A Christmas Carol and Other Holiday Tales

"Marley was dead, to begin with. There is no doubt whatever about that. The register of his burial was signed by the clergyman, the clerk, the undertaker, and the chief mourner. Scrooge signed it...Old Marley was as dead as a door-nail."

Jacob Marley died on Christmas Eve. Seven years later to the day, his restless spirit pays a visit to his old partner, Ebenezer Scrooge, the first of several ghostly visits Scrooge receives that night to instruct him in the meaning of Christmas.

A Christmas Carol (1843) has become an inextricable part of the holiday it celebrates. People who have never read the story readily say "Bah! Humbug!" or "God bless us everyone," and everybody seems to known a Scrooge who could use a little redemption.

Dickens wrote five Christmas books in all, including The Chimes (1844), featuring a malignant goblin, and The Cricket on the Hearth (1845), in which a beneficent insect puts all to right. In each of them, Dickens hoped "to awaken some loving and forbearing thoughts" to make the holiday season a little brighter.