Story Time — 26.12

Solution

The grid contains, in a winding fashion, an excerpt from Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol that is also the second paragraph of the Appendix of the Cryptography manual, starting in the top-left corner. The text is marked in green below.

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Holiday	Letter
HALLOWEN	E
MEMORIL DAY	A
CHRITMAS	S
VALENINES DAY	T
INDPENDENCE DAY	E
NEW YEAS DAY	R

Enclosed within are names of holidays with one letter missing, which spell the solution.

EASTER