A Carol Christmas

A Carol Christmas is a TV movie starring Tori Spelling, Dinah Manoff, William Shatner and Gary Coleman. It premiered on the Hallmark Channel in 2003. The film is an adaptation of the Charles Dickens story of a similar name.

Plot

Spelling plays Carol Cartman, a conceited sensationalist talk show host. She is cynical, selfish, and generally treats her employees with cold contempt. She has been molded this way by her late Aunt Marla (Dinah Manoff). On Christmas Eve, she is haunted by her Aunt who warns her of the mistake she made and the terrible fate awaiting her if she doesn't change. In the tradition of the original story, she is visited by the Ghosts of Christmas Past (Gary Coleman), Present (William Shatner) and Future (James Cromwell, uncredited). She is shown how she will die alone, unloved and a fallen-from-stardom has-been if she doesn't change. At the end, she becomes a warm, caring person vowing to make amends. She goes on to her television show and makes a touching speech to her audience about the importance of Christmas and giving. At the very end, the three Christmas Spirits reappear outside Carol's sister's house, where Carol decided to go after all for the holidays, and comment on their work at transforming Carol Cartman, a twist not seen in any adaptation of A Christmas Carol up to then, and which would be repeated three years later, at the end of Bah, Humduck! A Looney Tunes Christmas.

Christmas carol

A Christmas carol (also called a noël, from the French word meaning "Christmas") is a carol (song or hymn) whose lyrics are on the theme of Christmas, and which is traditionally sung on Christmas itself or during the surrounding holiday season. Christmas carols may be regarded as a subset of the broader category of Christmas music.

History

The first known Christmas hymns may be traced to fourth century Rome. Latin hymns such as Veni redemptor gentium, written by Ambrose, Archbishop of Milan, were austere statements of the theological doctrine of the Incarnation in opposition to Arianism. Corde natus ex Parentis (Of the Father's heart begotten) by the Spanish poet Prudentius (d. 413) is still sung in some churches today. The early history is detailed in several books, including Noel: The History and Traditional Behind Christmas Carols (2010 Halifax Press ISBN 978-0-9829700-1-0)

In the ninth and tenth centuries, the Christmas "Sequence" or "Prose" was introduced in Northern European monasteries, developing under Bernard of Clairvaux into a sequence of rhymed stanzas. In the twelfth century the Parisian monk Adam of St. Victor began to derive music from popular songs, introducing something closer to the traditional Christmas carol.

A Christmas Carol

A Christmas Carol in Prose, Being a Ghost-Story of Christmas, commonly known as A Christmas Carol, is a novella by Charles Dickens, first published in London by Chapman & Hall on 19 December 1843. The novella met with instant success and critical acclaim. A Christmas Carol tells the story of a bitter old miser named Ebenezer Scrooge and his transformation into a gentler, kindlier man after visitations by the ghost of his former business partner Jacob Marley and the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Yet to Come.

The book was written at a time when the British were examining and exploring Christmas traditions from the past as well as new customs such as Christmas cards and Christmas trees. Carol singing took a new lease on life during this time. Dickens's sources for the tale appear to be many and varied, but are, principally, the humiliating experiences of his childhood, his sympathy for the poor, and various Christmas stories and fairy tales.

A Christmas Carol remains popular—having never been out of print—and has been adapted many times to film, stage, opera, and other media.

Christmas

Christmas or Christmas Day (Old English: Crīstesmæsse, meaning "Christ's Mass") is an annual festival commemorating the birth of Jesus Christ, observed most commonly on December 25 as a religious and cultural celebration among billions of people around the world. A feast central to the Christian liturgical year, it is prepared for by the season of Advent or the Nativity Fast and initiates the season of Christmastide, which historically in the West lasts twelve days and culminates on Twelfth Night; in some traditions, Christmastide includes an Octave. Christmas Day is a public holiday in many of the world's nations, is celebrated culturally by a large number of non-Christian people, and is an integral part of the holiday season, while some Christian groups reject the celebration. In several countries, celebrating Christmas Eve on December 24 has the main focus rather than December 25, with gift-giving and sharing a traditional meal with the family.

Carol

Carol may refer to:

Music

People

Places

Other uses