Foreword / by Ian Whybrow -- First Christmas / by Anne Adeney ; with illustrations by Richard Johnson -- Old Pierre's Christmas visitors : a French legend / by Fiona Waters ; with illustrations by Paul Hess -- Elves and the shoemaker : a German fairy tale / by the Brothers Grimm ; with illustrations by Helen Cann -- A very big cat : a Norse legend / by Nora Clarke ; with illustrations by Anna C. Leplar -- Becky's Christmas dream / by Louisa May Alcott ; with illustrations by Greg Becker -- Nutcracker / by Antonia Barber ; with illustrations by Olwyn Whelan -- Christmas every day / by William Dean Howells ; with illustrations by Alastair Graham -- Cratchits' Christmas dinner : (from A Christmas carol) / by Charles Dickens ; with illustrations by Susan Hellard -- Aunt Cyrilla's Christmas basket / by L.M. Montgomery ; with illustrations by Suzanna Hubbard -- Christmas at Mole End : (from The wind in the willows) / by Kenneth Grahame ; with illustrations by Georgina McBain -- A gift from the heart : a Mexican legend / by Saviour Pirotta ; with illustrations by Claire Henley -- Legend of St. Nicholas : a Dutch tale / by Ann Pilling ; with illustrations by Sharon Williams -- Befana and the three wise men : an Italian legend / by Vivian French ; with illustrations by Paolo D'Altan -- Fir tree : a Scandinavian fairy tale / by Hans Christian Andersen ; retold by Jenny Koralek ; with illustrations by Martin Irish.