There are few, if any, authors more firmly associated with Christmas than Charles Dickens. He may not have been, as the movie suggests, the man who invented Christmas, but he certainly changed the way we see it. 

For Dickens, Christmas was the greatest Christian feast: it was also one of his greatest themes. According to one critic, it is “sunk into his imagination like a watermark”. It is no surprise then that Scrooge learns not simply to treat other people with dignity in A Christmas Carol but also “to keep Christmas well”.