This is without doubt my favourite children's Christmas story. As it says right at the beginning, "This is a story about wishing", and it tells how a little orphan girl named Ivy wishes for a doll to hold and a family to love her at Christmas, and of a Christmas doll named Holly who wishes for a child to own her, but remains unsold when the toy shop closes on Christmas Eve. There is also a woman with no children of her own who would love a little girl to look after. How the three wishes interact is told delightfully in this enchanting book. I used to read it to my daughters when they were children, and more recently to my granddaughter. But I sometimes read it to myself, as I enjoy it so much.