The Miracle in Bethlehem
A Storyteller's Tale

Sarah Burton

Softbound

$11.95

Once upon a time, perhaps two thousand years ago, or maybe only yesterday, a man stood under a tree and waited. As he waited, people began to arrive: old people, young people, children, parents with babies, and even a couple of dogs. They settled on the cool grass under the shade of the great tree, all around the Storyteller, for that is who the man was. Once a year, everyone gathered round to hear him tell this story.

The storyteller’s tale is one we all think we know—the story of Mary and Joseph and the birth of a very special baby. However, do we really know it? The Miracle in Bethlehem offers a unique retelling that weaves largely forgotten, ancient nativity legends into today’s more familiar narrative.

The short chapters make it ideal for nightly Advent or Holy Nights readings or for bedtime stories. Children will rediscover the wonder and sparkle of this great story by hearing it anew from some less familiar perspectives. Parents, too, will find it moving and surprising, hearing the traditional narrative through fresh ears.

(Ages 6–9)

Christmas in the Family

Isabel Marion

Softbound

$20.00

Not every book is as beautiful as this one; nor as inspiring, nor as helpful to family life and celebration, nor as complete, nor as surprising, nor as . . . Well, you get the picture. Christmas in the Family is extraordinary in every way possible.

It is an outstanding crafts book and an outstanding guide to transforming family life itself into a celebration of goodness. There is something for everyone to love, things that can be made by family members with a wide range of skills, joys to be found.

Christmas and life just doesn't get much better than Isabel Marion's beautiful invitation to join in the singing and beauty.

The Christmas Owls

A Story by Judy West

Illustrated by Gerda Westerink

Hardbound, large format

$16.95

There is something so very evocative and touching about these two gentle owls who live at the very top of an old church. They watch as their quiet home is suddenly filled with villagers bringing tools, wood, pine boughs and much, much more. What can it all mean, why are they here?

The owls don't exactly know, but then again, they know. And in the end, they take their place within the community's celebration of the birth of Christ.

Truly beautiful.

Ages 5 and older.

A Waldorf Doll Nativity

Petra and Tom Rosenberg

Hardbound

$17.95

What a beautiful book for Advent and Christmas!

Joseph the carpenter and his wife Mary live in Nazareth. Mary is expecting a baby. One day, they must travel to another town, Bethlehem ... .

Petra and Tom Rosenberg, authors of numerous craft and activity books, bring the traditional Christmas story gently to life through a beautifully rendered tableaux of Waldorf dolls made of felt and wool, set in colorful backgrounds. Young children will love the various patterns and textures in the pictures, and parents will enjoy an alternative depiction of the well-known story.

(Ages 3-6)

The Light in the Lantern
Stories for Advent

Georg Dreissig

Softbound

$12.95

Mary and Joseph's path to Bethlehem is fraught with difficulties, but a small miracle happens on each day. The story of each miracle brings us a little closer to Christmas, until we finally reach the stable in Bethlehem where the light in the lantern is waiting in anticipation of Jesus' birth.

This is a beautiful way to convey to children the mounting joy that culminates in Christmas -- a beloved classic filled with heart-treasures.

The Holy Night

Selma Lagerlöf

Illustrations by Ilon Wikland

Hardbound

$17.00

Of all the tales in Selma Lagerlöf's The Emperor's Vision and Other Christ Legends, this one has always been my favorite. It is really a story within a story, and both stories are as near to my heart as any I've ever encountered.

The one story is about Selma as a very young child who is remembering how loving and deep and kind her grandmother was; and how very empty life became when grandmother died. Before that, though, Grandmother told many, many stories, each ending with "This is as true as that I see you and you see me." And on one Christmas Day, Grandmother and Selma were both left at home because one was too old and the other too young. Both were sorry not to be taken to early Mass to hear the singing and to see the Christmas candles. And as they sat together Grandmother began to tell a story . . .

Thus begins the inner story of this tale, one of the truest of the many legends that have sprung up as humanity tries to grasp the wonder of the First Christmas. A man goes out to find fire to warm his wife and newly born son. He comes at last to a shepherd, who sits by the very fire he is seeking -- but the shepherd has a hard, angry heart and is in no way inclined to be helpful to the father. From there we hear how all the world worked to help that father and soften the heart of the shepherd.

This is a story that still sends tingles of wonder through my body and brings tears to my eyes just to think about it. I hope you and your children come to love it as much.

The Old Shepherd's Tale

Christopher Nye

Paintings by Henri Sørensen

Heirloom quality hardbound, dust jacketed, large format

$17.95

This story brought tears to my eyes, it is so poignantly beautiful, the perfect compliment to the festival of Christmas.

An old shepherd shares the stable with his animals on the night Mary and Joseph arrive and give birth to the infant Jesus. Miraculously, the stable fills with angels and with light, and the ox, the donkey and the cow are able to speak to each other and to the old shepherd. Each animal gives a special gift to the Child - the donkey (speaking for all donkeys) offers protection and safe passage into Egypt; the ox shares his strength with the Child, strength enough to become a carpenter and eventually carry a large cross; the cow offers the nourishment of her milk, that the Baby may become a strong man.

The shepherd goes on with his life of tending these and other animals, but when able to do so, shares the miracle of that night with those who do not know of it: a man beating an ox to make it labor harder, runs to find a second ox to help the first when he learns of the ox's gift to the Child; the shepherd buys starving donkeys, grazes them back to health and then sells them to a good home; the forgetful milkmaid never again leaves the cow unmilked once she learns of the cow's gift.

The shepherd sees the greatness of these beasts -- and shares that vision with us in this story that goes straight to the heart. For all ages.

The Way to the Stable
A Christmas Story

Max Bolliger

Illustrated by Arcadio Lobato

$15.95
Hardbound

A lame, surly-tongued shepherd lives near Bethlehem. When a choir of angels appears bringing good news of a child, he turns away. When the other shepherds set out to find the child, he just watches them go. Why bother - they are just chasing a dream. At last, he sets out to follow them, not to find the child but to gloat at their folly. What happens when he finally reaches the stable? A miracle, of course!! A wonderful Christmas tale for ages 3 - 9.

Stories for the Festivals of the Year
Told for Children

Irene Johanson

Softbound

$19.95

I had never heard of this little treasure of a book until a few weeks ago. In fact, I had never seen a copy until those I had requested sight unseen arrived at my door.

It's been a long time since I was in a community where simple yet deep and beautiful stories were told at festival times -- Irene Johanson has brought that all back to me and offers it to anyone who opens her book. Although these tales for the Christian festivals are indeed told for children, it is hard for me to image anyone who could listen to or read these stories without loving them.

Most of the stories are quite short, which is good not only because they can be told at bedtime, but because there is so much imaginative gold contained in each that these small portions allow the heart to wrap itself completely around the stories and lets the mind imagine each one to the fullest.

Contents:

• Easter, Ascension and Whitson - 9 different stories
• Legends about St. John (the Baptist) - 10 stories
• The Marriage of the King's Son (for Michaelmas) - 3 stories
• The Animals' Joy at Christmas - 6 stories
• Star Legends for Epiphany - 6 stories
• Holy Week - 6 stories

The Emperor's Vision and Other Christ Legends
(formerly titled, Christ Legends and Other Stories)

Selma Lagerlöf

Softbound

$12.95

This is one of my favorite collections of stories surrounding the life and reality of Christ. Selma Lagerlöf's telling of these tales - ranging from the story of the surly shepherd of Bethlehem, to the war-hardened soldier at Herod's feast, to St. Veronica's act of grace toward the Emperor Tiberius - is profoundly beautiful and deep. These stories are timeless and will appeal to a wide range of children and adults - some stories are best told only to older children while some can become family treasures at a very early age. All of them will remain a cherished treasure in the hearts of those who hear them.

Mary's Little Donkey
and the Flight to Egypt

Gunhild Sehlin

Softbound

$12.00

Our family read this story every advent for years. I divided the book into 24 parts, reading each one after we opened the next door of the advent calendar for that night. The copy of the story we had did not contain the Flight into Egypt, so our reading stopped at Christmas Eve. Had we been able to do so, I would have divided the Flight into Egypt into 11 parts and read one each of the Holy NIghts following Christmas Eve. I still can't think of a better - and simpler - way to celebrate that time of year. You can begin your own tradition when your oldest child is about 4. Your younger children will be captivated by the interest of the eldest and can fully participate in this evening ritual.

The stubborn, dirty little donkey who is of no use to anyone in Nazareth becomes a quick and willing helper under Mary's care. But Mary and Joseph have to leave Nazareth in obedience to Caesar's decree, and the donkey carries Mary to Bethlehem where the Child is born. The donkey hopes to carry Mary and her son quickly back to Nazareth, but instead they have to flee to far-away Egypt . . .

Gunhild Sehlin worked for over twenty years as a UN children's worker in Jordan and Jerusalem.

Images of the Madonna
A Series of 15 Art Postcards as Recommended by Rudolf Steiner for Meditation toward Healing

Includes general background and specific commentary on each image in English and German

15 Cards plus information sheets in cardstock folder

$19.95

This series of images was suggested to Dr. Felix Peipers by Rudolf Steiner in Munich for use with the patients in Dr. Peipers' clinic, especially those suffering from emotional disturbances. In different contexts, Rudolf Steiner repeatedly mentioned the inherent healing forces in the Madonna images, especially those from Raphael, and their healing properties for treating both distrubed adults and children. The essence of the beneficial effect lies in the sequence which depicts a journey of transformation, both for Madonna and Christ Child.

My own experience is that gazing on these images opens the heart -- it is like receiving one grace-filled gift after another. I also find this meditative sequence very much related to the journey of the Rosary -- the journey of human life through joy and sorrow into resurrection and transformation. Seeing these paintings in relation to each other is quite an experience -- one which I am most happy to at last be able to share with you.

I also want to tell you that I am in awe of the quality of reproduction of these paintings -- especially given the size reduction that was necessary. The detail and color are remarkable and it is obvious that the publishers went to a great deal of effort to make sure that what was produced on the printed surface reflected accurately the original painting. As an example, the image of the full Sistine Madonna is so well done that you can see all the angels in full detail gathered behind the Madonna.

Christmas Plays from Oberufer
Paradise Play|Shepherds Play|Kings Play

Edited by Hélène Jacquet

Softbound

$16.00

For hundreds of years, ordinary people in the small Austrian village of Oberufer on the Danube gathered in the local tavern at Christmastime to perform these plays for their neighbors. With their roots lost in medieval times, the plays gradually evolved to incorporate a unique blend of folk humor and profound reverence in their celebration of the birth of Jesus.

The Paradise Play, acting as a preface, presents the expulsion of Adam and Eve from Paradise, but with the promise of future salvation through Christ. The Shepherds Play portrays the birth of Jesus in a stable, where he is sought out by a group of shepherds. The Kings Play depicts the visit of three wise kings to the birthplace of the King of Humanity, as well as the murderous attempts by Herod to thwart Jesus' mission.

This revised edition of the plays—suitable for both amateur and professional players—offers a clear layout of the texts, greatly elaborated makeup and director’s indications, stage and lighting directions, and detailed costume designs.

Includes eight pages of color illustrations.

The Dream Song of Olaf Åsteson
An Ancient Norwegian Folksong of the Holy Nights

Illustrated by Janet Jordan

Hardbound

Regular Price: $30.00

Introductory Price: $27.00

This legendary folk song came to light in 1850, when a member of the clergy named Landstad first heard it in a lonely valley of Telemark, Norway. The epic narrative—whose origin is lost to time—tells of a young man who slept for twelve days and nights during the deep winter. When he finally awoke, he shared the wondrous sights he had seen.

I can remember reading this folksong together with friends during the Holy Nights almost 30 years ago - it is a memory I treasure. There is something deeply profound and deeply beautiful to be found in this story - something that will stay with you always once it touches you.

This edition of The Dream Song of Olaf Åsteson is illuminated by Janet Jordan’s striking paintings, which give new life to this timeless legend and help modern readers connect more intimately with its profound meaning.

A Christmas Story

Karl König

Softbound

$16.95

This gentle and imaginative story was woven by König from experiences undergone by a community of handicapped children and their helpers when a child in their midst had died.

Also contained in this volume is the report of a journey, which König undertook in 1961 to several European towns connected with the tragic life of Kaspar Hauser, whose extraordinary being had for so many years been an inspiration to him in his work with handicapped children.

Plays for Christmas

Karl König

Softbound

In general, the plays are to be performed by teenaged and adult actors.

$8.95

Plays occupied a special place in Karl König's creative life. He didn't write them as 'works of art,' rather, he wrote them when a special constellation within the community in which he lived inspried him - a constellation of people and events within the festival being of the year. For him, they were a way of bringing the spiritual impulse of the time into direct connection with human beings and their lives.

Plays for Christmas contains:

• A Play for Advent
• A Little Christmas Celebration
• A Community Christmas Play

Christmas Stories Together

Estelle Bryer and Janni Nicol

Softbound

$19.95

Here is a treasure torve of 36 tales for children aged 3-9. The stories range from Advent through Christmas, ending with the Holy Families flight into Egypt.

This book is alight with the genius of storytelling. It tenderly shows how to weave a pattern of stories over Advent and the twelve days of Christmas

- Nancy Mellon, author of Storytelling with Children

Celebrating Christmas Together
Nativity and Three Kings Plays with stories and songs

Estelle Bryer and Janni Nicol

Softbound

$16.95

Create the wonder of Christmas with your children at school or at home - starting with a simple Advent Calendar and Crêche. The Nativity Play is spell binding - whether told as a story in verse, narrated whilst children act the parts, or performed entirely by children.

This Christmas treasury includes:

• The Nativity Play with staging directions and instructions for simple costumes and props
• Songs and music to accompany the play
• How to create a Crêche
• Making an Advent Calendar
• The Three Kings Play
• Christmas stories

The Christmas Story Book

Collected by
Ineke Verschuren

$29.50

The Christmas Story Book is one of the best anthologies of Christmas tales available anywhere. The stories are a colorful colleciton, carefully choses to show the spirit of Christmas in many different facets. The book is divided into five sections: Advent, the Birth of the Child, Christmas night through the ages, Christmas in the world, and the Three King's time. Authors include Hans Christian Andersen, Leonid Andreiev, Jane Clement, Maxim Gorki, Gerhard Klein, Selma Lagerlöf and many more.

The Christmas Star
Well-loved songs for the Christmas season from Advent to Three Kings Day to sing with your beloved children

Mary Thienes-Schunemann

A Naturally You Can Sing Production

Songbook and audio CD
Parent/Teacher Resource

BACK IN PRINT!!

$21.95

In olden times, when a person wished to express something sacred and holy, they were not allowed to speak about it, they could only sing. It was recognized that singing contained a higher power than speech and was a holy activity. There are still echoes of this ancient practice in some cultures of the world today. The memory is still present that how we use our voices to sing and speak can contribute to healing and peace, in our hearts and in the world.

- Mary Thienes-Schunemann

Tears filled my eyes several times as I listened to the CD that accompanies this extraordinary song book. It was not just that the music and singing were so very beautiful, nor was it that the songs were so well chosen, nor even that they brought back some of the best memories of my life. It was that Mary's music is all these things and something much more as well - The Christmas Star is quite simply a sun-drenched outpouring of hope and love. What could have been just one more nice collection of Christmas carols has, through her healing artistry and deep sensitivity, come into the world a gleaming, golden gift of life offered to our children and their children beyond.

I can't think of a better gift for your children, your family, yourself - a true celebration of the Light of Love kindled in the darkest season.

Listen to a music clip 1 2 3

A Child's Christmas in Wales

Dylan Thomas

Illustrated by Edward Ardizzone

Softbound

$9.95

What to say about this great tale of Christmas with Aunts in the kitchen and Uncles in the parlor, of snowballs and cats, fires and dinner gongs, and the myriad other adventures available to a wide-eyed child in snowy, Christmas-y Wales? Actually, I don't know quite what to say, other than if you haven't read it yet, do. You'll love it. If you have read it, well, do read it again -- it is too jam-packed with delight and love not to go back to at least once a year, especially at Christmas time.

This edition is the one with the very best, right-on-target illustrations, just right for the story and just lovely on their own.

As an invitation for more fun (and to remind those who've read it why it's such a frolic), here's the opening page:

One Christmas was so much like another, in those years around the sea-town corner now and out of all sound except the distant speaking of the voices I sometimes hear a moment before sleep, that I can never remember whether it snowed for six days and six nights when I was twelve or whether it snowed for twelve days and twelve nights when I was six.

All the Christmases roll down toward the two-tongued sea, like a cold and headlong moon bundling down the sky that was our street; and they stop at the rim of the ice-edged, fish-freezing waves, and I plunge my hands in the snow and bring out whatever I can find. In goes my hand into that wool-white bell-tongued ball of holidays resting at the rim of the carol-singing sea, and out come Mrs. Prothero and the firemen.

Have a wonderful Christmas!

The Clown of God

Tomie dePaola

$7.00

Tomie de Paola's retelling of the French legend of the clown whose final gift to God is a selfless outpouring of his talents is gloriously sensitive, graceful and ultimately deeply moving and inspiring. His luminous watercolor illustrations are bright, alive and graceful - juxtaposiing the stucco, tile and stone buildings of medieval Europe as a backdrop to the bright costumes of The Clown of God. The result is one that delights the eye as it assures the heart that all shall truly be well. The story culminates on a Christmas Eve of long ago, yet alive in our hearts to this day. The Clown of God remains a family favorite--our teenagers (and their parents) still pull it off the shelf to remind themselves of the truer things in life. Illustrated with Tomie de Paola's characteristic humor, good taste and beautiful use of color. A gift for children ages 6 and older.

Lara's First Christmas

Alice O. Howell

Softbound

SORRY - OUT OF PRINT

The day I sat down to review this book, I felt as if I had been given a Christmas present -- the kind that are wrapped in beautiful paper with big ribbons and then, when you open them, there inside the box is just what you've been hoping for. That's how wonderful Lara's First Christmas is -- a warm, loving tale that everyone in your family is sure to want to hear each and every Christmas season. It will bring you warm-hearted smiles, giggles of delight, and tears that come from a place far within. In the end, you'll know that life is a gift and that life is good - love indeed rules the world.

Lara and her parents are refugees, fleeing a country "in the East" on the eve of World War II. They find themselves marooned in an isolated little hotel in snowbound Norway. Left all alone, Lara finds two eccentric old English guests who teach her to ski. And she discovers deep love and wisdom from the grandfatherly carpenter Andreas, who teaches her that Christmas really is a universal event, open to every heart and every faith.

Beautiful!

Saint Nicholas

Jakob Streit

Softbound

SORRY - OUT OF PRINT

Warm your heart during the Christmas season with this story of St. Nicholas. Master storyteller (and Waldorf teacher) Jakob Streit tells weaves the history and legends of the St. Nicholas together into a glowing tale, filled with light and love.

Streit's story takes us from Nicholas' childhood through his often adventurous adulthood and on into his sainthood. Each story is a loving portrait of human potential and a pathway along which we can learn to open our hearts wider and wider. Everything that says "Christmas" is captured in this beautiful little book.

Christmas
Volume 3 of the Little Series

From the work of Rudolf Steiner

Compiled by Helmut von Kügelgen

Softbound

$13.95

These little books created by Helmut von Kügelgen are just amazing - each and every one of them was compiled with an eye toward the soul needs of teachers. The outcome is that each and every one of them carries within it such warmth, such heart-opening goodness, such hope and love, that they meet not just the needs of teachers, but of all of us.

Christmas is densely packed with meditations on the meaning of the seasons, the Gospel stories of Christmas, prayers and verses of resounding simplicity and richness, even a St. Nicolas celebration for children by von Kügelgen makes an appearance.

The tenderness and depth of Christmas is of a nature that extends well beyond a time of year -- as, in fact, the original Christmas has done.

Contents:

• How to Work with This Booklet
• The Four Different Accounts of Christmas in the Gospels
• Universal Verse for the Earth
• The Gospel of St. John
• The Christmas Conference 1923/1924
• Christmas Verse
• Verses from the Calendar of the Soul
• The Etheric Body as a Reflection of the Universe
• Wisdom, Power and Love
• In Praise of Love
• The Armour of God - Verse by Angelus Silesius
• Universal Verse for Our Earth
• Freedom and Peaceful Collaboration
• Isis, Sophia and Maria Unified in Love through the Child
• Forces of Child and Forces of Eternity
• The Birth of Christ in the Human Soul
• The Christ-Impulse throughout History
• Peace on Earth
• Summer and Winter/New Year's Eve and the Holy Nights
• Verses by Angelus Silesius
• The First Gift
• The Nicholas Messenger
• Apocalyptic Advent Gospel - Gospel Texts for Advent, Christmas time, Epiphany and Beyond

The Festivals and their Meaning

Rudolf Steiner

Revised translation
by Matthew Barton

$32.00

This is an anthology of 30 of Rudolf Steiner's most detailed descriptions of the primary Christian festivals. Together they form a picture of deeply held, truly joyful, celebration of events that are cosmic and universal, not secular and specific. The cycle of the year is seen as a living organic development that embraces not only the human being but all creation as well. Steiner sees the traditional form of these Christian holidays as having once bespoken the newest revelation of human evolution. Now, the full cosmic significance of these moments requires new understanding and new forms. If you would like to comprehend the meaning of the festivals from an anthroposophic point of view, this is the cornerstone book.

Gazing into the Eyes of the Future
The Enactment of Saint Nicholas in the Waldorf School

David Tresemer

with contributions from Doal Samson and David Mitchell

Softbound booklet

$6.00

David Tresemer has given us a beautiful and thoughtful consideration of the Festival of St. Nicholas as it is enacted in Waldorf schools. I've always loved this festival and have seen how much it means to the children (of all ages) when it is enacted for them with sincerity and understanding. It is as thought the original gift of St. Nicholas were passed along to all of them, imbuing the walnuts and fruit with the gold that is love. In this little book, Tresemer captures it all.

The Table of Contents:

• Gazing into the Eyes of the Future
• The Light in the Eyes
• The History of Saint Nicholas
• Responses of the Various Grades
• St. Nicholas in High School and the Gift of Fruit and Nuts
• Rupert, the Dark Side, and the Demonstration of Karma
• A Final Comment from Nicholas
• The Teacher's Perspective by Donald Samson
• Nicholas and Rupert - a Story Told by David Mitchell

Love and Its Meaning in the World

Lectures by
Rudolf Steiner

$24.95

After over 25 years of reading this book and thinking about its content, I am of the opinion that these are Steiner's most important lectures. A better knowledge and understanding of their content would go a long way toward removing a lot of the dogmatism and hierarchical thinking that has permeated the Anthroposophical movement and the world at large over the years. The title lecture alone is worth the price of the book - in it Steiner clarifies with poignant and exquisite beauty that the Being called Christ is Love, that anyone for whom Love is the primary reality of life is "Christian," regardless of whether he or she has ever heard of Jesus or Christ.

In relation to his development of Anthroposophy, love is the very heart and ground of all Steiner's teaching, the foundation of all he did, and all he hoped that others would do. These are the lectures that make that usually implicit assumption explicit - these are the lectures that reveal the foundation of his work. Steiner taught that, without love, nothing is possible; but that with love, we can do everything. Love is always love of the not-yet. To love is to create; it is to enter selflessly into the current of time that flows toward us from the future.

This collection brings together all of Steiner's main lechers and writings relating to love - from earthly love to the nature and function of spiritual love. Among the topics included are: The Mystery of Love; The Division into Sexes; The Mission of Reverence; the Buddha's Teaching of Compassion; and Love, Faith, Love, Hope; and the title lecture.

Wonderful reading!

The Four Seasons and the Archangels

Rudolf Steiner
Translated by Pauline Wehrle

$20.00

These five lectures are among our favorites. The beauty of Steiner's portrayal of the activities of the archangels Michael, Gabriel, Raphael and Uriel at the four pillars of the year is breathtaking. These lectures picture the alchemy of the cosmos, human beings, plants, animals and minerals moving together through the all the forces of elemental nature to find the balance point of the Earth's true goal. Highly recommended as another key doorway to understanding the cosmic significance of the turning of the year.