In Charles Dickens’s “A Christmas Carol,” Scrooge sends the Cratchit family a turkey.
The gift appears near the end of the 1843 novella, after the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come has frightened Scrooge into changing his life. On Christmas morning, the newly generous Scrooge secretly sends a large turkey to Bob Cratchit’s home so the impoverished family can enjoy a festive meal.
The turkey is more than a piece of holiday food: it signals Scrooge’s transformation from a miser who begrudges Cratchit’s wages and Christmas holiday into an employer willing to help his clerk and family. He later raises Cratchit’s salary and becomes a supportive figure to Tiny Tim.
Adaptations sometimes emphasize different Christmas dishes or add scenes not found in Dickens’s text, which can cause confusion. In the original story, however, the bird Scrooge sends is specifically a turkey, not a goose, duck, or chicken.