Friday, November 15, 2013

Christmas Book Review and Giveaway- The First Christmas Night

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

OK, maybe not quite yet, because I refuse to decorate until December 1st, BUT I have been known to sneak in a Christmas book or two a few weeks early.  When we began our lives with children I started collecting Christmas books to read to them.  Each year we try to add at least one new one to our basket which sits in the living room.  Our goal is that each night in December we read one of those books together.  Usually we end up reading more than one!  Each one holds sweet memories of Christmases past.

The First Christmas Night is our new book this year and I could not be more pleased!  Written by author Keith Christopher, this 32 page, hardback book is a gem.  Remember the old "Twas the Night Before Christmas?"  Well here is a new twist, centered on the birth of Jesus.  Written in short rhyme, it is easy and enjoyable to read.
"Twas the very first Christmas,
when all through the town
not a creature was stirring- there was not a sound."

From there the author takes you from Mary and Joseph arriving in Bethlehem to the birth of Jesus and the visit of the wise men.  Each page holds a new verse of poetry that is sure to become a favorite for young children.  Who doesn't like a rhyme?  The target ages for The First Christmas Night is 4-8 though I have no doubt older children will enjoy it as well.  The pictures alone will captivate them. That brings me to illustrator Christine Kornacki.  Wow!  The oil paintings she uses are stunning and are one of our favorite parts of this beautiful book.  You can see our favorite picture of the wise men below. Depending on your understanding of the birth of Jesus, some of the pictures may or may not match up to your beliefs.  Questions like did the wise men visit Jesus as a baby or slightly older child, were there only three, and what would people in Bethlehem have looked like, or even what would Jesus have looked like, were raised in our family, but we looked at those as a discussion and learning opportunity and certainly not anything that distracted or displeased us with the book.  On that note, the author ended the book perfectly in my opinion, with the Biblical story of the first Christmas- right from Luke and Matthew!  

We love this book and highly recommend it to you, friends!   It is a keeper!


About the Author
Keith Christopher is a composer, arranger, orchestrator, and educator, and he has served as editor and producer for several major music publishers. In addition to writing and studio producing, Keith served on the faculty at the Blair School of Music of Vanderbilt University in Nashville. He lives in Hendersonville, Tennessee, with his wife and two children.

Stay Connected
Ideals Facebookhttps://www.facebook.com/IdealsBooks 
Buy! Ideals Websitehttp://www.idealsbooks.com/First-Christmas-Night-Keith-Christopher/dp/0824956532


You can purchase The First Christmas Night for $16.00 or I have one copy to bless someone with!  Just enter the rafflecopter below for your chance to win!

Blessings,


a Rafflecopter giveaway

32 comments:

  1. love reading Charlie Brown's Christmas.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Do you have the book, or watch the video! I would love to get the set of the Charlie Brown videos someday!

      Delete
  2. a favorite tradition for us is decorating over Thanksgiving weekend and love talking about the ornaments and when we got each one

    ReplyDelete
  3. I don't know if I can choose just one Christmas book that is my favorite to read. There are a few that have beautiful pictures that the kids really like. This year I am going to wrap a book to open each day in December until Christmas Day. I would love to add this one!

    ReplyDelete
  4. My favorite tradition - that one is also tough to answer. Our kids are age 5 and younger...so we are still working out what our traditions are. Some things that we do - we try to do some type of advent activity so that we are focusing on the Jesus' birth throughout the month of December. We like to drive around at night and look at lights. We also have a ham dinner on Christmas Eve when we celebrate Jesus' birthday. Last year, I made a King Cake and might keep up with that tradition.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. We have done a birthday cake for Jesus in the past when the kids were a lot younger. They loved it! Last year we started reading Jotham's Journey- neat advent book. This year we got another one by the same author to start reading Dec. 1st.

      Delete
  5. My favorite Christmas book is The Gift of Nothing. Such a wonderful story!

    ReplyDelete
  6. My favorite Christmas tradition is skypeing my dad on Christmas Eve so he can read the Christmas story to us from the book of Luke.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Oh my word, THAT is wonderful! I am a bit jealous! My husband reads that every Christmas morning and it is a special time!

      Delete
  7. We don't have many Christmas Traditions yet but this year we are starting an advent study! Our favorite book to read during Christmas would have to be THE story itself, found in Luke.

    ReplyDelete
  8. I love to re-read the classic copy of Twas the Night Before Christmas that my grandmother gave me when I was a little girl. :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Books that are passed down for generations are so special! The newest book on my Fun Fridays giveaway is similar to Twas the Night Before Christmas, but is the story of Jesus' birth! Beautiful! Make sure you enter!

      Delete
  9. My favorite Christmas tradition is spending Christmas Day with my Mom & Dad.

    ReplyDelete
  10. The Best Christmas Pageant Ever. We read it every year.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Our family always grills steaks on Christmas Day.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Replies
    1. I have not heard of this one, Jen! I will have to look it up.

      Delete
  13. my favorite tradition is midnight mass. I can't wait until the kids are old enough to resume it!

    ReplyDelete
  14. My favorite is our Advent Book Tree. I posted about it on my blog last year. We read Christian Christmas books (one each day) leading up to Christmas Day. On Christmas, my daughter receives a new books focusing on the true meaning of Christmas and the first gift we open is a box with baby Jesus inside. I then tell her the Story of Jesus's birth. LOVE LOVE LOVE this activity.

    ReplyDelete
  15. I have way too many favorite Christmas books. I love The Three Trees, The Last Straw, Jesse Tree, Wintry Night - you can see many of my favs posted in my book tree post here http://totplay.blogspot.com/2012/12/christmas-traditions-25-days-to.html. Thank you for the chance.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks for the link! Off to see what new ones we can find!

      Delete
  16. Oh we love Christmas books and this one sound wonderful

    ReplyDelete
  17. My favorite Christmas book is the Christmas angel and our favorite christmas tradition is on Christmas eve after church opening our gifts from my parents/grandparent

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. We usually let the kids open one present on Christmas Eve! They love it.

      Delete
  18. Charlie Brown Christmas
    His Word as we read about the birth of Christ

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I love Charlie Brown Christmas! My kids not so much!

      Delete
  19. my favorite Christmas book is Why We Give Gifts at Christmas Time by Corine Hyman, lol

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hey Corine- I would love for you to leave us a link!

      Delete
    2. Found it on Amazon!
      http://www.amazon.com/Why-Give-Gifts-Christmas-Time/dp/098554239X/ref=pd_rhf_dp_p_tnr_6

      Delete
  20. my favorite thing to do at Christmas time is to give gift to people.

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for commenting. I love hearing from you!