The Pine Tree Parable
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It’s a story about a farmer and his family, making it an instant hit in our house. This particular farmer, like ours, grows a lot of things on his farm. But unlike our farmer, he also grows Christmas trees!
The Pine Tree Parable is a sweet tale with cute pictures. On each page you see the children and the trees grow through the years, until finally the trees are ready to sell. Neighbors and friends come to pick out their trees each winter, but there’s one tree that’s so big and beautiful, the farmer’s wife can’t bear to sell it.
Until a family comes that has no money for a Christmas tree at all. And that’s where the parable comes into play.
My girls loved this book. And so did I. My favorite line? “The trees were quiet. The children were noisy. But the farmer’s wife loved everything that grew on the farm.”
It’s long been a best-seller and award winner, and it’s no wonder. Every family with small children will appreciate this new board book version. The bottom of each page has a Bible verse that goes along with that part of the story, allowing for further discussion.
Congratulations to Mary Jo for winning a copy of The Pine Tree Parable!
Disclosure: I received a free review copy of The Pine Tree Parable from Tommy Nelson Publishers.
Of course I love the Biblical Account. This year I am enjoying reading the Tale of Three Trees to my son. A beautiful story that encourages talk beyond the infant Jesus.
Blessings to you!
V
I haven’t read it in forever, but I think I would still like “The Best Christmas Pageant Ever.”
I’ve never heard of this book….it sounds wonderful!
My favorite is probably “Gift of the Magi”….I love it!
I really like a couple of the stories in a collection by J. Wheeler. Particularly one called “a few bars in the key of G.”
And…no little ones…yet. But I’m saving up! 😛
We are still working on getting some good Christmas books in our collection. This is our first one with a little person. I’ve gotten a small collection from the thrift store and so far the moles family Christmas looks the best.
My favorite Christmas book is The Christmas Pageant by Jacqueline Rogers. It’s just the straight Christmas story but the pictures are from a kids Christmas pageant. There are also Christmas carols in it- and children love it when you sing them as you read the book!
Would love to add this book to my collection of children’s books for the little people in my life. My favorite Christmas story as a child was The Littlest Angel.
I love to hear the Christmas story from the Bible time after time.
I have collected children’s Christmas books for many years, one of my favorites is “The Last Straw’ by Paula Mcdonald, a story of a family with four bickering children whose mother teaches kindness by having the children draw names and doing kind things for that person. When a kind deed is done a straw is placed in the manger in preparation for the birth of Jesus. Sweet ending.
http://www.bogley.com/forum/showthread.php?33242-The-Last-Straw-%28My-favorite-Christmas-Story%29
O. Henry- The Gift of the Magi. There aren’t many grown-up Christmas stories about sacrifice and love and this one is just such a vivid picture, physically and emotionally.
I would love to have a copy of this story for Lily and Gracie and our new little one! My favorite Christmas story has always been “‘Twas The NIght Before Christmas”. My Grandaddy would always read it to us grandkids before bed on Christmas Eve. His voice was so expressive I could almost hear the crash of the shutters as they were thrown back in the story!
For myself, I like Winter Song, a collection of poetry and devotional thoughts by Madeleine L’Engle and Luci Shaw. For kids, we had a tradition of getting a new Christmas book every year. A recent favorite is Great Joy by Kate DiCamillo. It’s beautiful and has a touching story.
My all-time favorite children’s Christmas book (which my parents read to me as a kid!) is Peter Spier’s Christmas. It’s a wordless book, but the illustrations really convey a happy family Christmas celebration (as well as some humorous moments, if you study the pictures). There are many stories that I love every winter, but this is the one I always want to read first!
I have always loved “The Little Match Girl” by H.C. Anderson. I haven’t read it to my kids yet because it is so very sad but it really drives home an important lesson.
Thanks!
Julie
I’m not entering the give away, since I don’t actually have little children yet (we’re sorta planning for our first one to arrive before the giveaway is out, though).
BUT, I wanted to tell you of my favorite Christmas book. It’s written for children, but we are reading it out loud this Christmas too (my parents, my husband and I). It’s called “The Christmas Mystery” and is written by Jostein Gaarder. They have several copies at all of our local libraries, so they’d probably have it over where you are too (it’s my impression we’re on opposite sides of the country). It’s about a little girl who runs diagonally down through Europe and history to come to Bethlehem in time for the Christ child to be born. It’s a great book =)
Oh, and I love your favorite line in the Pine Tree book too =)
Can’t wait to hear the baby news! There are several of you just about to have a baby!! 😉
And, I’ll enter you in the giveaway anyway…you don’t have to have a little one already born to enter. 😉 The book would be just perfect for next year, right?
Your favorite book sounds fun–I’ll have to check it out!
Oh, well, thanks for entering me!
Yeah, we’ll try to have raised a little book worm by next year =)
The Christmas Mystery is for slightly older children than yours, but you know… they grow =)
Hands down, “The Christmas Shoes” story. So sweet, even in its sadness.
We are still working on growing our Christmas book collection, so the current favorite (the only one we own) would be The Little Critters I Smell Christmas 🙂 It’s a scratch an sniff and a favorite of all the little ones in our life.
I just discovered you through the assistance you’re lending Diane over at TSC and glad I did! Despite being an avid reader, I don’t have a favorite Christmas book anymore and sadly, don’t have any on hand for my 2 year old DS. It’s been so long since I’ve celebrated Christmas from my own side (vs visiting others’ celebrations) that I find my first year’s effort is a bit stark. I have several beloved Christmas movies – does that count? 🙂 In which case, it would hands down be The Nativity Story. But a book like this would help nurture my son’s already burgeoning love for books.
I’d love to have a copy of this sweet book for my little people (who are almost 3 and almost 1). Come to think of it, I think we only have one Christmas book for children. It’s called One Wintery Night. Very nice story with really lovely illustrations!
Guess what, Mary Jo? You get a copy! Congratulations–you were our winner, with comment #1!