A Christmas Carol

A life-long bibliophile, I have one book in particular that I plan to keep forever - a well-worn copy of Dicken's A Christmas Carol. It is particularly fitting at this time, since this year is the 100th anniversary of the Christmas season when this book was originally given to my great-grandmother, Annie MacLeod.

It is a small book, bound in red leather and chased with gold, surprisingly elegant, even though it is clearly a book intended for a student (and, I assume, made to a price point). Considering its age, (printed in 1901), it is in quite good shape, and will certainly outlast me.

In addition to any sentimental value the book has for me, A Christmas Carol is also one of my favourite stories, and I often re-read it at this time of year - one of the few Christmas traditions I observe. It is a short tale, easily read in a single evening, and contains a great many good things - ghosts, heroism, despair, joy, sorrow, hope, and the immortal friendship of Marley.

" Scrooge was better than his word. He did it all, and infinitely more; and to Tiny Tim, who did not die, he was a second father. He became as good a friend, as good a master, and as good a man, as the good old city knew, or any other good old city, town, or borough, in the good old world. Some people laughed to see the alteration in him, but he let them laugh, and little heeded them; for he was wise enough to know that nothing ever happened on this globe, for good, at which some people did not have their fill of laughter in the outset; and knowing that such as these would be blind anyway, he thought it quite as well that they should wrinkle up their eyes in grins, as have the malady in less attractive forms.

His own heart laughed: and that was quite enough for him."