Kristoph and the First Christmas Tree
No. of pages 32
Published: 2015
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There are 32 pages in this book. This book was published in 2015 by Paraclete Press .
Claudia Cangilla McAdam is the author of many books. She frequently combines her undergraduate degree in English with her master's degree in Theology to craft stories that reveal character, explore the virtues, and build faith. A Christmas tree lover her whole life, she enjoys trekking with her extended family into the Colorado Rocky Mountains each year on the day after Thanksgiving to cut down fresh evergreens to take home and decorate, and to honor as the settings for "loving gifts and lights of kindness," as St. Boniface would say. Dave Hill is also the illustrator of Hildegard's Gift. He lives in Scotland. David Hill, born in 1942, is a versatile journalist, reviewer, fiction writer, playwright and children's writer. Born and educated in Napier and a graduate of Victoria University, he spent 14 years secondary school teaching before writing full-time. He has contributed stories, articles, reviews and plays to newspapers, radio and most New Zealand journals, including Landfall, NZ Listener and School Journal, as well as overseas. He has written many books and in 2002 his novel See Ya Simon won the Children's Literature Association Gaelyn Gordon Award for a Much-Loved Book.
This book features the following character:
Boniface
This book features the character Boniface.
Kristoph and the First Christmas Tree is a moving retelling of an early story of the prayer of St. Boniface for a Christmas Tree. The year is 722, and the date is December 24, in a cold forest village in Germany. A young orphan boy named Kristoph follows the priest Boniface into the forest ... and encounter a group of pagan men who are about to sacrifice a young boy, the son of the village chieftain, before a huge old oak tree. Boniface tells the men they should worship the true God, and not a tree, and they laugh and taunt him to prove the power of God. Boniface promises the men that through the power of God, he will fell the mighty tree with one axe stroke... With one mighty whack of the axe, he fells the oak giant. This is mystifying to the pagan men, but even more strange is a fir tree as tall as a man that seems to spring immediately from the stump of the old oak tree. Boniface tells the men the fir tree is a wood of peace, that points towards heaven, a sign of endless life with its evergreen branches. He declares it should be known as the tree of the Christ Child, displayed in their homes where it will shelter loving gifts and lights of kindness rather than evil deeds or sacrifices. Thus Boniface ... began the tradition of the blessing of the Christmas tree. Filled with colorful, realistic, narrative illustrations of the story, Kristoph and the First Christmas Tree describes an ancient Christian miracle through the fresh eyes of a child, making this lovely book a beautiful holiday gift to celebrate the coming of Christ.-Midwest Book Review