There are several editions of this ebook in the Project Gutenberg collection. Various characteristics of each ebook are listed to aid in selecting the preferred file. Forbes, Bruce David (2008). Christmas: A Candid History. Oakland, CA: University of California Press. p.62. ISBN 978-0-520-25802-0.

the whimsy evident in Scrooge's suppressing his own bitter-sweet memories in The end of the First Spirit The phrase "dead as a doornail" appears as early as the fourteenth-century in The Vision of Piers Plowman and later in Shakespeare's Henry IV. However, the origin of the phrase is unknown. One possible explanation is that doors were built using only wood boards and hand forged nails, the nails were long enough to dead nail the (vertical) wooden panels and (horizontal) stretcher boards securely together, so they would not easily pull apart. This was done by pounding the protruding point of the nail over and down into the wood. A nail that was bent in this fashion (and thus not easily pulled out) was said to be "dead", thus "dead as a doornail." ( Wiktionary) Celebrating the Christmas season had been growing in popularity through the Victorian era. [4] The Christmas tree had been introduced in Britain during the 18th century, and its use was popularised by Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. Their practice was copied in many homes across the country. [5] In the early 19th century there had been a revival of interest in Christmas carols, following a decline in popularity over the previous hundred years. The publication of Davies Gilbert's 1823 work Some Ancient Christmas Carols, With the Tunes to Which They Were Formerly Sung in the West of England and William Sandys's 1833 collection Christmas Carols, Ancient and Modern led to a growth in the form's popularity in Britain. [6] However, the original art by John Leech, (also in the public domain), is quite charming in its own right and style. And it is perhaps a bit more cheerful, colorful, and whimsical. A Summary of A Christmas CarolThe air was filled with phantoms, wandering hither and thither in restless haste and moaning as they went You seek to close these places on the Seventh Day," said Scrooge. "And it comes to the same thing." Now, I'll tell you what, my friend," said Scrooge. "I am not going to stand this sort of thing any longer." Twas the Night Before Christmas: Edited by Santa Claus for the Benefit of Children of the 21st Century" (2012) being Pamela McColl "smoke-free" edit of Clement Clarke Moore's poem Studwell, William Emmett; Jones, Dorothy E. (1998). Publishing Glad Tidings: Essays on Christmas Music. Binghamton, NY: The Haworth Press. ISBN 978-0-7890-0398-0.

At Scrooge's nephew Fred's Christmas party they play blind man's buff, a popular Victorian parlor game. In this particular game the blind man, Topper, and Fred team up to allow Topper to be able to see through the blindfold so that he can catch a lady whom he has his eye on: There are some upon this earth of yours," returned the Spirit, "who lay claim to know us, and who do their deeds of passion, pride, ill-will, hatred, envy, bigotry, and selfishness in our name, who are as strange to us and all our kith and kin, as if they had never lived. Remember that, and charge their doings on themselves, not us" ( Christmas Books-A Christmas Carol, p. 43.)intended to open its readers' hearts towards those struggling to survive on the lower rungs of the economic ladder and to encourage practical benevolence, but also to warn of the terrible danger to society created by the toleration of widespread ignorance and actual want among the poor. [16] Scrooge crept towards it, trembling as he went; and, following the finger, read upon the stone of the neglected grave his own name,Ebenezer Scrooge. DeVito, Carlo (2014). Inventing Scrooge (Kindleed.). Kennebunkport, ME: Cider Mill Press. ISBN 978-1-60433-555-2.

Of all the affecting scenes from A Christmas Carol none touches the heart more than the death of the crippled Tiny Tim, foreshadowed to Scrooge by the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come, especially to Victorian readers. Large families and child mortality were common in the 19th century and many readers may have suffered firsthand the loss of a child.The voice was soft and gentle. Singularly low, as if, instead of being so close beside him, it were at a distance. The Second Greatest Christmas Story Ever Told - By Thomas J. Burns (Originally published in Reader's Digest, December 1989) link your document to this URL in a web document or cite the Victorian Web in a print one.] Bibliography

Howells, William Dean (1910). My literary passions, criticism and fiction. New York and London: Harper & Brother. p.2986994. ISBN 978-1-77667-633-0. Illustration 5 (of 8) produced by John Leech for the original publication of A Christmas Carol in December, 1843. Colour. Titled Scrooge’s third Visitor ( Stave 3). Jordan, Christine (2015). Secret Gloucester. Stroud, Glos: Amberley Publishing. ISBN 978-1-4456-4689-3.

STAVE III.

When the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come arrives things take a bleakturn. Scrooge sees the world after his death. No one mourns his loss and is faced with his own mortality. A Christmas Carol opens on a bleak, cold Christmas Eve in London, seven years after the death of Ebenezer Scrooge's business partner, Jacob Marley. Scrooge, an ageing miser, dislikes Christmas and refuses a dinner invitation from his nephew Fred. He turns away two men seeking a donation to provide food and heating for the poor and only grudgingly allows his overworked, underpaid clerk, Bob Cratchit, Christmas Day off with pay to conform to the social custom. Others who have examined the Christian theme include Geoffrey Rowell, [24] Claire Tomalin [52] and Martin Sable. [53] Christmas Eve" ( Noch pered Rozhdestvom, 1832) by Nikolai Gogol (from Evenings on a Farm Near Dikanka) Another classic turned fun Christmas activity is to gather friends and family for a fun White Elephant gift exchange. This twist on the classic combines another epic piece of Christmas literature Twas the Night Before Christmas.