Specials

Now that we're in the height of the Christmas season, let's turn our attention to the televised Christmas specials.  I'm thinking about them tonight because I just finished watching the Alvin & the Chipmunks cartoon special.  It was very heartwarming and had a good message in it and the requisite Christmas miracles, but I'll tell you what: after 40+ years of those squeaky rodent voices, I'm pretty much over the Chipmunks.  Loved the story: hated the voices.  Next year I'll watch it on mute!

But now I want to reminisce with you about the Christmas specials I love the most, and the ones that you just can't catch anymore but I'm trying my best to collect them on DVD:

• The Night the Animals Talked - this one was about the barnyard animals in the stable where Jesus was born, and how one magical night they were able to talk.  But just as they were about to spread the news that our saviour was born, they lost the ability to speak. It was so sad, but they were happy that they'd had that gift if only for a little while.  It was special to me because it was about Jesus, and not Santa Claus.
•  The Wish That Changed Christmas - this was about a young girl who lived in an orphanage, and during the Christmas season she left to find a grandmother.  Heartwarming and of course in the end she did find a woman to be a grandmother to her.
• 12 Days of Christmas - Thank goodness I was able to find this on Amazon!  The daughter of the king is very picky when it comes to picking  a suitor, so Sir Carolboomer sends his page to steal her Christmas list so he can send her gifts that will make her want to marry him.  But the bumbling page steals the king's answers to his crossword puzzle and thinks these are the gifts the princess wants.  So each day he sends her the gifts from the "The 12 Days of Christmas Song", and hijinks ensue!
• The Town Santa Forgot a.k.a. Jeremy Creek - a spoiled, greedy little boy who is used to getting everything he wants sends a looooong list of toys to Santa.  Santa and his elves believe that the list must be for a little forgotten town called Jeremy Creek, and delivers all the toys to that town instead of the boy.  At first he's very upset and throws a tantrum, until he sees a news report about how the kids in the town are so happy to finally get toys from Santa.  Heartwarming and teaches kids it's better to give than receive.
• Mickey's Christmas Carol - need I say more?  It's Mickey Mouse!
• And my personal alltime favorite: Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol!  Yes I know people are always hating on him because he supposedly can't see and he runs into stuff, but I've seen him with his eyes open and he CAN see, whether his eyes are open or not!  But for some reason, this little animated film is my feel-good special each Christmas, even though it's so hard to find it on TV.  Sometimes you can find it on Boomerang, but just to be sure I bought the DVD a few years ago and torture my family every Christmas with it 😄

Next time, I'll let you know my LEAST favorite specials, and I know some of them will be the ones you love.  So stay tuned!