During her childhood, Caroline Kennedy would always find such Victorian-era gifts as walnuts and oranges in her Christmas stocking. But by the time her own three children were old enough to write to Santa, her mother had succumbed to the "era of plastic," giving her grandchildren such items as a plastic shopping cart, miniature kitchen and talking phone.

"She had a great sense of fun," says Kennedy of her mother, Jacqueline. And "she would give books as well."

Jackie O likely would have presented to all on her list her daughter's newest offering, "A Family Christmas" (Hyperion, 352 pages, $26.95; HighBridge audio version, $29.95). In an introduction to the handsome volume, Kennedy writes about her own family traditions -- and the nation's -- and includes a trove of surprising historical notes about the importance of Macy's, Coca-Cola and Thomas Alva Edison in the evolution of the holiday's modern celebration. The rest of the book is full of essays, poems, lyrics and other passages as personal as the old-fashioned gifts she and her late brother John received from their parents.

When her editor first suggested compiling a Christmas book, "I thought it was a bad idea," said Kennedy, 50, the mother of three teens (14, 17 and 19). "I thought it would be the same old stuff you see all the time. Then I looked on it as a challenge, to see if there was anything out there that was not the same."

Among the more unusual entries are a letter from Groucho Marx about his bad luck with holiday tipping, recipes from the kitchen of Martha Washington and the lyrics to "Christmas in Hollis" by rappers Run-DMC. "Because we're currently at war, and there are soldiers away from home, I thought it important" to include writings on war, she says, starting with George Washington's description of crossing the Delaware on Christmas Day, 1776. There's a letter Caroline wrote to Santa when she was 5, in which she asked for -- among other things -- silver skates, a real pet reindeer, a basket for her bicycle and a farm.

There's also a 1961 letter from her father, President John F. Kennedy, to a Michigan girl afraid that the Russians would bomb the North Pole and harm Santa.

The president answered, saying that he shared her concerns about nuclear testing. "However," he assured her, "you must not worry about Santa Claus. I talked with him yesterday and he is fine. He will be making his rounds this Christmas."