It looks like Scrooge will have time on his hands this Christmas.

At least, that is the word from Consumer Reports, which reports that the holidays are getting happier.

Indeed, 40 percent of adults say they expect the upcoming holiday season to be “happier” than last year’s, according to the Consumer Reports National Research Center, a unit of Consumers Union, a watchdog organization.

In 2009, 33 percent of adults thought their holidays would be happier than the year before. In 2008, with the nation deep in recession, the figure was 28 percent.

This year, young adults, age 18 to 34, ranked as the merriest of the bunch with 58 percent saying they expect to be happier this holiday season. Households with children younger than 12 also scored high.

The findings suggest that consumers are putting material goods in perspective after the excesses of the mid-2000s. Shoppers are cutting back on gifts for themselves — a habit that was widespread in the years leading up to the recession. And they plan to give more to charity, the survey found.

“It’s a move away from self-indulgence and toward giving more to others,” said Tod Marks, senior editor at the Consumer Reports. “Tough times have had a tremendous impact on Americans. We’ve taken a pounding, and we are bouncing back.”

That doesn’t mean Americans aren’t buying presents.

Gift cards, in particular, are getting more popular, with 62 percent of consumers saying they intend to give them this year, up from 46 percent last year.

Marks suspects that the memory of big-name retailers going out of business –  from Circuit City to Sharper Image — scared shoppers off gift cards last year. With the retail industry on more solid footing in 2010, consumers are less worried about the cards becoming worthless.

Still Consumer Reports found that 27 percent of gift card recipients in 2009 have yet to use at least one of them.