When Martha, the eldest Cratchit child, arrives at home for Christmas dinner, she is late because, as she says, she had a "deal of work to finish up last night [...] and had to clear away this morning [...]." She obviously must work quite hard for her living, as she has to stay up late to work and get up early again to continue it. Further, the narrator describes how happily two of the Cratchit children go to fetch their goose for dinner, as though it were a "phenomenon [...]—and in truth it was something very like it in that house." The fact that having a goose to eat is so rare is another indication of the family's depressed economic condition.

Moreover, the narrator describes the goose dinner as being merely "Eked out by the apple-sauce and mashed potatoes," and he says that the dinner is "sufficient" for the entire family; the implication is that this is not really a feast, and that what is here has been gotten with great difficulty. Finally, the Cratchits do not have an abundance, or even an adequate number, of pots and dishes: the same pot that is used for laundry must also be used for the dessert (i.e., "pudding") and the "family display of glass" consists of two tumblers and a broken custard-cup that everyone must share. All of these descriptions and details let us know that the family does not have much money and that they make do with what they have, feeling grateful for it.