Blessings of the Season

A child tells the nativity story to his dog on Christmas Eve.

This Christmas film, created as a special for television broadcast throughout the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania viewing region, was produced by puppeteer Mabel Beaton and her husband Les for Bell Telephone Company and first aired in 1953. Following a short live-action opening portion, featured are two extended marionette segments, the first dramatizing Clement Moore's "A Visit from St. Nicholas", the second reverently telling the Nativity story; the two stories are staged in classic, traditional style. From 1953 onward, for several years, The Spirit of Christmas was broadcast in the intended region multiple times per holiday season. It was also available as a 16mm film licensed to schools for showings to students. This film often is misstated to have originally been broadcast in 1950.

Ordered by his father to sell an old mule called Small One, a Hebrew boy in the ancient Holy Land takes the donkey to the Jerusalem market. Finding no buyers there, the boy is about to give up when he meets a kind man named Joseph, who buys Small One and uses the steed to take his pregnant wife Mary to Bethlehem.

A young boy discovers on Christmas Eve that he can hear the beautiful voice of the angel residing atop his Christmas tree. Through the angel's song, the boy learns the value of his faith, and passes it on to the rest of his family.

The Three Wise Men from the East follow the star to Bethlehem, but hostile spirits try to stop them on their journey.

Marjorie the cow lives in a run-down stable in the middle of Bethlehem. Nothing exciting ever happens in Bethlehem until now… there’s a census or something and there’s going to be some sort of street party – that’s what Marje has heard, anyway!

The story of the birth of Jesus, the anger of king Herod, the flight into Egypt and Herod's attempt at killing Jesus is seen through the eyes of a donkey and an ox who witness the birth and do what they can to protect the child.

The Nativity is seen through the eyes of three young visitors from the 20th century who are transported back through time to the Holy City

Mary and Joseph make the hard journey to Bethlehem for a blessed event in this retelling of the Nativity story. This meticulously researched and visually lush adaptation of the biblical tale follows the pair on their arduous path to their arrival in a small village, where they find shelter in a quiet manger and Jesus is born.

When a broken hearted boy loses the treasured wooden nativity set that links him to his dead father, his worried mother persuades a lonely ill-tempered woodcarver to create a replacement, and to allow her son to watch him work on it.

As the permafrost melts in Alaska, underground rivers of volatile liquid methane form which sets off a series of devastating earthquakes. Forced apart by this violent occurrence, one family must find each other during the holidays and work to stop the deadly rivers that could cause a worldwide catastrophy.

In 1st century BC Palestine, Joseph is a carpenter who wants to travel and see the world, but destiny makes him meet young Mary. The two fall in love and marry. One day, Mary becomes pregnant and tells Joseph an unbelievable truth... He decides to stay on her side, but things won't be easy.

A lamb that had wandered off plays a significant part in the Nativity.

A musical version of O. Henry's famous Christmas story.

The historic, original, live airing of what would become an annual Christmas tradition throughout the 1950s, this opera tells the story of Amahl, a crippled shepherd boy, and his destitute mother, who provide temporary shelter to three men who are following a star to the newly-born Christ child.

Erstwhile childhood friends, Judah Ben-Hur and Messala meet again as adults, this time with Roman officer Messala as conqueror and Judah as a wealthy, though conquered, Israelite. A slip of a brick during a Roman parade causes Judah to be sent off as a galley slave, his property confiscated and his mother and sister imprisoned. Years later, as a result of his determination to stay alive and his willingness to aid his Roman master, Judah returns to his homeland an exalted and wealthy Roman athlete. Unable to find his mother and sister, and believing them dead, he can think of nothing else than revenge against Messala.

When Daniel is fired right before his son's expensive surgery, an angel takes him on a journey back in time to witness the trials of Joseph and Mary before the very first Christmas, reminding him how God's love can carry him through anything.

An all-singing, all-dancing, star-spangled musical leap around the biblical story of the Nativity, set in 1972. With a comic twist, this familiar story is brought to life through the eyes of the innkeeper. Despairing after a bad year, he contemplates suicide but his attempt is stalled by a voice from above who points out that King Herod is coming to town.

Willy Krueger, a lonely and aging widower, lives in a basement apartment with only his cat George for company. Finishing his work for the day as the custodian for the building, he ventures out on Christmas Eve to buy a tree and on the way, he imagines he is a well-dressed gentleman while peering at some fine tailoring in a shop window along the snowy street. Returning home, he falls asleep listening to an LP by The Mormon Tabernacle Choir, dreaming that he is conducting them in carols of the season. Awakening to find some carollers outside his window, he beckons them to visit him offering hot chocolate, but they leave after only one song. In trimming the tree, he places upon it the mittens left behind by Clarissa, the youngest of the carolling group. Handling figures of the small nativity beneath his tree, Willy finds himself in the manger for the very first Christmas.

Joseph and a pregnant Mary travel to Bethlehem for the census and stay in a stable where they prepare for the birth of Christ. Meanwhile, the bugs ride along with Mary and Joseph to search for a new place but find the stable already occupied. They continue their search and eventually wind up back at the stable where they discover the significance of the new baby.