The 4th Day of Patmas!

From 2011...

On the 4th Day of Patmas, I give to you…the best Christmas Specials.

Every now and then, our favorite shows, cartoons, and movies come out with a special Christmas version of their show with the characters we all love. The latest one I remember coming out is Shrek the Halls, which was decent. Other Christmas specials tell the story of beloved Christmas characters, like Frosty the Snowman. I grew up in the 80s and 90s, so I got to grow up with some of the classics. Below are my four favorite Christmas Specials…specials I still make sure to watch every year!

1. The Muppet Christmas Carol – Charles Dickens’ classic A Christmas Carol, the story of Scrooge, is probably the most beloved story of the season. And its been redone EVERYWHERE! My favorite Christmas Carol movie is the one done by the Muppets. Kermit the Frog as Bob Cratchit is nice. Michael Caine as Scrooge is very well cast, I though. My favorite is probably Statler and Waldorf as Marley and Marley (yes, they added a Marley as to get them both in). Epic. The songs are catchy, the story is a good one as always, and I thought it was just a very interesting way to go about telling the story. That, and I grew up on the Muppets, so it’s a natural fit for me. It’s also one of the best adaptations of Dickens’ book at staying pretty darned close to the story. Little things, like the aging of the Ghost of Christmas Present (rarely shown in other adaptations), and using a narrator to echo real passages from the book, lend an aura of authenticity to the movie, which is pretty awesome.

2. A Charlie Brown Christmas - A Charlie Brown Christmas first came out in 1965 on CBS and was an immediate hit! I love this special so much because it touches on an issue near and dear to my heart this time of year… the over-commercialization of Christmas. It is also, really, the only main, popular Christmas special that touches on the secularism of Christmas, and serves to remind viewers of the true meaning of Christmas: the birth of Jesus Christ. I’m not a huge religion fan, but these days, no possible way you could get away with reminding people that Christmas is about something religious. You’d get sued to high heaven. So it’s nice that at least one Christmas special is still around to at least alert people to the fact that Christmas isn’t just about buying useless things and spending ourselves into debt. This point is driven home in a key speech by Linus (see the 2nd Day of Patmas post for the video to that one). This one is, quite simply, a timeless classic.

3. How the Grinch Stole Christmas – The next year after A Charlie Brown Christmas came out, another Christmas classic special came out…a TV, animated version of Dr. Seuss’s classic How the Grinch Stole Christmas. The Grinch is a classic tale of Christmas Spirit trumping commercialism and presents. The Grinch hates Christmas, and wants to steal it from the Who’s. He takes all their decorations and presents…and yet the Who’s still appreciate the coming of Christmas. The Grinch is a changed man and becomes a Whoville Christmas mainstay! How touching! Man, in the 1960s, was the over-commercialization of Christmas really that bad? Wonder what the creators of these specials would think about the abomination of Christmas today! Who knows…either way, this is a classic that I’ve grown up with. You’re a mean one, Mr. Grinch is still an amazing song. Listen to the lyrics next time you watch the special…they’re seriously hilarious: “You have all the tender sweetness of a seasick crocodile, Mr Grinch. Given the choice between the two of you, I'd take the seasick crocodile.” Amazing!

4. Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer – This is the final TV Special on my list, and the oldest. Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer first aired in 1964, and is produced in stop motion animation. It, of course, is based on the popular song of the same name. Rudolph is born and is immediately ostracized by the reindeer community, and Santa himself, for his red nose. Along with a misfit elf who wants to be a dentist, he runs away to grow up away from the North Pole and the judgment and ridicule he’d face there. They met Cornelius the miner during their travels, and continually dodged the Abominable Snow Monster. Eventually he returns home, and his nose is used to lead Santa’s sleigh through a storm, thus saving Christmas. What a nice redemption for him! Rudolph’s characters are some of the most recognizable and parodied across all Christmas specials…especially the Snowman narrator. Between the recognizable songs, and the classic redemption story, all set against a very popular Christmas classic song, Rudolph is yet another classic that graces our airwaves every Christmas season!


That’s it. I have all of these on DVD now, so I do not have to be a slave to the TV Programmers and their schedule. I CONTROL WHEN I WATCH THESE, BWA HA HA!!! But yes, I watch them all, and still love them all these many years later. Kind of amazing that these TV specials have been around since the 60s and are still classics…and nothing new or better has come along to replace them, or one up them. Guess it just shows you the staying power of Christmas traditions! There are many, many other Christmas Specials out there…any other favorites you feel should have been on this list instead, let me know!