No Christmas without Charles Dickens - who, by the way, was one of the first to write in time for the bookselling seasonal business. The magic of this holiday is uniquely captured in all five stories of the collection, especially in the famous and frequently adapted "A Christmas Carol" featuring the wealthy Ebenezer Scrooge, who transforms from a miser to a friend of humanity. However, in the other four Christmas tales of this collection - "The Bells," "The Cricket on the Hearth," "The Battle of Life," and "The Haunted Man" - Dickens continually reinterprets the call for greater humanity.