A young shepherd is blinded by lightning and is taken in by some nuns in a local abbey. Starring Angela Lansbury, Cyril Ritchard, and David Kelley.

This film has a wonderful story about a young boy who doesn’t have a family but gains one for Christmas. The stop motion animation is great, but that’s to be expected from Rankin/Bass. While the film is a great story and the animation is great, it’s not the best Rankin/Bass film. It’s about having snow on Christmas, so I think the film missed the point of the first Christmas. The songs also don’t seem to help the story; at times, they seem mismatched and out of place. There are also questions that go unanswered, like how this young boy became a shepherd and how this boy is a working shepherd as an orphan – so many questions that go unanswered.  The film has a wonderful story about family, and the animation is still the best, making this film worth a watch.