A 14-year old girl with absolutely no awareness of Christmas is left alone on a ranch for 5-days before the holiday.   During this time she’s visited by 3 outlaws, 5 Cheyenne warriors, the devil and the spirit of her dead mother.  

SYNOPSIS:

When Rachel’s mom dies in childbirth on Christmas Eve, her dad Cole angrily blames God and buries the family Bible in his wife’s grave and burns the Christmas tree. Not a word of God or Christmas is ever spoken on the remote Wyoming ranch and Rachel grows up ignorant of it all. It’s 1886, Rachel is 14. Cole has to ride to Bozeman on business leaving Rachel alone for the 5-days before Christmas with her only friends; an old dog Audie and a horse Jasper. Over the course of these 5 days Rachel is visited by 3 wanted outlaws, 5 Cheyenne warriors, the devil and the spirit of her departed mother. Each visitor contributes to making Rachel aware of Christmas, the Bible, Jesus and the true meaning of the holiday. She, in her own way, touches them all in return. On Christmas Eve Rachel bakes a cookie for Santa to thank him in advance for granting her wish. Christmas arrives, the cookie is gone and Rachel’s dad returns from town with a new wife. Rachel’s Christmas wish has been granted. Her father is happy and the family is whole. The script includes three public domain Western songs and three pieces of original music. The Devil character is accompanied by a bed of evil singing animated flowers (The Two-Lips).

In every case, the central character of a Christmas films either loves, hates or is ambivalent toward the holiday. The First Cookie is the first Christmas Story where the central character is totally unaware the holiday even exists and is thus a clean slate upon which to provide a ‘from scratch’ story concerning the true meaning of Christmas.