Episode Info
Episode #31 - Season 2, Episode 9
First Aired: December 14, 1983
Title: from the novella by Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol.
Plot
Christmas at the Keatons with a nicely decorated tree and snow. Alex is clearly the Ebenezer Scrooge of the story (lover of money with no Christmas spirit). As he sleeps, Alex begins to realize the importance of the Christmas season. Jennifer appears as "The Ghost of Christmas Past" and takes Alex to Christmas ten years ago. Mallory appears as "The Ghost of Christmas Future", where he sees how poor his family has become (while he's rich in New York). Changed by the dreams, Alex goes to 7-Eleven to shop for gifts.
Funny Moments
- Alex is going to bed and hears carolers on the front lawn. He opens the window and a boy yells up to him, "Hi, Mr. Keaton! Christmas cheer to you, sir." Alex replies, "Get off the lawn before I call the cops!"
- Young Alex reports having had problems doing his parents' tax return the previous year. Elyse said, "I'm sorry about that Alex. That was our fault", to which Young Alex replies, "Yeah, but I'm the one that sweated out the audit."
- Young Alex also pleads about the innocence of President Nixon (this is Christmas 1973).
Trivia
- The traditional Keaton Christmas photo (as in "A Christmas Story"), three times - once botched, once in the flashback, and a better one at the end.
- Young Alex (played by Chris Hebert) and Young Mallory (this year played by Kaleena Kiff) appear again in a flashback to the time when Jennifer is a baby.
- In the flashback scene Steve wore a Santa beard to hide his real beard as his character was clean-shaven per all pre-1983 flashbacks.