The inside joke, though, is that we (grade 7 ELA teachers) secretly hate the whole unit. We have cleared it with the principal to stop going to the play. The cost of the tickets plus the buses has made it an impossible field trip to maintain. We have already had several Jehovah's Witnesses opt out of the unit, making for awkward moments in the classroom, so maybe we should eliminate the whole Christmas theme anyway. Perhaps it's time. Either way, the life and times of Dickens are sometimes fodder for our ELA curriculum meetings.
While I am in North Carolina, my daughter and I google breweries in the area. One of the breweries is so new that it didn't register on my original pre-trip inquiry, but it pops right up today on our search: Three Spirits Brewery. A little research tells me that the three spirits of this brewery have nothing to do with the massive church complex nearby; these three spirits are from Dickens' A Christmas Carol.
After all, once I read the brewery's background story, I am on a mission: bring back paraphernalia for my English teammates in honor of Dickens.
The place doesn't sell much for novelties. It sells beer and it sells t-shirts. I tell the bartender my story, and she hands over free stickers while pouring our flight of beer (pretty decent beer, by the way). It's hard to hide out, as we are the only patrons in the place. It's still early, and they just opened. But, I manage to swipe some cork coasters from the table to go along with the stickers. I top this off with a tactical distraction: I buy a t-shirt for myself, and then we're off, legal and lifted merchandise in our hot hands.
Back at the hotel, I examine the booty. I feel like Sparsit, Cook, and the charwoman: I've swiped something from Scrooge, and I'm hitting the road with my newly-acquired possessions. Do I feel the slightest guilt? Bah, I say. Bah humbug. After all, it's for the children, right? It's to better their education since I now feel closer to old Charles's England.
