Stave 3: The Ghost of Christmas Present
The Ghost of Christmas Present shows Scrooge how people celebrate Christmas right now, despite having far less money than him. This jolly giant spirit embodies everything festive and generous about the Christmas season.
Scrooge watches the Cratchit family enjoying their modest Christmas dinner together. Despite Bob Cratchit's tiny salary (which Scrooge pays reluctantly), the family radiates happiness and love. Tiny Tim, Bob's disabled son, particularly touches Scrooge's heart with his brave spirit.
Even more surprisingly, Bob Cratchit proposes a toast to Scrooge during dinner, showing incredible kindness despite how badly Scrooge treats him at work. This generosity starts to crack Scrooge's icy heart.
The spirit also takes Scrooge to his nephew Fred's Christmas party, where everyone's having a brilliant time playing games and laughing together. They even make jokes about Scrooge, but not in a truly mean way.
Important: The spirit reveals two children called Ignorance and Want - representing society's biggest problems that the wealthy ignore.
This stave shows Scrooge that happiness doesn't come from money, but from human connection and caring for others.