, a'cuz he had grown too fond of money. Is it hard to see us?

Ding: Here we are on the scales. I weigh more than the engagement ring. Just had to check!

Pez: Can you see where I am? I'm in Christmas Present's cup! It's empty! Someone musta already drank "the milk of human kindness!" No milk or coffee in here! This ghost isn't scary at all!

Axlerod: I'm over here – on the snowbank, next to Christmas Present's left shoulder. (His other left. Hehehe) He's a beary tall ghost!

Dee: Christmas Present takes Scrooge to the Cratchit's house. This is their dinner. We're checking out the meal on the table. Man! No hotdogs at all! They were poor!

Tine: Grandma took my picture with my back to the camera?! That doesn't seem nice. I was looking for pudding, but only found this stuff! We know Jello pudding, and this is not it!

Valentine: Ever feel like you're being watched?

Lady: Why? Do you think Fred and Clara, his wife know we're watching them dance?

Valentine: Ummm, no?! That's not it. Oh well. This is Scrooge's nephew, Fred, and Clara. He's already given the toast…

Lady: …which isn't bread, like you would think. A toast is when someone holds up a glass and offers it, to no one in particular, as a praise to someone else, and then, everyone drinks in agreement.

Valentine: Yeah! That kinda toast. Fred toasts Scrooge, and when everyone else questions why, Fred says he feels sorry for Scrooge.

Lady: Fred is a very nice guy.

Teddy: Grown-ups think Christmas is all about gifts and fancy dinners. Christmas Present was teaching Scrooge how children see Christmas. We just savor the joy!

Spaulding: Don't get us wrong! We like gifts – especially toys! But these boys know how to have fun, even without toys! Now, how can we snatch the snowballs in that sack?

Teddy: Do you think they'll let us drop some, too? Can we just ask?

Spaulding: Oh! Better idea! When we run out, I bet they'll let us help them make more!

Ding: That's the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come.

Tee: Yeah, but in the book, the only part of him Scrooge can see, is his hand. I think that makes him scarierer looking!

Ding: And he's plenty of scary just by the way he acts.

Tee: Yeah! That's for sure!

Pez: Excuse our backsides, but it's just not right to have our backsides facing Tiny Tim's little grave.

Axlerod: We're beary glad that this will change, a'cus Scrooge helps Tiny Tim to get better. I don't think Pez could watch this, if we didn't know. It's all so sad.

Pez: Except for the Spirit of Christmas Yet to Come. He's just scary!

Tine: Christmas Yet to Come is showing Scrooge the grave that scares him the mostest. Didn't Scrooge know he was going to die, eventually?

Dee: We're behind the spirit, so he doesn't see us. Shhhhhhh!

Valentine: Ebenezer Scrooge is beary happy! The spirits did it all in one night! He got to have his beary firstest merry Christmas!

Lady: That's when he got the boy, who was walking by, to buy the huge goose in the butcher shop window. (We saw it. Looks like a turkey!) He also bought stuff for the Cratchits.

Valentine: And, he then canceled everyone's debt, and went over to Fred's house for the party.  And, "it is said that Scrooge kept the spirit of Christmas, all year long."

Lady: Annnnnd, "God bless us everyone!"

Valentine and Lady: The End!

Spaulding: All us'n guys got our picture taken next to Christmas Present.

Teddy: That's our Daddy in the back, and then from left to right, that's Spaulding, me (Teddy), Phil, Ding, Tee, Pez and Axlerod.

Mommy: They're letting me tell this part, to explain my overalls. They are not clown pants. In reality, they are pin-striped, but the camera has contorted the stripes. OK, so, now that I explained, this is all the gals together. I'm in the background with the Spirit of Christmas Present. Then, from left to right, is Lady, Dee (Lady's daughter), Tine (Valentine's daughter), and Valentine.