A Christmas Carol

My absolute favorite Christmas story is A Christmas Carol.  It’s the story of Ebenezer Scrooge, grouch and miser, who is visited by the ghost of his old business partner one cold Christmas Eve.  Jacob Marley is covered in heavy chains—each link a bad deed he committed in life.

The Back Chain Shoe by Jeffrey Campbell has eight draped chains over the back of the heel—gold woven with black suede.  (Note the tiny gold links around the bottom of the pointed toe too!  Marley was a busy, evil man during life.)  The rest of the pump is black suede also, and the heel is about four inches high.  Find them at Karmaloop for $164.

Marley urges Scrooge to change, lest he spend his afterlife with a chain as heavy as Marley’s.  Marley sends three more spirits to change Scrooge’s heart—the first, the Ghost of Christmas Past, who is a constantly-morphing humanesque figure in white robes, with what looks like candle-flame on its head.

White, with a tongue of flame (or rhinestones)… the Daryn by Badgley Mischka is very reminiscent of the Ghost of Christmas Past!  I just adore these all over.  They’re also available in black, but they’re not as ethereal as the white.  Your choice for $158 from Zappos.

The Ghost of Christmas Past shows Scrooge his early years, and the events that made him the Christmas-hating man he is today.  Scrooge is then handed off to the Ghost of Christmas Present, a tremendously jolly giant in a fur-lined green robe and a holly crown.

The Collector by Gianmarco Lorenzi embodies the fun and warmth of the Ghost of Christmas Present—and his green fur-lined robe too!  The boots are green suede with a heel and platform that make these shoes, uh, not a good choice for heel amateurs, but no time like the present, right?  Yours for $1396 from Farfetch.

The Ghost of Christmas Present opens Scrooge’s eyes to both the joy and the sorrow around him, especially the plight of his loyal employee Bob Crachit and Crachit’s struggling family.  (Struggling in no small part due to Scrooge, thank you very much.  Founder of the feast, indeed!)  Scrooge is then handed off to his final spectral visitor, the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come, a tall, forbidding, silent spirit robed in black, like Death.

A little frilly for death, maybe, but the draped mesh bow on the Penny by Zigi Soho gives the feel of the flowing robes of Scrooge’s final haunter.  The satin upper cuts away at the peep toe and up the front, and attaches around back with a buckle.  A 4.25-inch heel and half-inch platform complete the look.  Yours for $50 from DSW.

The Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come shows Scrooge what his sad future is likely to be should he not amend his ways.  It all proves too much for Scrooge, who swears there and then to change.  And when he wakes up in his own bed on Christmas morning, he does change, bringing light and joy to those around him who he had wronged, and enriching his own life through friendship and love.

Which is what I wish you this Christmas.  (And shoes.  I always wish you shoes.)