Christmas Specials

I admit that I was a bit disgruntled to find The Grinch on television before Thanksgiving this year. Thanksgiving first with the Macy's parade, and then the specials begin. And the remakes of classics irritate me. If it's good, leave it alone. I'm a purist.

One of my favorite Christmas movies is "Miracle on 34th St." You know, the movie where a "nice old man" named Kris Kringle is institutionalized for thinking that he's really Santa Claus and a lawyer defends him in court. I prefer the original one, of course, with Maureen O'Hara, Edmund Gwenn, and a young Natalie Wood. The new one is okay, but it's not the same. There's an innocence that's missing, or something. One of my favorite scenes is Kris getting the bubble gum stuck in his beard, and the look on his face. I love watching the struggle on little Susan's face as her faith in Kris does battle with logic.

And Christmas just isn't Christmas without Charlie Brown. I tear up every year when the the other are so mean to him. He's so earnest and he tries so hard. And Linus' speech about the true meaning of Christmas is classic. And although we laughingly disparage that little tree, it still means something to us. It's more of the spirit of Christmas. I love the music, too. In fact, I change the ringtone on my phone to that skating song for the season.

Music, ahh. I love music and catchy tunes will always catch my attention. I don't know how I missed this special for the first ten years or so of it's existence, but for the last twenty years or so "A Year Without a Santa Claus" has been one of my favorites. This is the one where Santa gets sick of the ungrateful people and decides to take the year off, so Mrs. Claus sets out to prove to him that he's still appreciated. This special features a couple of awesome music videos.



This is another one they tried to remake, but failed miserably, as far as I'm concerned. Thanks to the miracle of DVR's, I can watch my favorite specials any time I want ... but not before Thanksgiving.

Anyway, these are a few of my Christmas favorites. What are some of yours?