a bleak and terrible future, unless he changes his ways. And finally a Ringwraith-like spirit gives him a glimpse of Christmas years in the future. The jolly Ghost of Christmas Present takes him to people's homes on the very next morning, specifically of of his nephew and the poor miner Bob Cratchit. The childlike Ghost of Christmas Past takes him to his bleak childhood, when he was less jaded and hard. So Scrooge is transported on a trio of hourlong trips through time. But he has a chance at redemption: three ghosts representing will visit him that night, taking him on a guided tour of Christmases past, present and yet to come. well, a scrooge - a professional miser who hates Christmas, goodwill, charity, puppies, kittens, his relatives, his employees, and virtually everything else except money.Īnd on Christmas Eve, his dead partner Jacob Marley comes back, wrapped with supernatural chains, and claims that Scrooge is doomed to the same fate. But taken just by itself, Charles Dickens' yuletide novella is a pretty bleak and bittersweet affair, with brilliant imagery and lots of ghostly weirdness. 'A Christmas Carol' is not just A Christmas story, but one of THE Christmas stories - not only is it instantly recognizable by pretty much everybody, but it's relentlessly copied and spoofed in countless Christmas specials.

A Christmas Carol by Lesley Sims