Christmas Child is a 2003 American Christian film directed by William Ewing

William Ewing

William Ewing may refer to:* William Lee D. Ewing, U.S. Senator from Illinois* William Maurice Ewing, known as Maurice Ewing, American geophysicist and oceanographer* William "Buck" Ewing , American baseball player...

 starring Steven Curtis Chapman

Steven Curtis Chapman

Steven Curtis Chapman is an American musician, songwriter, record producer, actor, author, and social activist.After starting his career in the late 1980s as a singer/songwriter of contemporary Christian music, Chapman has since been recognized as one of the most prolific singers in the genre,...

. The film is based on "The Christmas Cross", a short story by Max Lucado, and is a story about a Chicago

Chicago

Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...

 journalist on who finds himself in Clearwater, Texas

Texas

Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...

 around Christmas time to discover his past. "Christmas Child" is based on the Book The Christmas Child : A Story of Coming Home by Max Lucado

Max Lucado

Max Lucado is a best-selling author and writer and preacher at Oak Hills Church in San Antonio, Texas...

.

Plot

Nine months after the death of his adoptive father, Jack Davenport, a Chicago journalist, obtains some of his possessions which lead Jack to discover his past. Jack receives an assignment to do a story in Dallas, Texas. Jack leaves days before Christmas Eve and decides to stay in Clearwater, Texas, his birthplace. One of the possessions left by his adoptive father was a mysterious photograph of Clearwater's oldest churches, taken in 1963. The church has a life-sized, wood carven nativity scene, that was carved by Joe Ottolman during the 1950s. He meets several townspeople along his search, such as Michael Curtis (the reverend of the church) who has adopted a little girl from China much like Steven Curtis Chapman did in real life, Naomi Williams, a Clearwater newspaper writer, Vanessa, a County Courthouse employee) Jimmy James, Clearwater's sheriff, the judge, and a maintenance worker at the church. Jack is told by the judge that releasing the identity of an adoptee's parents can cause suffering, as he points out that one adopted girl died three years earlier. Jack goes on to research the story of Joe Ottolman, who was in a car accident in 1945 that killed his wife, but his daughter survived. Joe worked for ten years on the Nativity carving. In 1963, Joe made the same mistake and was in a car accident again. His daughter Carmen Ana Ottolman, gave birth to a boy on December 24, 1963, but Carmen died two days later. Joe set his grandson up for adoption, then he disappeared from the presses and no one knew whether or not he was alive. Naomi, who helped Jack gather information from previous newspapers, tried to get Jack's birth records with the help of her friend, Venessa, who works there, but they are gone. When Jack finds this out, he discovers that the judge was trying to hide them from him. The judge then reveals that Carmen Ottolman was his mother. On his 40th birthday, Jack is still in shock of hearing this. He sleeps on the bench near the church, in front of the nativity scene. When the maintenance worker discovers him there, he brings him inside the church for some coffee. The maintenance worker then reveals himself to be Joe Ottolman, Jack's grandfather. That night, Jack's wife Megan arrives in Texas, and Jack tells her everything that happened. Megan reveals that they are going to be parents. On Christmas Night, the townspeople of Clearwater gather around the nativity scene while the reverend talks about it. After this, Jack tells his grandfather that he is going to be a great-grandfather.

Cast

• William R. Moses as Jack Davenport
• Steven Curtis Chapman as Reverend Michael Curtis
• Tonya Bordeaux as Alicia
• Juli Erickson
  Juli Erickson
  Juli Erickson is an American film actress and voice actress. Her earliest film appearance was a minor role in Michael Cimino's Heaven's Gate...
  
   as Mrs. Schneider
• Megan Follows as Megan Davenport
• Grant James as Joe Ottolman
• Rebecca McCauley as Vanessa
• Vicki Taylor Ross as Naomi Williams
• Muse Watson
  Muse Watson
  Muse Watson is an American stage and screen actor. He most recently appeared as the recurring character Mike Franks in the television drama NCIS.-Biography:Watson was born on July 20, 1948 in Alexandria, Louisiana...
  
   as Sheriff Jimmy James
• Mary Donnelly-Haskell as Cindy
• Dennis Letts as the town's judge
• Deniece Williams
  Deniece Williams
  June Deniece Chandler known by her stage name Deniece Williams is an American Grammy Award-winning singer, songwriter and record producer who achieved success in the 1970s and 1980s...
  
   as the singer

External links

• Movie info - From Yahoo!
  Yahoo!
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  Movies