I don’t think Christmas was as much about gift giving in Dickens time. I think it was more a time that your family gets to be together. He even alludes to this with Bob Crachit’s daughter having to slave away at work and only getting to see family on Christmas. They don’t really do gifts in the story, they just have a small meal together. It isn’t until Scrooge changes his mindset that gifts start being much of a thing in the story.

Dickens was always focused on the poverty and suffering of the industrial age. I think he would object to our sense today of Christmas being so focused on gifts and not on time with family and friends