This is one of my favorite Christmas stories, I remember my father reading it to me through out December when I was very young, and now I read it myself annually. This is something that always bothered me about the order of events in the story specifically the difference between the shadows shown by the Ghost of Christmas Present and by the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come.
Scrooge meets the Second ghost at 2am Christmas day and spend the whole day/life of the spirit together. In the book by the end of their time together Scrooge is basically changed for the better but when the third ghost shows up is when I get confused.
The whole story has this since of urgency. Essential saying to Scrooge “if you don’t swear to change your ways you will die tonight and more than that so will that innocent boy Tiny Tim”. But that brings me to my point the Future Christmas Scooge sees, is it supposed to be an alternat version of the present Christmas, future is the sence that this will happen later today or the next day December 26? If the later would make that make sense? No one is celebrating as if it’s not Christmas yet every other ghost shows him specifically Christmas or Christmas Eve.
Personally I think it is the next day. Scrooge never saw himself in the present and only started wondering where he was in the future. The Ghost of Christmas future was almost died when him self when he predicted Tiny Tims passing so maybe he was seeming the next day? Even though he is the spirit of Christmas day specifically the year this story takes place.
So I ask you all is the future Scrooge sees
1) December 26
2) alternative shadows of the present Christmas day he saw
3) Christmas day the next year
by Noise_Agreeable