A "heartwarming, magical tale"--SLJ Among the grand balsam firs and pines at the Christmas tree lot is a little hunched tree that is missing several branches. Still, no tree is more filled with the spirit of Christmas. As the weeks go by, many others are selected but still the little tree keeps up its hope of finding the perfect family. On Christmas Eve, now the last tree in the lot, a special visitor (Ho, Ho, Ho!) might just give the little tree what it wants most of all.

The Last Christmas Tree is a story of putting Jesus's "golden rule" as presented in Matthew 7:12, "Therefore all things what so ever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them," into a real-life situation. Matthew, the owner of the Christmas tree lot, connects with a family in need and puts the rule into practice. He sees the needs of John and his family of four, having lost his wife recently, and he decides he can help them as he would like to be helped if the situation were reversed. In part told from the point of view of the last Christmas tree on the lot, the story progresses through the help given by Matthew with his generosity and the joy and assistance it brings to John and his family despite their recent loss. The story is intended to inspire us to treat others as we want to be treated and to help those in need when we can. Although the situation John and his family are in is sad and painful, Matthew's acts of Christian love hopefully alleviate some of the pain of mourning that the family is feeling and inspire them to go on in Christ's love.

Imagines a distant future in which the earth has plunged into frozen darkness, extinguishing life as we know it. Only a few stalwart holdouts remain, including a pair of trees that have retained a kind of memory of what came to pass before the life-killing coldness moved in.

Freddie the Fir, by Jeanne Troiano, tells the story of the hope and disappointment of the last Christmas tree left on the lot after it closes on Christmas eve and how that sadness turned to joy when, through sheer luck, he gets his wish to have a home of his own and a chance to make many children happy. It is a beautifully told tale, simply written and deeply felt by the author, and it will touch children's hearts (as well as their parents) as they root for Freddie to find a home. Because Freddie is like every child who was picked last at soccer or had not gotten a part in the school play, the story is a metaphor with universal appeal.

The Last Christmas Tree: An Idyl of Immortality is a novella by James Lane Allen. Allen was an American novelist and short story writer, here conveying a wholesome and poetic reflection of nature. Excerpt: "But meantime life on this earth implies warmth and carries warmth: that at least we positively have found out though without knowing what warmth is. Every living terrestrial creature is a candle, is a lamp. The rose is a perfumed lamp and when its bowl is without oil, that inimitable lamp so silently built to give off for a little while a few serene rays of vestal beauty as silently falls to pieces. The pine tree is a wild candle poised on a mountain table. The eagle is a winged candle burning to cinders on a peak of air. The albatross is a floating conflagration with all the ineffectual sea drenching its back and breast. The polar bear is a four-branch candle in a candlestick of snow. We human beings are laughing and tear-dripping candles, descending swiftly to our sockets."

While most stories about Christmas trees are usually about trimming the tree, celebrating Christmas and the opening of gifts, it is also about what happens after Christmas is over and what happens next to the little tree. It is a universal story meant to be read together by children of all ages and about what it means to be alone.