A Spinner's Christmas

"A Spinner's Christmas" is an unusual holiday tale for these unusual times.

A hat store's closing at Christmas affects not only its human employees, but also tiny critters doing nature's work like spinning cobwebs that usher in the changing season.

Set in London of yesterday, we enter the world of spiders as they prepare to celebrate Christmas. Our hero is Daddy Longlegs, a father of 100 who works as a Cobweb Spinner at Foster's Haberdashery, an old shop about to shutter its doors for good. Daddy worries dreadfully about losing his job but he's not the only one.

Bessie is the cleaning lady at Foster's. She'd once dreamed of being a famous hat maker but now slogs around, clanging buckets of dirty water and dragging dirtier mops. Bessie hears the rumors of the store closing too and wonders if her lackadaisical approach to cleaning yo these many years has had anything to do with the store's bad fortunes.

With circumstances looking bleak, Daddy Longlegs angst grows hourly but what can he, a tiny despised critter, do to save his job?

"A Spinner's Christmas" teaches us that a little hope can weave Christmas joy and fate can twist and turn on the spin of a spider.

Told in 7 short chapters, this delightful story makes an easy evening's read or a great bedtime story over several days.