Why is the Ghost of Christmas Past described as a child and an old man?

In the first stave of A Christmas Carol, the Ghost of Christmas Past appears to Scrooge. He is described as "like a child: yet not so like a child as like an old man." It is likely that Dickens deliberately describes the ghost in this way for two reasons. 

First of all, it adds to the supernatural element of the story. A Christmas Carol may be a festive story but, let's not forgot, that it...

In the first stave of A Christmas Carol, the Ghost of Christmas Past appears to Scrooge. He is described as "like a child: yet not so like a child as like an old man." It is likely that Dickens deliberately describes the ghost in this way for two reasons. 

First of all, it adds to the supernatural element of the story. A Christmas Carol may be a festive story but, let's not forgot, that it is a ghost story too. By giving the ghost the characteristics of both a child and an old man, Dickens is tapping into the unexplainable and fantastical elements of the supernatural.

Secondly, the ghost's physical description is a visual representation of Scrooge's journey. The first image shown to Scrooge is of his childhood: of being at boarding school and being taken home by his sister. Next, he sees himself as a grown young man with Mr Fezziwig, before he revisits the painful recollection of his engagement to Belle. The ghost is, therefore, representative of all of these experiences which, over time, transformed Scrooge into a cold and calculating miser.