With everyone else sick in bed with a cold on Christmas Eve, it is up to Madeline to run the school, and she finds a remarkable helper in a rug-selling magician.
An illustrated version of the Christmas carol about the procession to Bethlehem and the offer of a poor boy to play his drum for the Christ Child. Music for the song appears in the back of the book.
The noisy children of three neighboring families have a gay time at Christmas baking cookies, cutting and decorating trees, eating fruitcake and tarts, and opening Christmas gifts.