That night, the girl dreams that the rag doll, abandoned on the floor, comes silently to life to entertain her.

The rag doll, turning on an electric fan, is blown about and nearly knocks over a vase as it attempts to avoid falling off the table.

The film was Karel Zeman's first experiment in combining stop-motion animation with live-action footage, a process he continued to explore in his later feature films, beginning with Journey to the Beginning of Time (1955) and The Fabulous World of Jules Verne (1958).

[5] The American version replaces the wordless Czech soundtrack with new audio, including a voice for the rag doll; it also includes new footage in which Santa Claus, appearing by magic, sends the Christmas dream to the girl.

"[7] Scott MacGillivray, in a review of the Castle Films version, wrote that "the Zemans' stop-motion effects are truly extraordinary.