Like a good many Christmas traditions and trappings, a fresh look at them may return luster to a dullness that can build up with time and custom. In fact, from a cultural perspective, such an exercise is part of the whole purpose of Christmas and the impending New Year. It’s a time to consider ourselves anew in a light of resolve and appreciation for our blessings. Serving as a means to accomplish this is a story that stands as largely unfamiliar, only because it is largely held as familiar: Charles Dickens’s 1843 masterpiece, “A Christmas Carol.” This is a story that everyone knows yet few remember for what it truly is: a tale that sings out like a boisterous caroler pounding at the door on the night before Christmas. Its purpose? It’s to awaken us to the reality of our common journey to the grave and the consequent need to …