In a folktale whose roots reach back more than two hundred years, Tante celebrates the traditions of Christmas. She decorates the most wonderful tree in the village and gives a present to everyone, from the neighboring children to the wild creatures of the forest. But no one can give the old woman the gift she longs for. All her life, she has heard stories of Christmas magic--when animals might talk or bees hum carols--and just once she would like to witness such marvel.

Then one year, a special Christmas visitor invites hundreds of curious spiders into Tante's cottage. There, on her tree, they spin glittering webs full of all the magic of the season--webs that have inspired the draping of tinsel on Christmas boughs ever since.