---Instructor: Frank Shutts--- Every year at this time theaters across the world mount productions of “A Christmas Carol” and readers of all ages pick up for their first, or their fiftieth, time Dickens famed novella. Why? What is the staying power of Dickens’s 1843 short story? This three-hour seminar will examine the life of Charles Dickens, Victorian England, the characters and themes of ”A Christmas Carol”, and the novella’s impact on Christmases since. At the end of the seminar, the class will toast a cheer to Dickens, “A Christmas Carol,” and the holiday with a cup of Dickens self-conceived holiday punch recipe. It is highly recommended to have recently read "A Christmas Carol" as this is the meat of the seminar.