The First Christmas Stocking (by Elizabeth Winthrop)

Just before Christmas one year, an imperious, rich lady orders six stockings, and Claire knits the best ones she has ever made. But on her way to deliver them she meets a poor, homeless orphan, and gives him two for his bare feet, two for his hands, and one for his head. The last one she hangs on the mantelpiece, her hopes for a warm, happy Christmas gone with the money she failed to earn. But miracles do happen.

Okay, let's be honest -- at any other time of year this kind of thing would be disdained. But one of the many magical things about the holiday season is its ability to transmute predictable, mawkish dross into pure, poignant gold. By the light of that transformation one can appreciate what might otherwise have been missed: the delicately lyrical writing, the dry sweetness of the story, the timeless nature of the sentiment.

But what would never have been missed are Bagram Ibatoulline's gorgeous, glowing paintings. When the text says that "surely these were the best stockings she had ever made," the illustration makes you believe it. This is another book to add to our 12 Days of Christmas List of holiday weepers for curling up with a child in front of a fire on a cold December night. Lovely.