14 stories includes selections that were previously published and new renditions of old Christmas legends and tales.

The first Christmas / Anne Adeney --Old Pierre's Christmas visitors / Fiona Waters --The elves and the shoemaker / the Brothers Grimm --A very big cat / Nora Clarke --Becky's Christmas dream / Louisa May Alcott -- The nutcracker / Antonia Barber --Christmas every day / William Dean Howells --The Cratchits' Christmas dinner / Charles Dickens --Aunt Cyrilla's Christmas basket / L.M. Montgomery --Christmas at Mole End / Kenneth Grahame --A gift from the heart / Saviour Pirotta --The legend of St Nicholas / Ann Pilling --Befana and the three wise men / Vivian French --The fir tree / Hans Christian Andersen.