Kim C - "The Box of Delights" is a fantastic (in both senses of the word) children's book by John Masefield set at Christmas time, about a young boy called Kay Harker who meets a mysterious Punch and Judy man. He finds himself drawn into a wonderful and magical mystery when the Punch and Judy man gives Kay the Box of Delights which can conjure up all mystical things and whisk people back in time. It's a lovely and Chritsmassy book incorporating all kinds of myth and legend. Well worth a read. It's up there with "The Children of Green Knowe" and "the Wind in the Willows" as books I really loved as a child because they remind me of Christmas (I was probably given them for Christmas, which would explain the association...).