[easyazon-image-link asin="B000H2N8KA" alt="A Fruitcake Christmas (Max Lucado's Hermie & Friends)" src="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/3100MT4CQ4L._SL160_.jpg" align="left" width="125" height="160"](Please note, if you are from the UK and thinking about purchasing this film, please make sure you have a suitable DVD player as it is American.)

A lovely ‘Christmas-themed’ film, particularly good for younger children (under 8s) although I think some older children would enjoy it too.  The film features ‘Hermie the Caterpillar’ who lives within a community of ‘bugs and creepy crawlies’.  They are busy making their Christmas preparations and preparing for the traditional arrival of Grannypillar’s fruitcake!  However, things do not go to plan as Iggy and Ziggy, a pair of ‘naughty’ cockroaches, steal the fruit cake and also take all the spare food in the garden, so that Hermie and his friends do not have enough to eat.  All is not lost though as two little ladybirds (Hailey and Bailey), with God’s help, remind everyone what Christmas is really about and there is  a happy ending to the film after all.

The following two clips, I hope, speak for themselves and don’t need any explanation from me!  The third clip has a few other themes that could be linked to it (please see last paragraph of this post).

From 9 minutes 59 seconds into the film until 12 minutes 50 seconds (approximately 3 minutes)

Hailey and Bailey discover that Iggy and Ziggy have taken all the food from the garden and that there is none left for everyone else.  They have a conversation with their mum and ask her why Iggy and Ziggy are so mean.  Their mum explains that it is because they don’t know the true meaning of Christmas.  She then goes on to explain to her children what the true meaning of Christmas is.  A voice from above (God) also adds an explanation and explains that He loved the world so much that He sent His son Jesus at Christmas.  God explains that Jesus was the greatest gift of all.

From 23 minutes and 36 seconds until 25 minutes and 40 seconds (approximately 2 minutes)

Hermie and his friends realise that the fruitcake has been stolen.  They are all quite upset and ask God why their plans have not worked out as they had hoped.  God reminds them that the fruitcake is not the reason we celebrate Christmas and that perhaps they have been worrying so much about it, that they have forgotten the real meaning of Christmas.  God tells them that Christmas CAN still happen without the fruitcake, but there can be no Christmas without Jesus!  This clip also stresses how much God loves everyone which is why he sent his son Jesus to earth.

From 25 minutes and 23 seconds until 29 minutes and 55 seconds (approximately 4 minutes)

Despite the fact that there is no special fruitcake anymore, Hermie and his friends realise they can still celebrate Christmas and be grateful for the little food they have (which includes a rather old and much smaller fruitcake).  As they are all enjoying the smaller fruitcake, Hailey and Bailey realise that Iggy and Ziggy (the cockroaches) are not with them to enjoy this fruitcake and suggest that they should be invited too.  This is not met with a positive response from the others, as it is Iggy and Ziggy who have stolen the large fruitcake for themselves.  Despite the fact that Hermie and his friends all say Iggy and Ziggy should not be invited, Hailey and Bailey take it upon themselves to go and give them their share of the small fruitcake.  During this exchange Hailey and Bailey sing a song “God gave us the greatest gift of all” and they spend some time explaining to Iggy and Ziggy that God’s gift of Jesus and of love was for everyone, including them.

This final clip, as well as linking in with Christmas, could also be used to demonstrate how we should love our enemies (Matthew 5:44).  It could also link in to how it is important to do what we believe is ‘right’ and honouring to God and not just to go along with the crowd (Exodus 23:2 and also Romans 12:2).

 

 

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