LOGLINE
When a woodcutter’s daughter gives the Christ child her bed on Christmas Eve, she will never forget him.
PITCH
A little child visits a woodcutter’s home in France on Christmas Eve. After being welcomed by the family to warm himself at their hearth, Marie, the woodcutter’s daughter, offers the child her bed for the night. She sleeps on the kitchen bench instead. After a restless night’s sleep, Marie and her brother Valentine find the little child—who reveals himself as the Christ child—singing with angels. The child then plants a fir branch that shoots into the sky, and he disappears. The woodcutter’s children promise to remember the Christ Child and what they learned that Christmas Eve, even if no one else believes them.
SYNOPSIS
A little child freezing in the cold on Christmas Eve knocks on the ice and snow covered kitchen window of the home of a poor woodcutter in Fourcés, a small town in France. Valentine, the woodcutter’s only son, invites the child to sit by the fire. Marie, the woodcutter’s younger daughter, wipes the snow off the child’s face. The wife of the woodcutter warms the last of their supper stew for the boy. The boy thanks the family, nibbling on day-old bread from their table. The mother pours the child the last of their milk from their icebox, hoping the family cows would give more in the dawn.
Then, Marie insists that the little child sleep in her bed for Christmas Eve night. Instead, she will sleep on the kitchen bench made by her father. As the family settles into their beds, Marie drifts to sleep on the hard bench with one pillow and blanket. Trying to sleep, she watches the snow out the window with a shooting star drifting into the distant night sky. Marie asks aloud hours later if anyone hears the singing and the harps, sitting up, wondering if she had a dream. Valentine slips into the kitchen to peer through the window, and the children realize they have been visited by angels who are dressed in silver robes with golden harps and lutes. While the cherubim and seraphim sing, a group of children gather beside them also appearing in silver robes. Then, Marie and Valentine turn to see the little child standing next to them in a golden robe and crown. He opens the front door of the poor woodcutter’s home in the breaking dawn and snaps a bough from a nearby fir tree. Amidst the excitement, the woodcutter and his wife hurry to the front porch with their rifle.
After a moment to realize what was happening, the woodcutter and his wife fall to their knees in reverence. The angels and children continue to sing and dance on the early Christmas morning in the French countryside. With jubilation, Marie and Valentine join the other children in their celebration, making merry music. The Christ Child plants the bough of this fir tree deep into the ground. Then the child who was also God disappears into the early morning air. The fir branch shoots into the sky, growing into a full fir tree, decorated with golden apples, silver nuts, and wooden toys. Marie and Valentine take the gifts from the tree and deliver them to the other homes in the town. Marie tells her brother that they must never forget what just happened, even if no one believes them. Marie pinches herself, saying that she knows that the Christ Child is real because she gave him her bed, and the bench was very hard for the night. To this day, children everywhere decorate Christmas trees in honor of the little child, remembering the faithfulness of the woodcutter and his family.
Copyright 2022 Jennifer Waters
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