The holidays (and by that I mean any holiday, not just those that appear during this particular holiday season) are times when I like to indulge in my inner child. I’ve mentioned several times about my love for children’s books, but I also have a great love for classic children’s holidays shows. These are rarely in the form of movies. Instead, I’m a sucker for the half or one-hour specials that punctuated my childhood and that my mother dutifully recorded for me so I could watch them year after year. Some of these are newer traditions, but most come from my earliest childhood days and are among the things I most look forward to for each holiday.
It happens that this particular holiday season is an embarrassment of riches in this department. Easter, Thanksgiving, Halloween and even Election Day all have their moments in the sun, but Christmas is when producers, writers and networks traditionally pull out the big guns and slather us with specials. Not all of these specials are good, nor are they necessarily lasting classics. NPR’s All Things Considered recently wondered why recent Christmas specials are either bad or seemingly a corporate mechanism. While there may be a couple of exceptions (I, personally liked the Madagascar and Toy Story Christmas specials), I tend to agree that the modern specials aren’t always up to the holiday snuff of their classic predecessors.
That’s why it is often so good to dust off those old classics and relive childhood in a way that few other activities can achieve. it’s also why I’ve guarded collection of recorded holiday specials so closely throughout my life. I’ve flabbergasted college roommates at the breadth of my collection and we spent many an evening firmly entrenched in childhood nostalgia. I recently re-introduced a friend, who did not have the luxury of repeated viewings as a wee one, to the pleasures of holiday nostalgia and I have to say, part of the pleasure I derived was not just in the viewing itself, but in the sharing and being able to watch someone else take similar glee in reminiscing about these particular holiday memories.
With that spirit in mind, I invite all of you to take a trip down memory lane with me with a few of my favorite titles:
Mickey’s Christmas Carol – This is easily one of my favorite Christmas specials. It was surprisingly true to Dickens’s original text (albeit abridged) but with added humor that is simple enough for a child to get, but classic enough for adults to enjoy. The addition of favorite Disney characters in the classic roles of Scrooge, the Cratchits and the Christmas ghosts were all delightful, but Goofy as Jacob Marley will forever be my favorite rendition of that character.
A Charlie Brown Christmas – I probably don’t really need to mention this one because this is one of the few specials of my childhood that has never been lacking for air time. And yet, few specials fill me with as much nostalgia. Maybe it was the fact that Schultz insisted on having his characters played by actual children, and not grown actors. Maybe it’s because this is one special that everyone I know has memories of and so it’s easy to compare nostalgia. Either way, few things get me into the holiday spirit as easily as watching Snoopy skate so gracefully in the opening scene.
How the Grinch Stole Christmas – This is in a similar category as A Charlie Brown Christmas in terms of air time, but it’s celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, so I think that alone makes it worth mentioning. I’ll be honest here and tell you I’ve never seen the Jim Carey version as I’m just too afraid that it will mar my viewings of this classic that I’ve loved wholeheartedly for as long as I can remember. I even have the audio of the story, plus all the song tracks on my iPod because I can’t get enough.
A Muppet Christmas Carol – This is the only full-length feature to make the list. While I wish NOBLE had Jim Henson’s Muppet Family Christmas special with John Denver on DVD somewhere in its catalog, this is my second favorite Muppet Christmas special. Statler and Waldorf may not beat Goofy as my favorite Jacob Marley, but Rizzo and Gonzo’s delightful banter makes this movie both fairly true to text and wonderfully innovative and original in a way that only the Muppets can be.
The Stingiest Man in Town – What can I say, I’m a huge fan of A Christmas Carol. This hand-drawn animated special was created by the same team that brought us the stop-motion Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. There was a time when the team of Rankin and Bass seemed unstoppable in their Christmas merrymaking. They created a slew of Christmas specials in the 1970s and, with all due respect to Rudolph, this one is my favorite of theirs. It stars vocal talents like Walter Mattheau and Tom Bosley and was an adaptation of a little-known live-action musical adaptation of Dickens’s classic tale from the 1950s. The overlay of the Ghost of Christmas Present with Santa Claus in a musical number alone makes this show worth seeing, but it is actually one of the better musical adaptations of A Christmas Carol that I’ve seen (and given my love for the story, I’ve seen a LOT).
Till next week, dear readers, I encourage you to not only indulge yourself in these viewings, but to share them with someone you think may enjoy the nostalgia just as much, or maybe even someone who will experience them for the first time. There’s nothing like a fresh set of eyes to get you looking at something you’ve seen dozens of time in a brand new way.