Our FAVORITE Christmas Story
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No, it’s not A Christmas Carol, though that IS a classic. And it isn’t Saint Nicholas: The Real Story of the Christmas Legend or The Legend of the Candy Cane, though those are great stories, too. No, our favorite Christmas Story is one that most people probably haven’t heard of: The Christmas Lizard by Corey Edwards.
The Christmas Lizard is a story about a pet lizard, Oscar, who was given as a Christmas gift one year, and his experiences with his first Christmas on the following year. The lizard has many questions about Christmas and late one night sets out on an adventure outside of his cage to discover just what Christmas is about.
To get a better view he decides to climb up the Christmas tree, meeting various ornament characters along the way. They each tell Oscar what they believe Christmas is about. By the time Oscar reaches the angel at the top of the tree, he has learned that Christmas is about traditions, parties, gifts, and helping the needy. Confused, Oscar quizzes the angel about the true meaning of Christmas. “How can it be all those things?” he wonders.
The angel directs Oscar’s attention to the nativity scene on the mantel, and lovingly explains that Christmas is about the birth of Jesus Christ, and that all the ornaments were right — that these are all different ways that people can celebrate Christmas and Jesus’ birth — but that the main reason we celebrate Christmas is that it’s Jesus’ birthday. She adds “the best way to celebrate Christmas is by remembering Jesus and loving others the way he loves you.” The story is so touching that by the end I’m all weepy and mushy inside.
I love the story, but I love the illustrations just as much. The artwork is beautiful, the colors are fantastic. Whimsical and fun, simple and true, sweet and touching, this is a Christmas story that is sure to remain a favorite for years to come. I give it five stars, for sure!
The Christmas Lizard is one more tool that I use to keep Christmas all about Jesus. Tell me what YOUR favorite Christmas story is! Merry Christmas!
Amber
Buy The Christmas Lizard
Read other reviews for The Christmas Lizard
{Originally published December 19th, 2006; republished December 19th, 2008}
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The Story of Me
The Story of Me is the first book in a series by Stan and Brenna Jones called God’s Design for Sex. This book for ages 3 to 5, with lovingly written dialogue and soft, appealing illustrations, explains how life is created and how babies are born as a young boy asks his parents to tell him the story about when he was born. »» The Story of Me
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The Princess Bible
Last year for Easter, we gave our eldest daughter the cutest little bible as an Easter gift. It was the glittery pink, rhinestone-embellished, Princess Bible. My almost-seven-Princess loved it immediately.
The Princess Bible by Tommy Nelson, is a smallish-sized (7.3 x 5.5 x 1.9 inches) bible fit for little hands. This full-text International Children’s Bible helps your daughter feel as if she has graduated from “training wheels” to the “real thing.”
The outside cover, with rhinestone-embellished magnetic clasp, is durable and a good choice for young girls. Inside you’ll find a beautiful presentation page, ribbon marker, and two Princess sections to record favorite verses and songs, etc. The back section includes a dictionary, a topical index, scriptures for various topics, and memory verses.
Our Princess still loves this bible and carries it with her to church regularly. It really is a bible that any Princess (Princess of God, that is!) will treasure and enjoy.
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The Wonderful Wizard of Ha’s - A Review
One of the gifts Little Prince received for his birthday was The VeggieTales movie, The Wonderful Wizard of Ha’s. We’ve already watched it several times.
A parody of the Wonderful Wizard of Oz, the Veggie Tales rendition tells the tale of The Prodigal Son. With their quirky sense of humor, the creators of Veggie Tales spin the tale of Darby, a floss farmer’s son who longs for “somewhere beyond the barn” where he can do whatever he wants. With the help of Splenda, “the sweet, but non-fattening fairy,” the little Munchies, the Old Yellow McToad (as in Scottish, kilt and all) and of course a lion, a tin man, and a scarecrow, Darby sets off to find the Land of Ha’s… an amusement-park-like place dubbed “the funnest place on earth.”
The lesson of The Wonderful Wizard of Ha’s is that when we sin, we can always return home to God. In the end of course, Darby realizes that he can and should and must go home and face his father. Like the parable of the Prodigal Son, Darby’s father welcomes him home even though Darby was foolish and unwise and disobeyed his father. Our Heavenly Father is faithful to forgive when we are faithful to repent and return to Him when we sin. We can always return home.
All in all, I give The Wonderful Wizard of Ha’s two thumbs up. It’s already one of my favorites!
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Product Review: The Princess & The Kiss
The Princess and the Kiss: A Story of God’s Gift of Purity is the charming tale of a princess and her first kiss, which God entrusted her parents with for safe-keeping on the day of her birth. The kiss was safely kept by the King and Queen until the princess was old enough to guard it on her own.
When the young princess came of age and suitors began to call, the princess now faced the task of finding a suitor worthy of her first kiss. Would it be Prince Peacock? Prince Romance? Prince Treasurechest? The wise princess knew that these suitors would not treasure her first kiss the way she did. Who would she choose; how would she find him?
This heart-warming story by Laurie Bishop sweetly teaches our daughters the virtue of purity through poetic writing and beautiful illustrations. I literally cry every time I read it to my little girls. Of course, every little girl loves stories about princessess, and this tale has their attention from beginning to end.
This is one of my favorite additions to their collection, and I’m sure we’ll treasure it for a while to come. There is also a companion book for boys that I haven’t read yet, but I’d like to get it for when Baby Boy is older.
My rating: 
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A year of movie rentals - A review.
The end of the year is coming, and I thought I’d do something fun and take a look back at all the movies I have watched this year.
We rarely go to the theater, but rather we wait for the movies to come out in the rental store. Movie night is a family tradition we try to do on Sunday nights, finances allowing. How else can you entertain a family of five for under ten dollars?
Now,… Big Daddy and I have different taste in movies (and different standards as well) so some of these are movies that he picked out. I decided to include them on my list anyway so I could go ahead and tell you what I thought of them. 
And since we rent from the movie store, some of these actually came out at the end of 2005.
I apologize briefly for the overabundant asterisks. It was the only way to make the formatting behave.
So, after two weeks of slowly working on this and without further ado, grab your popcorn and soda of choice and peruse my 2006 movie rental reviews (in alphabetical order).
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Pros - None that I can come up with.
Cons - Littered with shallow, self-centered, and petty themes with no redeeming plot twists at the end.
I didn’t like this movie. The plot lines were shallow and petty, and actually pretty ridiculous. It is labeled as a romantic comedy and it was neither romantic nor a comedy. The laughs were far between, and the romance fizzles with an ending without certain hope or certain closure. In addition, it’s littered with sexual slang and innuendos and thick with harsh profanity. It is not one we will be buying. 
For a detailed review, click here.
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Pros - Good jump scenes, music. Pretty good acting for the most part.
Cons - Definitely not a family movie, too scary for children.
I wasn’t sure what to expect when I rented this movie, but in the end I liked it. It wasn’t my usual type of movie (I usually avoid things with witches and ghosts, etc, I get scared too easily) but the movie was a good mix of scare factor, lightheartedness, the love story angle between the chick and the guy, and a good sense of the good guys winning in the end– which is always a real plus for me when it comes to movies with evil/scary things in them. I also liked how the fairy tales were incorporated into the storyline and that he was writing them all down for his book. It was fun to recognize each fairy tale here and there. On the downside, it was speckled with a few instances of mild profanity (I’d prefer they leave that out altogether, but nobody asks me) and several occasions of cleavage (ditto.) Overall I really enjoyed it, but I haven’t bought it and I probably won’t because I tend not to buy movies that I can’t watch with my children. 
For an in depth review, see here.
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Pros - Nice animation, big name actors, likable characters and plot
Cons - A few minor infractions on language or gross humor.
A fun, likable story, the kids really liked this movie. Though there are many attitudes and behaviors exhibited by the characters that are undesirable–such as self-centeredness, pride, cheating, lying and boasting–the main point of the movie is that the main character learns to be a better person (car) than what he has been being, and learns to be giving, kind, and selfless. We really enjoyed this, and I’d like to buy this for the kids.For a more detailed review, click here.
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Pros - humorous, good acting, good plot developments
Cons - not a family film due to (expected) sexual content
I knew this one was not going to be a family friendly movie, and it isn’t. We rented it one night for a date night on my birthday. I like Heath Ledger and I have a weak spot for romantic comedies. I generally try to avoid rated R movies, but this time I didn’t. All in all we both enjoyed watching it because it came through on the comedy part as well as the romantic part. Most of the sexual content were suggestive comments and allusions to things that had happened, but there were also many cleavage shots and many instances of Casanova being chased out of somebody’s bedroom. Again, it’s another one that I enjoyed but won’t be buying. 
For a more detailed review, see here.
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Pros - Good directing, acting, stuck to the novel pretty well, a great family movie
Cons - Some intense moments for younger children
While there may be a few intense moments, this movie was done with the right mix of visual discretion and enchantment to keep both the young and the young at heart on the edge of their seat and entertained through the whole movie. I was very satisfied with how close the storyline stuck to the book, and I was so taken by the movie that I found myself thinking about if for several days after watching it. It’s definitely a movie I recommend buying. This is one that I intend to buy.For a detailed review, click here.
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Pros - The only “pro” I can think of is that he learned a valuable lesson through his experiences.
Cons - Heavy profanity/ sexual content/ crude humor
I did not care for this movie, and I could not wait for it to be over. It was frustrating to watch, as the main character’s position went from worse to worse and it began to drag out. It’s only redeeming quality was that he learned a valuable lesson through his experiences and a chance to make the right decisions. 
For a detailed review, click here.
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Pros - Great animation and colors, lovable characters, good music and storyline. Family friendly.
Cons - none.
I loved this movie! It was so cute and adorable and so much fun. Very entertaining. The girls liked it, and I didn’t have to worry about them watching it. They captured the personality of George wonderfully, and Drew Barrymore and Will Ferrell did a fabulous job on the voices. One might take issue with the fact that they are searching for an idol, though I doubt many will since it is a museum searching for an ancient artifact. There are also a few instances of lying and deceit, but it’s done in a way that displays it as inappropriate rather than acceptable, and “the bad guys get it in the end.” This movie is definitely a favorite and a keeper! (The kids got it for Christmas from my grandmother.) For a detailed review, click here.
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Pros - I can’t think of any.
Cons - Glorifying immoral deeds, heavy profanity.I did not like this.
I rented this one because Big Daddy likes Jim Carrey and it looked like something he would like. (I’m not sure if he liked it either, though.) Everything about it was morally wrong (though I suppose one could argue that it addressed some kind of issue about people who suddenly become unemployed and have no avenue for assistance) and when I thought that the movie couldn’t get any worse, it did. The comedy and script writing weren’t all that great, either. For a detailed review, see here.
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Pros - Family friendly, no profanity or innuendo, fun and creative.
Cons - None.
A fun, new and enjoyable take on an old fairytale, I really enjoyed this movie. Good storyline, good plot development, interesting plot movement, great characters, and good voice casting all work together to make this movie a hit. Working with the idea that there’s more than one side to every story, Hoodwinked is presented in “whodunit” fashion while trying to determe what really happened in Granny’s cottage. A family friendly movie, there was humor for the kids and the adults without using over-their-heads innuendo. The kids liked it and I did, too. I’d definitely like to have this one. You can find the detailed review here.
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Pros - Happy Ending
Cons - Not my kind of comedy, some profanity and crude humor
This movie was okay, but not memorable. It had trouble keeping my attention at times and wasn’t as funny as I thought it was going to be. It isn’t family friendly due to some profanity, crude humor, and sexual content. Perhaps there was potential — it had a good cast and a good basic storyline — it just didn’t live up to it’s full potential with the script writing. As a result, it’s not on my “gotta have” list. For a detailed review, click here.
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Pros - Only one mild language infraction.
Cons - Violence, slow plot movement.
I was actually very disappointed with this movie. I was expecting it to be a lot better than it was. The trailers made it appear to be very hilarious when in reality, all the hilarious parts were the ones shown in the trailers. I felt it had a lot of potential with a good story and good actors, but there was something weird and slow about the way the story “moved.” It was distracting, and combined with the lack of gut-busting laughs it was almost boring. Well, it was boring at certain points. I wish it had been better done and even though I was being disappointed, I found myself wanting it to redeem itself in the end, which it never did. I didn’t hate it, but I didn’t love it, either, and the end result is a somewhere-in-the-middle ” Eh. *shrug*. ” 
A detailed review can be found here.
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Pros - Various famous voices, lovable characters, no profanity
Cons - Some violence and crude/innapropriate behavior.
The whole plot is based on stealing.My initial reaction as I was watching this was negative because they were all stealing. A lot. It bugged me enough to slip in a few nonchalant comments to the kids: “wow…are they stealing? Well that’s not good.” In the end, the main character admitted he had done wrong, learned the importance of family, and stealing was addressed but not fully. They didn’t return everything they stole, and the people they stole from were presented as bad guys and captured and everybody lived happily ever after. On the other hand, what the movie failed to address was easily addressed in a few simple comments while watching the movie. Bottom line is that the children did enjoy it, and they were excited when they received this from my grandmother for Christmas. I find it fairly cute and tolerable. Click here for a detailed review.
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Pros - Good plot resolution, learning valuable lessons
Cons - Slow moments, weak humor in most places
I was told, “if you’ve ever vacationed in an RV, you’ll enjoy this movie.” Well,… sorta. It is a ‘things go from bad to worse while the family works out their differences and learns to love each other’ plot style. There are a few hilarious moments, some moderately humourous moments, and a lot of stupid/goofy humor moments that make an attempt at funny. The film is full of disprespect towards each other, crude humor, lying, innuendo, and–believe it or not– some bad language (and it’s PG.) Not a keeper. For an in depth review, see here.
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Pros - Good fun, family friendly, good casting & script
Cons - Plot a little “guessable” at times
I thought this was cute and fun. It wasn’t belly-busting but it was enjoyable. The kids enjoyed it and it had a good story with “a lot of heart.” I also enjoyed watching the making of, behind the scenes, etc. in the extras. It also had several actors that I like and the kids liked seeing some actors they know from tv shows they watch. First impression was accurate: Having eighteen kids in one household has got to be good for a least a couple laughs! 
For a detailed review, click here.
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Well, 2006 brought some good movies and some not-so-good ones. My favorites would have to be The Chronicles of Narnia, Hoodwinked, Curious George, and Brothers Grimm. My least favorites, well, those should be obivious.
Here’s to new movie rentals in 2007 and to cheap family entertainment!! (With sparkling cider, of course!)
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