Essential Christmas: The 10 Best Holiday Specials And Movies
In a day when parents and children rarely watch the same TV shows, Christmas TV specials and holiday movies still somehow manage to continue to bring families together.
These days it’s even easier than it used to be to share these traditions. ABC Family has made an art out of holiday programming with their “25 Days of Christmas” programming blocs that package specials throughout the month of December. Home video and streaming services also allow families to watch programs whenever they want.
In the spirit of Christmas, I’m offering to you this list of the ten most essential specials and movies of the season.
We’ll start with a pair of very different types of animation from a production company synonymous with Christmas specials…
10. The Year Without A Santa Claus
Arthur Rankin and Jules Bass are synonymous with their stop-motion Christmas specials of the ‘60s and ‘70s. Viewers not familiar with their names will recognize their unmistakable round-headed characters, candy-colored landscapes, and softly falling snow. A few of their specials are on this list, starting with The Year Without A Santa Claus.
In this 1974 special, Mrs. Claus (voiced by Shirley Booth) tells the story of the year Santa (voiced by Mickey Rooney) decides — on doctor’s orders — to take a vacation. Two of his elves and the young reindeer Vixen take a trip to find enough Christmas spirit to cheer Santa up. Along their way, the elves battle the Heat Miser and Snow Miser and visit Southtown, USA, where they get lost. Santa journeys south to find Vixen and discovers that the children of the world need him. He can’t skip Christmas.
The Year Without A Santa Claus is a clever story with some memorable scenes and catchy songs, including those involving the villains.
It’s not as ubiquitous as Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer or Santa Claus Is Coming To Town, but The Year Without A Santa Claus is trippy holiday fun.
Another Christmas special that has stood the test of time is Frosty The Snowman. Originally aired in 1969, Frosty vaguely follows the story line of the popular Christmas song. The special tells how the kids who built Frosty help him escape to the North Pole while trying to elude the magician whose hat brought him to life.
The special is a Rankin/Bass production but it’s a traditional cartoon, not the company’s signature stop-motion. Rankin and Bass hired a Japanese company to animate the showand it has a decidedly different look from most animation of the period. Jimmy Durante provides the narration and performs the title song.
Looking back the animation in Frosty is poor and the special as a whole is a bit cheesy but it’s still nostalgic Christmas fun.
Next up is a movie about one boy’s quest for a special Christmas gift. Don’t poke your eye out!
Categories: Holidays, Television
Tags: A Charlie Brown Christmas, A Christmas Story, Frosty The Snowman, How The Grinch Stole Christmas, It's A Wonderful Life, Jean Shepherd, Lee Mendelson, Mickey's Christmas Carol, Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer, Santa Claus Is Comin' To Town, The Year Without A Santa Claus
I agree with all of these except number 1. Everyone rates the Charlie Brown Christmas Special highly and I have never been able to figure it out. It does not touch me in the least and the music is horrid.
Let me guess: Grinch?
“…and the music is horrid.”
And I do believe folks that we have found our Grinch for this holiday season.
If you can’t appreciate Vince Guaraldi’s music then perhaps you should remain in your lair atop Mount Crumpit.
If all I had to listen to was Vince Guaraldi’s music, I would do so gladly. Thank Goodness, there is Bing Crosby, Dean Martin, Andy Williams, Nat King Cole,Steve and Eydie, Elvis Presley, and many others doing the traditional songs I love.
If I want to listen to Jazz at Christmas, I listen to Louis Armstrong doing “Christmas in New Orleans”.
You go ahead with Vince, I’ll listen to Bing and my heart will grow three sizes
Take a close look at Snow Miser and tell me he doesn’t look identical to Geithner and Heat Miser, well all he needs are a pair of glasses and he’s a Barney Frank shoe in!
I don’t care for Elf. IMO, the movie you slammed (Jim Carrey’s Grinch) is a much better (ane more entertaining film), even though it’s not a true classic like the animated version.
I can’t argue with the rest of them…but I’d rather have my eyes gouged out than watch It’s a Wonderful Life one more time.
This is in regard to movies in theaters. I will always enjoy the tv Christmas classics & encourage my kids to watch them.
As for movies in theaters…I WON”T GO.
I’m asking all conservatives…DO NOT GO TO MOVIES.
The libs are the establishment in this country. We are losing our country and our freedoms…to the dictates of the libs. I could give hundreds of examples. Most conservatives that follow our news & culture are already aware of this. We have no power. Our Repubes have no spine and have allowed or helped to get our society in this mess.
But we do have power. It is with our money. I suggest we don’t give any money to lib establishment. Not to Hollywood (no movies, cancel HBO or other premiums), not to the media (cancel your newspapers, magazines), not to academia (no more $ to colleges that promote rot gut, liberal bs).
We can hurt these establishments and reverse our direction. ALSO, when you give them money, they are giving it to Obama or other libs!
Look, we have to get in the battle. We have sat by for years…trusted our pols to protect us (they didn’t), we simply talk and agree with each other. Meanwhile the libs have organized under our chins and have taken over. We still just talk. Come on, it takes a little sacrifice on our parts…it’s for the good of the Country. Our sacrifice pales in comparison to that of our forefathers/mothers.
I know this is a bit heavy for a Christmas article, but this is a good venue to get some of you in the game. Thanks
Very well said, Tom Rosenblum. I’ve been chastised for years from supposed conservatives and others, because I refuse to give one dollar to Hollywood.
Meanwhile, lots of idiotic pundits desperately search for something they claim is conservative in recent Hollywood movies, or “classic rock,” or whatever the latest garbage is in our popular culture. Conservatives who support most of the movies and music of today are fools.
Agreed!
And yes, there are more edifying ways we can spend our time, such as worship, learning some history, and helping the poor.
The REAL Saint Nicholas was a man to emulate!
I agree, Charlie Brown is too depressing to occupy the number 1 spot. Other favorites include “The Bishop’s Wife,” “Home Alone,” and of course “Die Hard.”
I have never seen the Bishop’s Wife, but I must make a note to do so. I really enjoy the remake, The Preacher’s Wife, but it’s partly because Denzel Washington looks awfully good in that dove-grey suit.
Much as I like Denzel Washington, he can’t top Cary Grant as the angel. The 1948 movie starred CG, Loretta Young, and David Niven with Monty Woolley, James Gleeson, and Elsa Lanchester accompanying them. The 1996 remake with Denzel W, Whitney Houston, and Courtney Vance is worth seeing, but see the 1948 version as well.
I would add, perhaps as 4B, the Muppet Christmas Carol. It’s actually one of the most authentic film/TV versions of the Dickens story, with Michael Caine as Scrooge, Gonzo as narrator, Kermit as Bob Cratchit, Fozzie as Scrooge’s old employer Fozziewig, Statler and Waldorf as Marley, and new muppets for the various ghosts. A large amount of the dialogue is taken directly from the novel. I personally think it’s even better than the Disney version.
Love the Muppet Christmas Carol.
I was turned on to Emmet Otter’s Jug-Band Christmas just the other day. It was fantastic. My four-year-old loved it too. We watched it on Netflix instant streaming.
It’s a 1977 Jim Henson adaptation of a Russel Hoban children’s book. It’s puppet characters just like the Muppets. As with all Henson productions, there are some fantastic songs and a sweet storyline. You will come to dislike the “Nightmare Band”.
I was told it aired on HBO at the time, which is why I never saw it. I’m a child of the 70′s and wouldn’t have missed if it was on one of the big three.
Well, you have several of my favorites, for sure. Charlie Brown, Elf, A Christmas Story and It’s a Wonderful Life get a workout every year around here.
But I’d definitely swap out the Mickey’s for The Muppets Christmas Carol. The music is wonderful, the puppets are still a marvel and Michael Caine puts in a pretty darn good performance. And who could not love Kermit as Bob Cratchit?
It is, by turns, funny, sad, scary, sweet and hopeful- without a doubt my family’s favorite. We never miss it.
My family loves Claymation Christmas, a hilarious and sweet variety show of clay animated Christmas carols hosted by a snooty, curmudgeonly Tyrannosaurus know-it-all and a plump, jolly Triceratops gourmand. Perhaps not in the top ten, but worth searching out the DVD.
Of the Dickens’ knock-offs, I actually prefer the first-ever animated TV Christmas special, 1962′s “Mr. Magoo’s Christmas Carol”. While the limited UPA animation does come off as stiff at times, director Abe Levitow does a great job with the available budget, the framing device of the Broadway play allows Magoo and Jim Backus to step into a far more crotchety role than fans had become use to by ’62 (though ironically, closer to the way the character were intended to be when he was created in 1949), and the songs by Jule Styne and Bob Merrill still hold up 49 years later as the best-ever for a Christmas special.
I remember enjoying that Mr. Magoo program too!
Also, there was a very good British animated version of “A Christmas Carol” back in the 1970′s, I think, which was shown each year on US TV. Its images were very striking.
And back in the 1960′s, when I was a kid, we had a very fun LP record of Laurence Olivier telling the Scrooge story. I wasn’t old enough to appreciate him as a great actor, but I remember that he was very good at the scary parts! And I liked the music.
I thought I was the only one who remembered Magoo’s Christmas Carol. My childhood favorite.
Agreed. Mr. Magoo’s Christmas Carol is list worthy too. It’s a shame this show doesn’t get much airplay anymore.
Great list.
While I love that ABC Family has made it a tradition to show many of these wonderful shows year after year, they edit out a lot of scenes to cram in more commercials, so I highly recommend purchasing the Rankin Bass Christmas specials on DVD.
Same thing with Charlie Brown Christmas. ABC chopped it up something terrible this year. Would it kill them to show it uncut?
Benighted.
I like Miracle on 34th Street and The Polar Express.
I am 47, my brother is 49 and every year we make sure that we watch CB Christmas, wherever we are. I even remember those terrific Dolly Madison commercials that were aired. I think the Little Drummer Boy should have been included in this list. Who can forget the melifluous voice of Greer Garson!
One of the best xmas movies isn’t an xmas movie. We have always taken the kids to the movies during the holiday season and when Apollo 13 came out one year, we chose to see it. This was the perfect film — a story of heroism, the can-do spirit of what it means to be an American, and an example of how smart and strong adults deal with adversity (up to and including almost certain death.) Rather than out of the blue miracles and cheesy sentimentality and utter wishful nonsense, this film encapsulates the reality of the human spirit. It took hard dangerous work for man to tame fire, hard and dangerous work to survive ice ages, hard and dangerous and brilliant work to create civilisation. Going to the moon was likewise hard and dangerous work and was accomplished by the best of us. The ongoing life lesson here is that it takes brilliance and hard work to be the success others look up to. We raised two who became scientists and the youngest is now in medical school, so something seems to have clicked.
Meanwhile the article reminds me of this:
http://xkcd.com/988/
i.e. baby boomer nostalgia and self-indulgence.
I’m with you on A Charlie Brown Christmas, but my second is the 1951 movie version of A Christmas Carol, with Alastair Sim as Scrooge. Also a perennial TV favorite growing up in the ’60s.
Here’s another vote for the Alastair Sim Scrooge / A Christmas Carol (I believe it goes by both names), British-made and filmed in black and white (1951). It’s unbelievably good; we watch it every year. What a realization of the Dickens work! And you get a sense that you’re seeing performance traditions (the way the Marley ghost delivers his warning and lamentations, and of course everything that Sims does as Scrooge) that go back a long way. The beauty and poetry of the performance by the Ghost of Christmas Past really touches me. And there’s a moment when Scrooge sees the phantom of his sister and cries out her name and tries to embrace her–but she walks right through him as if he’s a ghost…
I disagree with the top choice. this here is the best Christmas movie ever!
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0095016/
I can’t believe you left off National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation. Or White Christmas.
Will Ferrell is *NOT* funny. He never has been, and never will be.
OT, but +1,000,000. I agree, completely. Ferrell is a total bore.
Anchorman is quite possibly the worst movie of all time, but I’m the only one in my circle of life who thinks so . Guess I need a new circle.
And now, back to Christmas.
You should see him do GW Bush. Hilarious!
Nice list….though I dont care much for Elf.
Grinch (animated)
A Charlie Brown Christmas (though I listen to the Vince Garaldi CD these days)
A Christmas Story
A Year Without A Santa Claus
Rudolf the Rednosed Reindeer
Santa Claus is Coming to Town
are all tops on my list as well…
Some you didnt mention that are tops on my list…
A Christmas Vacation (Chevy Chase) A Christmas Story trumps it for comedy, but this comes in a close second.
The Polar Express Fantastic, best new Christmas Film in two decades. Gets a little carried away with scenes dedicated to 3D, but other than that… A new classic.
A Christmas Carol (1951) the 1938 version is also top notch, but I like this one the best.
A Christmas Carol (animated 1971) Top animated version, without question. Mickey’s is pretty good too….but nothing comes close to either beyond that. Jim Carey’s recent venture was a great disappointment.
Off Beat…
Die Hard (original) Set on Christmas Eve, at a Christmas Party gone awry, the end music Let It Snow wraps it up nicely as a holiday flick.
Home Alone (original) Great fun, set in and around Christmas.
Never gets much mention…
The Little Drummer Boy (animated Rankin/Bass 1968) Great Stuff.
My 2 cents…
Come on! Much as I enjoyed “Die Hard”, its only connection with Christmas is that it’s action takes place at a Christmas party, and such parties can occur weeks before Christmas. (One of my wife’s clubs had theirs on December 3 this year.) “Die Hard” would have been just as believable built around a Nakitome employee’s retirement party.
Yeah, well, Home Alone also isnt really a Christmas movie, in the same vein. However both are Christmas classics at my house.
What next claiming Rudolf the Red Nosed Reindeer has nothing to do with the Birth of Christ, ergo it isnt a Christmas special?
I forgot to mention Miracle on 34th Street, along with It’s A Wonderful Life, both excellent fare. In a way that Holiday Inn and Meet me in St. Louis arent.
One we watch quite a bit is Scrooged, with Bill Murray. It’s quite an enjoyable update on Christmas Carol, and I just love the various ghosts that show up.
How could you possibly ignore “Miracle on 34th Street” (1947) and “A Christmas Carol” (1951)? These movies aren’t animations, which you’ve overwhelmingly favored. They have real actors and great stories. “Miracle” causes me to tear up 60 years after I first saw it, and Alistair Sim was the best Scrooge I’ve ever seen.
For some reason, the Sim movie is listed on Wikipedia as “Scrooge”, even though my DVD copy and the title on the screen both read “A Christmas Carol”.
Muppets? Really? And your other list is crammed with muppets too. You REALLY like muppets.
But ‘classic’? No. Not yet. Maybe never.
Thr Grinch is classic, and Frosty, and Rudolph, and Santa Claus is coming to town, and Charlie Brown.
And Miracle on 34th Street–the original. Right there with It’s a Wonderful Life.
And then there’s Scrooge. One of the older ones, black and white. But we’re getting fuzzy now.
7 definates–by that I mean that they’re seen as ‘classic’ even by people who don’t like them. And then ‘a’ Scrooge.
After that? A Christmas Story is still a ‘cult’ classic. Classics don’t get 24 hour marathons. They don’t need them.
Things like Elf and The Polar Express are still ‘Christmas Movies’–they haven’t made ‘classic’ yet.
And then there are oddities–the musical Scrooge with Albert Finney, and Mr Magoo(take your pick)–and that annual bizarreness–the Yule Log( it’s a classic–but a strange one).
Sadly, one of the things that worked to make these things ‘classics’ is gone forever–their rarity. You used to have one chance each year to see them. Now we all own them. And that diminishes them somewhat. They cease being ‘specials’ and become simply Christmas shows.
The problem with “It’s a Wonderful Life” is its plot flaw. Bailey is in trouble with the bank examiners for a missing amount of money ($5,000?). At the end of the film the residents chip in to restore the missing funds. In reality, of course, that would not be enough to stop bank examiners from their investigation, even if they believed Bailey’s explanation for the loss.
Can you imagine Jon Corzine getting away with losing $1.2 billion simply by saying “I don’t know where the money went?”
On second thought… never mind.
I have always loved Donovan’s Reef, and We’re No Angels. Does anyone else think of them as Christmas movies?