A nostalgic re-creation of a visit to grandparents at Christmastime a generation or so ago—with carol-singing on the way, the smell of cookies in the ample Victorian home, and tea with biscotti. The narrator notices that the light shining into her tea looks like the moon she's just admired in the Advent calendar; later, she sees a man, a woman, and a baby in a manger in the previously empty model village Grandpa has made in the parlor. Softly, she tells them of the angels and shepherds still to come, then gently carries the child to the piano and plays ``Silent Night'' to him before putting him back. It's not entirely clear whether the silhouetted figures in the creche are real or the product of the child's reverence; but Riggio nicely recaptures her awe in the season's meaning—both in the story's action and in paintings that are dramatically shadowed like a big old house on a winter's day, and glowing with the warmth of a large, loving Italian family. (Picture book. 4-8)