Gather ’round, everyone for a heartfelt tale of a Christmas miracle that never was. You see, sometimes those stories are the best kind. 

“Miracle on South Division Street” is a happily unusual holiday offering from the happily unusual pen of playwright Tom Dudzick, inspired by his born-in-Buffalo working class roots. 

Dudzick, best known for his semi-autobiographical “Over the Tavern” trilogy, returns to the old neighborhood again for the story of the Nowaks, who in 2010 still maintain a family shrine to the Blessed Mother. It was erected 70 years earlier, after Grandpa Nowak was visited by the Virgin Mary in his barbershop on Christmas Eve.

With its comically dramatic (dramatically comic?) take on faith and identity, it is fitting to see “Miracle” performed in a former church sanctuary — now home to the O’Connell & Company theater.

Though the story is set in the near-present, “Miracle’s” action runs deep with nostalgia. Buffalo’s industrial heyday is over, but the touted “renaissance” has not yet reached Polonia on the city’s East Side. That’s where Clara Nowak lives, now all alone, in the family home, where she keeps up both the shrine and her faith.

Staying true to that vision has anchored Clara to the past even while change swirls all around her. Still, it’s hard. 

“I can’t keep this alive all by myself,” she laments when her grown children come home on Christmas Eve, bearing more secrets than gifts. Everyone seems to have something to say; no one wants to listen.

Despite their differences, Dudzick doesn’t make this an unhappy gathering. He has a knack for wrapping difficult truths in comic moments, keeping the audience simultaneously engaged, laughing and a little on edge. You never know what’s coming out next — a joke, a long-held prejudice, or an explosive family revelation.

All of that is packed into this fast-moving, belief-scrambling show. The direction by Mary Kate O’Connell is light on its feet, with the action drawing its depth from the four fine performers who bring us the Nowaks. 

What a treat to see Mary Moebius back on stage as the matriarch Clara, as she undergoes a miraculous, flustered and totally unforeseen transformation on this eventful Christmas Eve. 

Holly Golden and Yamilex Holguin Perez, as sisters Ruth and Beverly, snap their back-and-forth dialogue so sharply they sound as though they grew up together in this kitchen, true sisters at heart.

And Nathanial Higgins is just plain fun to watch as their brother, Jimmy. He fairly explodes with joy in Act II as the family history undergoes a shocking and radical rewrite. Hey, it works for him!

After all, “Miracle on South Division Street” is not really about Christmas; it is about what Christmas is really supposed to be about. Peace on Earth and mercy mild, God and everyone, reconciled. Cheers to that!

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“Miracle on South Division Street” continues through Dec. 22 at O’Connell & Company, 4110 Bailey Ave., Amherst (parking on site). Shows are on Thursday, Dec. 19 at 7:30 p.m., and Saturday, Dec. 21 and Sunday, Dec. 22 at 2 and 7:30 p.m. 

Tickets are $25 to $41 at oconnellandcompany.com.