Ebbie

Ebbie or Miracle at Christmas: Ebbie's Story is a 1995 TV movie directed by George Kaczender, written by Ed Redlich, and starring Susan Lucci in the title role.

Plot

The story follows a scrooge-like woman, Elizabeth "Ebbie" Scrooge (Susan Lucci) She has never appreciated Christmas, and has been very rotten to the holidays (similar to Ebenezer Scrooge from A Christmas Carol). She doesn't give to the needy, doesn't care about her employees at Dobson's, the store she owns, and most of all, she works on Christmas. One night, the ghost of her partner, Jake Marley (Jeffrey DeMunn), haunts her. She is soon brought to him and the ghosts of Christmas Past (Jennifer Clement and Nicole Parker) show her the Christmases she has celebrated. They take her to a very significant Christmas when her sister Francine (Molly Parker) died after nearly miscarrying her niece due to toxemia of pregnancy. (She would have survived had Ebbie not left her alone to attend a party.) It is also the Christmas she met her soon-to-be boyfriend Paul (Ron Lea). They show her many other Christmases, including another grim one when Paul leaves her for caring more about her job than them as a couple, when she and Marley take over Dobson's, and finally, the previous year, when Jake Marley died. (These unhappy events could go to explain her hostile attitude toward Christmas.) The Ghost of Christmas Present (Lorena Gale) shows her the life of her co-worker Roberta Cratchet (Wendy Crewson), and her son, Tim (Taran Noah Smith). Next she sees the party that she is invited to every year by her niece (also Molly Parker) but has always declined; the guests toast Ebbie, but her niece does not drink to her. She sees Paul and his wife and homeless children she has shunned, while the ghost shoves all of her bad words back on her. Then the ghost of Christmas Future shows her many terrible futures, including one where Tiny Tim dies, one where Dobson's is shut down, and one where she herself dies and nobody comes to see her. After the experience, Ebbie becomes a better person. She is shown the next morning, where she bids good morning to the doorman, and he is surprised. She also orders a large turkey for the Cratchets, gives money for the poor children, buys a coat for a homeless woman (Elan Ross Gibson) and offers her a job, gives Rita a raise, gives a better job to Roberta, and finally attends the party her niece has been inviting her to. The movie ends with Ebbie at the Cratchets' house, eating dinner with them.

Sources

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0112929/

Category:1995 television films Category:Christmas films Category:American television films Category:Canadian television films Category:A Christmas Carol adaptations