The Guardian newspaper has reported a holiday story with a “twist” in “true Dickensian style”. While the staff of the Dickens House Museum in Clerkenwell, London, were preparing their Christmas decorations, news arrived of a minor Christmas miracle.

No, Ebenezer Scrooge didn’t show up, but the Heritage Lottery Fund announced a plan to fund a major £2 million restoration of the museum’s home. The modernization and refurbishment is scheduled to be completed in time for the 2012 celebrations of the bicentenary of Dickens’ birth.

The Dickens House has the most significant collection of Dickens memorabilia in Britain. Although Dickens only lived in the house on Doughty Street for three years, he wrote most of Oliver Twist and Nicholas Nickleby there.

The Dickens House still needs to raise £900,000 in matching funds for the restoration project. You can donate at their website.