A CHRISTMAS CAROL

London 1843:  The streets are foul with the manure of thousands of horses.  The sky is black with smoke from a thousand chimneys.  Streets are dimly lit by gas lamps, and alleys are not lit at all.  The rich enjoy the luxuries of the Empire, while the poor are sent to workhouses where even children work long, hard days.  Few know any leisure, and Christmas has all but been forgotten.

Enter Charles Dickens and his "Ghostly little book," in which he invents the modern concept of Christmas Spirit and offers one of the world's most adapted and imitated stories.  We know Ebenezer Scrooge, Tiny Tim, and the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present, and Yet to Come not only as fictional characters, but also as icons of the true meaning of Christmas in a world still plagued with avarice and cynicism.