Other Holiday Specials!

There are so many great Holiday specials that are on TV this time of the year besides the traditional Top 10 and Rankin/Bass specials. Here you'll find some of my favorites that I look forward to year after year! (Just to let you know, if you'd like, you can purchase these specials by clicking on their graphic or link underneath them. Some of these are "hard to find" dvds which is one of the reasons I'm including their links. The other reason? I just love them!) Remember, you can join us in the discussion of these and other specials, movies and much more on our Christmas Community!
Claymation Christmas	A true classic and one that is now very hard to find, Wil Vinton's Claymation Christmas features the California Raisins as well as a cast of some great characters. To this day, I cannot hear the "Wassail Song" the same way again after hearing it sung: "Here we come a Waff-el-ing upon the leaves so green!" lol If you've never seen this special, you should grab a copy of it (just click on the graphic)...it's very hard to come by these days. But if you're a child of the 80's, you should remember it...those Raisins were EVERYWHERE!
The Simpsons: Christmas With The Simpsons Twas the Week Before Christmas and Fate Played a Joke. No Tree and No Presents, Homer was Broke!	Mmmmm, Christmas! Ah Homer. Ya' gotta love him. No matter what he does what he can for his family, especially this time of the year. And thanks to Bart, he's got to do a lot more than he had originally thought. One of my favorite things about this special is looking at little Maggie in her snowsuit! Then there's Marge's annual Christmas letter to the family, "dear family, well, we've had some sadness and some gladness this year..." And of course, the words you will bug your family with all season long: Ow, quit it!
Sesame Street: Elmo Saves Christmas Frank Oz, Kevin Clash, Harvey Fierstein, Sesame Street Cast, Carroll Spinney, Steve Whitmire, Charles Durning, Martin P. Robinson, Jerry Nelson When Elmo's magical wish is granted he finds out what it would be like if every daywere Christmas!	I LOVE ELMO! There, I've admitted it. This special is a great one to watch with the little kids or those who (like me) don't have kids and just have a secret crush on a little red furry monster!!! Elmo is quite dashing in his PJ's and watching him shake his magic snowglobe is hysterical! Of course, he has to say the magic words to get the snowglobe to work: "Wish, wish, wish, wish, wish, wish, wish, BLITZEN!"
Emmet Otter's Jug-Band Christmas Unspecified/Unknown A poor otter family risk everything for the chance to win the cash prize of a talent contest for Christmas.	This is a wonderful Jim Henson classic special with music by Paul Williams this one will become a fast favorite if you've never seen it before. A sort of "Gift of the Magi" told with the help of some cuddly creatures that sing some great songs. (Oh and Kermit the Frog makes a special appearance!) After seeing this, you too will be asking the question that is on everyone's mind at this time of the year: "Golly, you got mashed potatoes?"
Sesame Street: Christmas Eve On Sesame Street How does Santa get down all those skinny little chimneys? While trying to solve this riddle, Big Bird discovers that the true miracle of Christmas is the spirit of loving and sharing.	Keeping with the Muppet theme I seem to have going here, this one is I think the most special of ALL the Christmas specials to me. I can remember watching this one every Christmas Eve with the lights out and a fire going in the fireplace and wondering along with Big Bird, just how DOES Santa get down ALL of those chimney's every year? This special is from quite some time ago and features some of the original Seseme Street gang--including the wonderful Mr. Hooper. Cookie Monster is truly hysterical in this show as he tries his best to send his letter to Santa asking for what else...cookies! I hope that you will come to love this one as much as I do. :)
Berenstain Bears: Christmas Tree / Meet BigPaw Brian Cummings, Christina Lange, David Mendenhall, Josh Rondine, Ron Pardo, Ruth Buzzi A pair of animated shorts based on the classic children's books.	I love the Berenstain Bears. I used to read their books when I was in elementary school and back in the early days of HBO, they had a string of specials that featured the bears. "The Christmas Tree" is a great one. The quest for the perfect tree becomes a battle against Mother Nature. Mamma bear warns the rest of a storm coming but everyone knows that the search for the perfect tree knows no bounds. :) "Meet Big Paw" is just as cute and is a true lesson that new friends can come in all shapes and sizes.
	"How ya' doin' Mister Rannnnger?" The little bears in this show are so adorable! Anyway, this is a cute special about two little bear cubs who have no idea of what Christmas is or even who Santa Claus is because they are usually hibernating during the Christmas season. So they try as hard as they can to stay awake so that they too can take part in the Christmas holiday.
	Robbie the Reindeer is the coolest! Done in a claymation style, this special is definitely one that parents will enjoy--many of the jokes are geared for older folk--however, the kids will love the how cute the reindeer are. Something for you parents to watch for: A cameo by Seal. You'll get that when you watch it. lol Seriously, this special is a lot of fun and make sure to listen out for some pretty big celeb voices!