About Dickens鈥� story, you already know. Thanks to numerous film adaptations, including my favorite, 鈥淪crooge,鈥� starring the inimitable Albert Finney in the title role, everybody is familiar with this vintage tale of yuletide misanthropy and redemption.
But precisely because 鈥淎 Christmas Carol鈥� endures so vividly on television, many readers haven鈥檛 felt the need to read the book. But Dickens' original narrative warrants our attention; like any classic, it promises something new with each repeated encounter.
One long-ago Christmas, while she was working as a young, single woman on Capitol Hill, my wife gave a copy of 鈥淎 Christmas Carol鈥� to a girlfriend, only to discover that her girlfriend had given her the very same gift.
In exchanging copies of 鈥淎 Christmas Carol鈥� while far away from their homes of origin, my wife and friend were perhaps trying to remind themselves of the abiding lesson of Dickens鈥� story: Even when we feel most alone at Christmas, the season鈥檚 promise of fellowship is often just within our grasp.
That promise is what keeps me reading 鈥� and rereading 鈥� 鈥淎 Christmas Carol鈥� each yuletide.
