The festival of Christmas is, like many Canadians, an immigrant to the nation. It was brought by newcomers-explorers, settlers and whole communities who carried with them their social traditions and religious beliefs. As new citizens settled across Canada, their traditions were soon shaped by the land and the other cultures they encountered.

Award-winning author Rick Book has turned his writer's eye to big and small events in our country's story and has lent to them drama, dialogue and imaginative insight. While the twenty-four stories in Christmas in Canada are fictional, each one is based on actual Canadians' experiences.

Christmas in Canada weaves a tapestry of stories past and present. It celebrates the many dimensions of faith brought to life by a vibrant, resilient, large-hearted people. It captures the hopes, disappointments and abiding faith of a multicultural country. But most of all, it celebrates a season as richly diverse as the people who honour it.