A Christmas Carol

By Charles Dickens

This copy published in 1898

While I feel I know this story so well, I’ve never actually read the original text.  This beautiful, very old copy is a gift from a friend and it’s so delicate that I’ll have to be very careful reading it.  

Dickens’ story of a grouchy old miser who is visited by unexpected and unwanted company on the night before Christmas was first published in 1843.  His visitors, the ghosts of Christmas past, present, and future, take old Ebenezer Scrooge on an eye-opening, emotional journey.  When he wakes up on Christmas Day, his joy at realizing he has a second chance at life is overwhelming.  People look at him funny as he dances through the street, but he doesn’t even notice.  His old, selfish life is behind him and he is now eager to share his gifts – both tangible and intangible - with others.

This is a story of Christmas, but is also a story of the New Year.  Just as Scrooge is given a much desired second chance at a more meaningful life, we can, if we find our lives deficient in some way, use this time for a renewal of our own.  

A Christmas Carol is a story of second chances and each one of us is given that opportunity!