A narrator spends Christmas at an old country estate, waking to children singing carols and joining the family for prayers in a private chapel led by an affectionate Squire and aided by the musically ambitious Master Simon. The household shares a sturdy old-fashioned breakfast while walking the frost-coated grounds with a troop of loyal dogs and admiring the stately terraces. The party attends a nearby village church where a pedantic parson objects to mistletoe and a choir assembled by Master Simon collapses into comic discord during a planned anthem. Vivid attention to rituals, antiquarian tastes, and quaint local characters evokes a warm, old-world holiday atmosphere.