20 Best Muppet Christmas Carol Moments

(Image via Walt Disney Pictures/Jim Henson Productions)

13. The Ghost of Christmas Present Turns Christmas Cheer up to 11

After all of this, Scrooge returns to his home to await the second ghost. He’s quickly confronted with the Ghost of Christmas Present, a gigantic Muppet who first appears crammed into a room. He quickly downsizes to a somewhat more reasonable size.

However, he doesn’t downsize his Christmas spirit. The Ghost of Christmas Present is here for everything cheerful. In fact, he lives so hard for the holiday that he quickly ages. By the time he’s done showing Scrooge around, his bright ginger beard is fully white. Sure, the Ghost of Christmas Present only gets one day to exist, but he exists hard.

It’s also thanks to the Ghost of Christmas Present that we get to see Tiny Tim for the first time. That’s Bob Cratchit’s young, sickly son. At this point in the movie, Scrooge is beginning to feel the first stirrings of holiday cheer and sympathy for his fellow humans and Muppets. He begins to worry about Tiny Tim, asking the Ghost if the young boy will survive. The Ghost replies, “If these shadows remain unaltered by the Future, the child will die.” He then throws back Scrooge’s previous remarks about the poor into the man’s face. Tiny Tim “had better do it, and decrease the surplus population.” Cold, man, but also a dose of irony that Scrooge needs to hear.

He also sings one of my favorite songs in the movie, “It Feels Like Christmas”. I know, I said that I’m a cold-hearted Grinch, full of “bah, humbug” and lumps of coal, but this song really gets to me.