Versions of most of these stories were previously published in the author’s column ‘Crobhingne’ in The Irish Times at Christmastime over the past twenty years. Some could be described as fables or imaginative retellings of Bible stories. Others are tales inspired by modern-day Christmas consumerism. ‘Lá Breithe’ is a longer story about Jesus’ childhood. No version of this story exists in the New Testament at all, at all.