Scrooge Sends the Prize Turkey to the Cratchits

Scrooge Sends the Prize Turkey to the Cratchits is the first concrete act of Ebenezer Scrooge's redemption on Christmas morning, a secret, anonymous gift of an enormous turkey to the family of his clerk, Bob Cratchit, that marks his decisive break from a lifetime of miserliness and his embrace of the Christmas spirit of generosity.

The Decision and the Purchase

Awakening on Christmas Day after his harrowing night with the three Spirits, Scrooge is transformed. He is "as light as a feather, as happy as an angel, as merry as a school-boy," and his first thoughts turn to the Cratchit family. He calls down to a boy in the street and inquires about the prize turkey hanging at the poulterer's shop on the corner. When the boy confirms that the turkey—"the one as big as me"—is still there, Scrooge instructs him to buy it and have it brought to him. He promises the boy a shilling for his trouble, and half-a-crown if he returns with the man in less than five minutes. The boy is off "like a shot."

The Turkey and Its Delivery

The turkey that arrives is immense; Scrooge observes that it never could have stood upon its legs, as it would have snapped them off "like sticks of sealing-wax." Recognizing that it is impossible to carry such a bird to Camden Town, Scrooge hires a cab. He writes the address for delivery, his hand unsteady from emotion, and goes downstairs to open the street door, waiting for the poulterer's man. As he stands there, the knocker catches his eye, and he declares, "I shall love it as long as I live!" He pays for the turkey, the cab, and recompenses the boy, all the while chuckling until he cries.

The Secret Gift

Scrooge whispers to himself that he will send the turkey to Bob Cratchit's, and that Bob "shan't know who sends it." He delights in the joke, noting that the bird is "twice the size of Tiny Tim" and that "Joe Miller never made such a joke as sending it to Bob's will be!" The anonymity of the gift is crucial: it is not an act of self-aggrandizement but a pure, joyful expression of his newfound generosity. The act is a direct reversal of his earlier refusal to give anything to the charity collectors, when he had declared that the poor who would rather die should "decrease the surplus population."

Consequences and Significance

This single action is the first ripple of Scrooge's transformation, and it sets the stage for his subsequent, more personal acts of kindness. Later that same day, he raises Bob Cratchit's salary and promises to assist his struggling family. The turkey itself becomes a symbol of the abundance and joy that Scrooge now wishes to share. The narrative confirms that Scrooge was "better than his word" and that he did "it all, and infinitely more," becoming "a second father" to Tiny Tim, who does not die. The gift of the turkey is thus the inaugural gesture of a completely altered life, the first proof that the shadows of the future shown by the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come have been successfully dispelled.