Once upon a Christmastime long ago, somewhere deep in the great snowy forests of Europe, in a tiny house, lived a little old woman. She was all alone in the world, but she was a cheerful, kindly soul who lived a simple and happy life in the deep woods.

Now in this part of the world, when Christmastime comes, all the people take time to clean their homes from top to bottom, because they want to welcome the little Christ Child into their homes with happy hearts. And so, when Christmas Eve came, the little old woman began to clean her house.

In this old woman's house lived a family of spiders. That Christmas Eve the spiders watched as the old woman took her broom and swept down all the walls and floors in the house. The spiders had to scramble up high into the rafters to escape her busy broom, and they watched her from above. Soon everything in the house sparkled, and the little old woman went out into the woods. The spiders watched as the woman dragged a pretty pine tree into the little house and stood it up in the corner. Then, because it was evening, and because she was very tired, the old woman filled the fireplace that heated the house, then went to bed to sleep until Christmas Day.

The spiders had never seen such a sight as a pine tree right in the house! By the light of the fire in the fireplace, they looked down at the tree, but they were soon so excited they could hide no longer. The spiders had to explore the tree for themselves. They climbed down from the rafters, then climbed up the tree's trunk and out on every single branch and every single twig of that tree. As they climbed and jumped with joy all around the pine tree, they left behind trails of gray web everywhere they went. Soon the pine tree was covered all over, top to bottom, with strings of dusty spider web. The clean house was clean no more.

Midnight came, and with it came Christmas. The door to the little house suddenly blew open, the fire burned brighter, and there in the doorway stood the Christ Child. The Christ Child looked at the tree, and at the gray webs covering it. He looked over at the little old woman sleeping peacefully, and He smiled. Then He raised His little hand to the pine tree and blessed it. As Jesus blessed the pine tree, all the spider webs covering it suddenly turned to silver and gold. The next morning, when the little old woman saw the wondrous shining tree, she knew the Christ Child had blessed her, too.

To this very day, when people put gold and silver strings and beads and garlands on their Christmas trees, and when they put a spider ornament in the branches, they are remembering a special gift in a long-ago legend, a gift given by the Christ Child Himself.