It all happened just before the first Christmas of all Christmas nights; that, as we all know, was a long, long time ago.

A beautiful, surly donkey is too wild to be ridden. When his master--eager to be rid of him--sells the beast to Mary, her new companion is suddenly as docile as a lamb. Joseph's staff, found in the corner of his workshop, is made of a kind of wood that no one can identify, and it has amazing qualities, as Joseph will find out. A little boy cleans and recleans his father's stable one week, knowing it just isn't clean enough, though he doesn't yet know why.

Simple things accompany the birth of Jesus--a donkey carries Mary, a staff supports old Joseph, a stable, and straw, and a manger offer a place in which to lay the Jesus child.

Lively stories of the Nativity conclude with a more contemporary tale, creating the atmosphere we all seek at Christmas. Each of these imaginative stories--intended to be read aloud--presents a simple element of the Nativity as their central theme. They are presented here with fresh watercolors by Bethan Welby, herself a former pupil of the school in England where these stories were told as part of a longstanding storytelling tradition.