The “Classic” referred to in Forever’s subtitle is what the Finnegans call the game of shinny they’ve played at Christmas family get-togethers for more than a generation. Will this book, too, become a Christmas classic? Probably, especially in hockey-loving households.

Brian Deines’s paintings are lush and gorgeous, full- and double-page spreads of starry skies, great moments on the ice, and young Bump’s hockey dreams. Deines’s Grandpa Finnegan and grandson Bump are particularly appealing, and their close relationship is movingly evoked.

MacGregor’s text is folksy, rambling, and affectionate, taking up the story before Bump is even old enough to play in the Classic and ending decades later, after the family farm is sold. It is pitched both to children and to nostalgic adults recalling their own Christmases. MacGregor provides loving details of Uncle Jimmy’s famous hip-check, the Chevy hubcap that serves as the trophy, and the provenance of Grandma’s blueberry pies. Some elements feel slightly laboured – the slapstick episode when Bump loses his boot in a snowbank, for example. However, this story is clearly based on true events, and that lost boot is doubtless a family in-joke.

Sentimental? Yes, but in the manner that has made MacGregor a popular sportswriter and novelist for adults and children and has won his columns in The Globe and Mail a devoted following. Forever is not only about hockey, but about time, family, and love. And when read aloud (in segments) to a holiday gathering sufficiently lubricated with hot chocolate or beer, it will surely succeed in restoring some of that long-lost Christmas glow.