I loved this story from movies and why I havnt read this sooner considering how easy-read it was and short is beyond me! Its beautifully written and shows the real meaning of Christmas in such a perfect way and how we really should be kinder to everyone around us= A fantastic way to end the reading-year on! 

I recently read a short story by Ray Bradbury with Charles Dickens in it, and made a checklist of books from that story to read, so this is one of those!

I realised that although I am familiar with the story of Ebenezer Scrooge, I had not actually read it for myself. I was interested to find that it is not just a cautionary tale against miserliness, but really it is a story that is about empathy and that it really goes both ways. By exploring the childhood events that lead to the general curmudgeonly meanness of spirit in the old man, the audience gets to empathise with those who have a gruff exterior.

The spooky scary descriptions of the ghosts that come to visit the old man (and scare him straight) are interesting to me because this was published in 1843, and to this day spectres are pictured like this in both books and video media. The idea of a spirit being faintly bioluminescent and translucent, with floaty hair that that moves like it's in a breeze is something I have seen many times over.

(tangent) In this story it actually refers to that same sort of glow that you see in the pantry when the meat goes off.. which I think is amusing. This is a phenom that was noted in the wars with wounded soldiers, and something I first learned of as a wee thing when the cat didn't eat her meat quick enough.

I really like the way the story is written. The banter is witty and the descriptions are clever. For all it's scariness and death and things I can see why it is an enduring favourite.

It's not Christmas for me until I've watched or read some rendition of A Christmas Carol. I've come to appreciate the original book more and more over the years. It's no wonder it's a classic that's been done over and over again.