Just 12 days to go before Christmas. In the song, "The 12 Days of Christmas," is today the first day, the 12th day, or are we not counting yet?
Beginning with "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown," the television and movie theaters are full of holiday specials during the weeks leading up to Christmas. The screen offerings have become just as much of the holiday season as any other tradition. They are diverse as George C. Scott's Ebenezer Scrooge and Macaulay Caulkin's Kevin.
If you could watch just three holiday specials between October 31 and January 1, what would they be? Movies? Cartoon classics? Parades? Here are my three ...
1) From the big screen we have A Christmas Carol, Miracle on 42nd Street, It's a Wonderful Life, A Christmas Story (you'll shoot yer eye out!), Home Alone, and many more to choose from. But if I could only see one, it would be Christmas Vacation. It's clearly the best of the "Vacation" franchise films, and anyone with an eccentric cousin or in-law in the family will sympathize with Clark Griswold.
2) The Rankin Bass production company made holiday specials for the small screen throughout the 60's and 70's. You're familiar with their work, if not their names. The team that brought us Frosty the Snowman and Rudolph the Rednosed Reindeer also brought as my favorite among this genre -- The Year Without a Santa Claus. As a kid I remember its two unique characters -- Heat Mizer and Snow Mizer. For two decades the show disappeared from network television, only to resurface a couple years ago. We DVD recorded it, so I'll never have to miss it again.
3) And what would Christmas entertainment be without "A Charlie Brown Christmas?" The "original" Charlie Brown specials of the 1960's are all classics, and this is the best among them. Of course, the highlight is Linus' rendering Biblical recitation of Christ's birth. Charlie Brown and friends do indeed discover the true meaning of Christmas.
No Grinch (though I like arsenic sauce), no parades (though Macy's usually marches through my family room), and no Bah Humbug (though the ghosts will visit our home). The rules were, only choose three.
Let's hear your favorites ...
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1 comment:
I confess, I'm not that big into holiday specials. But here's my list.
1. The Nativity - a mostly true to the biblical account dramatization of the birth of the Savior.
2. The Santa Clause - this Tim Allen movie is both funny and vaguely sentimental.
There you have it. Admittedly, it's a short list. I could also add A Charlie Brown Christmas or The Grinch Who Stole Christmas or the new version of Miracle on 34th Street. However, my Christmas won't be diminished if I don't see any of these.
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