A Christmas Tree

In this 1850 essay, Dickens sits before a candlelit Christmas tree and lets its ornaments and toys carry him back through a lifetime of Christmases — childhood wonder, ghost stories told by the fire, and the particular magic that the season holds for both the young and the old. Shorter and quieter than A Christmas Carol but written in the same warm, observant voice, A Christmas Tree is Dickens's own reflection on why the holiday moves us the way it does.