For everyone who believes in magic (EOB)
For all the wonderful fairies who helped me along the way (AD)
EOIN O’BRIEN wishes it could be Christmas every day. He loves the scent of pine, family get-togethers and setting puddings on fire. As well as making up stories, Eoin writes songs, plays music, paints and draws, and likes to create spaces for wildlife in his garden. He has two fantastic teenage children. Eoin’s first children’s book, also with Audrey, is Flossie McFluff: An Irish Fairy
AUDREY DOWLING is a French illustrator settled in the Kilkenny countryside. Her universe is colourful and rich with details and ornaments. Nature in all its forms inspires her drawings, as well as folklore from all cultures, fairy tales and vintage imageries.
First published 2025 by The O’Brien Press Ltd, 12 Terenure Road East, Rathgar, Dublin 6, D06 HD27, Ireland.
Tel: +353 1 4923333; Email: books@obrien.ie; Website: obrien.ie
The O’Brien Press is a member of Publishing Ireland.
ISBN: 978-1-78849-495-3
Copyright for text © Eoin O’Brien 2025
Copyright for illustration © Audrey Dowling 2025
The moral rights of the author and illustrator have been asserted.
Copyright for typesetting, layout, editing, design © The O’Brien Press Ltd Book and cover design Emma Byrne
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or utilised in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including for text and data mining, training artificial intelligence systems, photocopying, recording or in any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.
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To the best of our knowledge, this book complies in full with the requirements of the General Product Safety Regulation (GPSR). For further information and help with any safety queries, please contact us at productsafety@obrien.ie.
Printed by L&C Printing Group, Poland. The paper used in this book is produced using pulp from managed forests.
Published in
If you go a-walking out under the trees
With the birds and the badgers, the beetles and bees, There are all sorts of creatures down under your knees And the closer you look, the more you will see.
While over your head, little things in the sky Are swooping and looping and fluttering by, And you might even see, if you’re lucky enough, A feisty wee fairy called Flossie McFluff.
Now Christmas is coming, and out in the wood Everyone’s ready for all that is good. It’s the very best time of the whole of the year, With peace and goodwill and good food and good cheer.
Days getting shorter and nights growing long, Warm cosy fires and stories and song.
A time for hot chocolate and family fun, When neighbours are gathered, and stories are spun.
Here’s Flossie, she’s making her wee house look jolly, Lighting up candles and hanging up holly. Her stocking is dangling where it belongs.
She’s quietly humming a sweet Christmas song.
Outside a storm’s brewing, the rain’s coming down. It pours on the trees, then it drips to the ground. It fills up the streams, and they fill up the river.
Our small forest friends are beginning to shiver.
A chilly wind blows; there’s a nip in the air. The trees have no leaves now; they’re barren and bare. But one evergreen has got all its leaves still –The great ancient pine on the top of the hill.
The river that runs through the heart of the wood Keeps rising and rising; it’s starting to flood! In underground burrows, the water flows in And foxes and stoats are all soaked to the skin.
So herons and hedgehogs, and sparrows and shrews
All gather around to decide what to do:
‘Where will we go if we’ve nowhere to sleep, In the wind and the rain and the darkness so deep?’
‘We’ll have to find somewhere that’s safer to stay, Where we can keep dry, and the children can play.’
‘There’s only one answer when life’s getting rough –We’ll call on our fairy friend, Flossie McFluff.’
She scratches her chin and she scrunches her nose, Then Flossie says, ‘Oh! I know where we can go!
There’s a place in the wood where it’s cosy and warm, Where we can stay dry and keep out of the storm:
‘The great giant pine tree! It’s safe and it’s strong.
We can stay in its branches the whole winter long.’
So all of the creatures and all of their kin
Pack up their bags and begin to move in.