For the church Christmas program, guess who plays a sheep with a terry-cloth headdress, a terry-cloth tail and faded pajamas for her costume? The one and only, Ramona! But before the program begins, Ramona is not very happy about it. Sheep don't wear pajamas. Maybe she doesn't want to be in the program after all. Ramona sits in the corner of the church basement, feeling very miserable until three older girls, the program's Three Wise Persons, discover her.

What can Ramona tell them is the reason she is not performing? An inspiration strikes her -- she has no make-up! The girls look at one another and decide that what this sheep needs is a little black nose painted on with mascara.

      Ramona felt like a real sheep. "Ba-a-a," she bleated, a sheep's way of saying thank you. Ramona felt so much better, she could almost pretend she was wooly. She peeled off her coat and found that the faded pink rabbits really didn't show much in the dim light.

As she makes her way onto the stage, Ramona finds her parents in the second row. Do they recognize her? Mr. Quimby gives his daughter sheep a quick wink. He knows that Ramona is the sheep with the little black nose. Ramona knows that he is proud of her.

Ramona was filled with joy. Christmas was the most beautiful, magic time of the whole year. Her parents loved her, and she loved them, and Beezus, too. At home there was a Christmas tree and under it, presents, fewer than at past Christmases, but presents all the same. Ramona could not contain her feelings. "Ba-a-a," she bleated joyfully.

A little sheep with a black nose gives her tail one more wag.