A Christmas carol: Seven years after the death of his business partner Jacob Marley, a miserable old man named Ebenezer Scrooge is working in his office. He hates happiness, love, family, generosity, Christmas, and probably also puppies. When his nephew Fred invites him over to Christmas dinner, Scrooge yells at him and refuses. Scrooge then tells off the people collecting charity donations, and grumbles and complains that the fact that his clerk Bob Cratchit gets a paid day off for Christmas is theft. The chimes: A goblin story of some bells that rang an old year out and a new year in is set during New Year's Eve in London. The story commences with a lengthy, haunting description of a churchyard at night. Dickens sets an evocative scene by stating in the opening paragraph: " ... there are not, I say, many people who would care to sleep in a church."
