Little Drummer Boy -

I know I’ve mentioned Veggie Tale’s new Little Drummer Boymovie a few times since Veggie Tales sponsored my trip to Relevant. (I still can’t stop laughing every time I think of that If You Give a Blogger a Drum video.) We even had an interview about Little Drummer Boy with Mike Nawrocki, co-founder of Veggie Tales and voice of Larry the Cucumber. But I still haven’t given you a review of the movie yet!

With Thanksgiving as the doorway to Christmas, I thought you might like to grab this DVD to watch on Black Friday (because I know you’ll be at home buying Truth in the Tinsel instead of running through the mall, right?) and get your Christmas holiday started off right!

It begins with a very Princess-Bride-ish Grandpa Pa Grape reading the story of the Little Drummer Boy to a begrudging Junior the Asapragus. Junior is upset because he thinks his friends ditched him for Christmas caroling.

As Pa Grape tells the story, we see the connections between Junior’s bad attitude and the Little Drummer Boy, Aaron. And here’s where the sensitive alert comes in: Aaron’s house is burnt down by the Romans and his parents gone! (After my brother’s house fire this year, that scene hit close to home.) So, Aaron has a bad attitude towards…everyone!

He ends up meeting a group of traveling gypsy-type circus performers (Mr. Lunt and friends) who want to use his drumming talent (and Aaron’s dancing pets) to make money. In their travels they meet the Three Magi (look out for some funny Jedi=Magi jokes!) and as they travel to Bethlehem, Aaron’s pet lamb, Baa-Baa is hurt.

When Aaron stumbles upon baby Jesus in the manger, I thought for a second that baby Jesus was about to heal the lamb. (Now that would have been something for Veggie Tales, huh?) Instead, Aaron’s parents return and the family is reunited. (Which heals that hard part about the fire from the beginning!)

Aaron learns to have love and forgiveness for those that hurt him. And of course, Junior, listening to the story does, too.

My very favorite part is at the very end when Aaron and his parents are reunited. They are standing in front of baby Jesus and Aaron’s mother says, “God has drawn us back together again.” And I know she’s talking about her family, but I think it was written to remind us that Jesus was born to draw us back to our Heavenly Father! The story of the Little Drummer Boy is actually the story of us! We were lost in our sins and while we were still sinners, Jesus came for us, died for us and loved us! He drew us back to him! Merry Christmas, indeed!

So, yes. I loved Little Drummer Boy! It needs to be in your Christmas classics rotation. In fact, I loved it so much, I’m thinking about a Little Drummer Boy Party! Check out my fun ideas!