Keep it like Scrooge.

Post-ghosts Scrooge. Not Original Recipe Scrooge. Just to clarify.

Every year, I come back to this book, not only because it is my favorite Christmas story, but because this is the best representation that comes to mind when people start talking about what Christmas means to them.

In this case, it’s Scrooge’s example that calls Christmas to my mind. Lots of people tend to think of him as the flinty old miser sitting by himself and taking his gruel on a foggy Christmas Eve. They forget that he’s only like that in the beginning. By the time we come to the end of the tale, Scrooge vows to be a better man and to keep Christmas in his heart. He decides that he’s going to be a good man, and a far more loving and generous person.

That’s Christmas.

Yes, it’s a time for decorating the tree, and singing carols, and eating like hobbits (seriously it’s the perfect day for Second Breakfast). But the point of all of those things, and everything else we do at this time of year, is that we’re surrounded by the people we love.

Each year, I find myself concentrating on something new when I pick up this book. This year it’s Scrooge’s promise to better himself.

That’s not just a Christmas thing, either. Be good to one another, and strive to be kinder than you were today.

Merry Christmas.