Tonight, we’ll read the opening to “A Christmas Carol” a novella by Charles Dickens originally published in 1843. The story recounts how Ebenezer Scrooge, an elderly miser, is visited by the spirits of Christmas and is in the process, transformed.Dickens wrote “A Christmas Carol” during a period when the British were exploring and re-evaluating past Christmas traditions, including carols, and newer customs such as Christmas cards and Christmas trees. It captured the zeitgeist of the mid-Victorian revival of the Christmas holiday. Dickens had acknowledged the influence of the modern Western observance of Christmas and later inspired several aspects of Christmas, including family gatherings, seasonal food and drink, dancing, games and a festive generosity of spirit.