Willibald Krautmann and Christmas—these two things belonged together like a door and its hinges, like a clock and its face, like a bell and its tower. The whole year round he dreamed of and prepared for Christmas. In his lifetime he had carved more than a thousand figurines; he had built sixty manger scenes, and never once had he missed the annual crèche-makers’ conference in Innsbruck.

This short story is from Home for Christmas: Stories for Young and Old.