I've known the story for many, many years, and had voices for the characters in my head, but had never read it. Really good, classic stuff. Dickens certainly knew how to string out a sentence too! They'd often start at the end of one page, continue through the next, and finish on the third!
I also always forget that "Scrooge" ends up being the embodiment of Christmas, even though I always think of "a scrooge" as someone who's mean. I suspect it's true what they say about 'first appearances'!