Dickens, like many of us, is complicated. His brilliance is slightly shadowed by a cloud of choices he made in his personal life…a life of secrets. However, this flawed instrument gave us some of the best prose in the English language. Ad Music: “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year” (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCwTRjvjVge51X-ILJ4i22ew); “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VfRC80jSAc8); “Mary, Did You Know?” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p5ljQ13TbyM); “O Christmas Tree” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tmQPYXNxDYI) Background Music: “Christmas Meditation,” by Dee Yan-Key, from the album, “Christmas Album,” 2020. Promoted by freemusicarchive.org. Licensed under CC BY-NC-SA (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/legalcode).