Why does Scrooge refuse to spend Christmas dinner with his nephew?

Dickens' classic "A Christmas Carol" is a wonderful story of personal redemption and the spirit of Christmas. Ebeneezer Scrooge begins the story as a "covetous old sinner" who gradually, with the assistance of three spirits sent to him by his long-dead friend Jacob Marley, finds himself on a path to correct his foul and negative opinions of Christmas and those who celebrate it.

In the beginning of the story, a small group of children gather on the stoop of his counting house to carol and hopefully receive some small donation in return. However, the singing is just a sore reminder to Scrooge of all that he hates about the season, and he lashes out at the children, driving them away.

Later, as he finds himself in the company of the Ghost of Christmas Past, he feels the beginnings of regret and remorse at having treated the children so poorly. The reader becomes aware that Scrooge's feelings about Christmas had much to do with his own unhappy childhood as a lonely, often-forgotten child, left to stay at the school while all of his friends went home to celebrate. This may in part explain why the caroling of children affected him to such a degree.