I understand you may celebrate a different holiday or none at all.  I happen to enjoy a lot of things about Christmas, including the movies and shows, so the next couple issues will probably be focused on those. It isn’t my intent to step on anyone’s beliefs or ignore the other holidays, it’s just what I know.

Regardless of your religious beliefs, these shorter days and colder nights make it even more important to lean toward the things that warm you.  Family.  Joy.  Quiet rooms.  A few good stories.  Even small bright spots feel bigger when the light fades early.  And for me the Muppets always make the season feel softer.  So today we look at The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992) a film that reminds us how sharply life can change when we finally stop and see what is good.

The movie pulls straight from Dickens’ A Christmas Carol.  Scrooge goes through one long wild night where the ghosts basically hold up three mirrors and say look at this.  His past.  His present.  His future.  They do not ease him into it.  They just show him the truth and it hits him fast.  Honestly that feels a lot more real than the slow gentle version we sometimes imagine.

The Muppet take keeps all that but somehow makes it warmer.  Gonzo is fired up like he has been waiting his whole life to tell this story.  Rizzo is just trying not to get hurt which is probably fair.  And Kermit brings this quiet steady hope that feels familiar even if you cannot explain why.

If you look closely the movie actually changes as Scrooge changes.  The early scenes feel tight and cold.  Hard light.  Small spaces.  Everything kind of cramped.  Then as the spirits show him more the whole world opens up.  Shots get wider.  Colors warm.  People feel more alive.  It is not subtle but it works because his perspective is changing in big jolting ways too.

The songs slide in and out and you can feel the shift in the air when the Present shows up.  The city suddenly feels alive in a way Scrooge never saw.  It is like the whole world was already singing and he just did not notice until someone stopped him long enough to hear it.

And of course Michael Caine carries the whole thing.  He plays it straight the entire time.  No jokes.  No winks.  It is what makes the emotional moments land.  Without him it would be cute.  With him it becomes something bigger.

And a tiny Muppet fact I love.  Some of the background puppets wandering around London are actually older Henson creations reused from earlier shows (as they normally do with their movies).  The team believed everything can be used again if you look at it the right way.  Which fits the story pretty well.

Scrooge does not change slowly.  He changes because his perspective is ripped wide open.  He sees his life from three angles he had avoided for years.  His past shows him what shaped him.  His present shows him what he is costing others.  His future shows him the cold truth of a life without love.

That is the moment everything breaks.

And because it breaks, he can rebuild.

This is essentialism in its most honest form.

Not a gentle cleaning of the corners.

A direct look at what matters and what never did.

A sudden recognition that the things he clung to are the things weighing him down.

Minimalism is not about doing less.  It is about seeing clearly.  Scrooge wakes up with new eyes.  He drops the weight because he finally sees the cost.  When you understand the true value of something it becomes easy to let the rest fall away.  Essentialism does not always whisper.  Sometimes it knocks the door down.

Jim Henson believed in “simple truth told with an open heart.”

This film does exactly that.

Three ghosts.  One long night.  A life flipped inside out in the best possible way.

In this section every week, I’ll give step by step instructions on how to tackle one project. It could be something simple and small like this week’s assignment, or it could be more involved. Once you take on a few of these, you’ll learn some of the common strategies that can be applied to just about anything.

My hope for this newsletter is to make it feel like a mini-coaching session with me.

This film carries a special kind of legacy.  One of the first major Muppet projects completed after Jim Henson passed.  You can feel the team working with love and grief side by side. 

Maybe that is why the warmth lands so deeply.  It is a reminder that perspective can arrive in a flash and still last a lifetime.  I hope today gives you one moment like that. 

And if you want to explore another classic next week just tell me.  I have plenty of favorites.

Be well. Stay warm.