“…I have always thought of Christmastime when it has come round, apart from the veneration due to its sacred name and origin, if anything belonging to it can be apart from that; as a good time, a kind, forgiving, charitable, pleasant time, the only time I know of in the long calendar of the year when men and women seem by one consent to open their shut up hearts freely and to think of people below them as if they really were fellow passengers to the grave and not another race of creatures bound on other journeys… And therefore uncle, though it has never put a scrap of gold or silver in my pocket, I believe that it has done me good and will do me good and I say: God Bless It !…”
–Fred, Scrooge’s nephew–
–A Christmas Carol– Charles Dickens
One of at least two stories that I read every year around this time: Skipping Christmas by John Grisham and A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
And you can see why…