The story of a little girl who found a new home and joy during Christmas.
A fire crackled in the fireplace and the whole cottage was filled with the smell of baking gingerbread. The man approached and inhaled deeply. "It smells wonderful," he smiled at the woman. "Couldn't you find at least one misshapen cookie you could spare me?"
The woman smiled and nodded. "I made a few extra, we’ll have leftovers. I won’t sell them all. We should enjoy some ourselves."
"If I succeed, I might even bring a hare for Christmas dinner when I return from the forest."
"That would be wonderful," she agreed. "I honestly can't remember a Christmas when you didn't manage it."
"Just like you've never managed to burn the gingerbread."
She laughed softly, though her expression soon turned a little sad. "At least we're good at something," she sighed and stared into the flames.
The man wrapped his arm around her shoulders and kissed her temple. "Don't worry. One day we'll have a child."
She smiled faintly, nodded, and looked out the window. "Go before it gets dark. Hunting is harder at night."
He nodded, grabbed his bow and axe, and stepped into the snowy forest. The fresh snow crunched beneath his feet, showing animal tracks. He followed a hare’s trail, but a strange sound interrupted him — not an animal, not the wind. He stopped and listened. Again. This time he recognized it: a child crying.
He found a small frozen girl clinging tightly to a young pine tree. He carefully freed her hair from her face, but she did not react. "What are you doing here?" he asked, but she did not answer. She only held the tree tighter.
He tried to lift her, but she was frozen to it, so he cut the tree near the roots and carried both her and the tree home. His wife opened the door and was shocked. "Good heavens, that's not a hare, dear. Where did you find her?"
He explained, and they laid her by the fire. "She's freezing," the woman said, rubbing her gently. The girl finally opened her eyes. "What’s your name?" she asked, but the girl said nothing.
They decorated the small tree with gingerbread and apples to cheer her up. Slowly, she smiled and finally spoke. She had run away from her cruel aunt; her parents had died a year earlier. The couple decided to keep her as their own child. From that day on, they decorated a Christmas tree every year.