Thursday, November 29, 2007

13 Great Family Christmas Specials


1. Charlie Brown Christmas (1965) – A true classic. It wouldn’t be Christmas without Charlie Brown.

2. Frosty the Snowman (1969) – Jimmy Durante narrates one of the best Christmas stories of all time.

3. How the Grinch Stole Christmas (1966) – Dr. Seuss’s timeless classic – and I don’t just love it because my daughter looks like Cindy Lou Who.

4. Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (1964) – Gotta love the stop motion animation! My kids love the book, and I really hope Eli is old enough this year to get into the TV special.

5. The Year Without Santa Claus (1974) – Santa Claus suffering from depression. Gotta love the 70’s.

6. Twas the Night Before Christmas (1974) – ‘74 was a good year for Christmas specials. And I love this one because come on – there’s nothing more fun than a vengeful Santa, who gets pissed off when he thinks a town doesn’t believe in him.

7. Santa Claus Is Coming To Town (1970) - This is one of my favorites, narrated by Fred Astaire. It shares the story of how Santa Claus and other Claus-related Christmas traditions came to be.

8. The Little Drummer Boy (1968) – Another Rankin Bass TV special, yet this one actually has to do with Baby Jesus rather than Santa – imagine that!

9. Jack Frost (1979) – This claymation special tells the story of Jack Frost, the immortal winter sprite, and his adventures as a human.

10. Rudolph’s Shiny New Year (1976) – This sequel to Rudolph is a good one, though not shown as much. Rudolph helps Father Time save the New Year.

11. The Polar Express (2004) – A beautiful book and amazing movie for children of all ages.

12. A Muppet Family Christmas (1987) – The Muppet gang teams with the Sesame Street cast for a great Christmas special with some awesome holiday tunes.

13. Elmo Saves Christmas (1996) – Eli watched tis over and over and over last year, so I know it by heart. It’s a very sweet special of what happens when Elmo wishes that it were Christmas every day.


19 comments:

ellen b. said...

Oh Charlie Brown is so classic! Happy Tt to you...

MamaGeek @ Works For Us said...

You so nailed this list (bar none). Although we watched Shrek The Halls tonight for the first time and loved that one too.

Dreamer said...

:-) Great list! :) Happy TT!

Malcolm said...

I see that a lot of my childhood favorites made your list. The thing that I remember most about Rudolph's Shiny New Year is the character Baby New Year. Everytime his top hat came off, his oversized ears would pop out and everyone would laugh at him.

Nicholas said...

Nice list. Lots of them are new to me. I probably would have enjoyed them when I was a child.

http://agentlemansdomain.typepad.com

Dallas Meow said...

I still need to see Polar Express. . . think I'll go add it to my blockbuster list

Not Afraid to Use It said...

Those are DEF great movies--though I haven't seen some of the newer ones. I know as my kids get older we will be watching them, though.

Anonymous said...

I will be trying to watch some of the movies.I think I have seen all of them one time or another.I love your site and will become a regular reader.
Here is my blog
http://shawnysmoonbeam.typepad.com/
If you have time to check it out.
Love Shawny

Julia said...

Yeah, that's a nice list of Christmas-Specials.
I watch "Mightmare before Christmas" every year, but I'm not sure if it's ok for small kids to do so ;)

Happy TT!
Greets Julia

Sharon said...

Love these movies. :)The Polar Express became a favorite of ours last year. Watching that w/ just the tree lit...love it!
Happy TT!

Head Gaggler said...

Great list. I watched them all as a kid and loved them. Like WFM, Shrek was good too!

SECRET AGENT MAMA said...

Love this list!!! :D

Believer in Balance said...

Great list! I'm going to add some of those to my Netflix queue.

Anonymous said...

Great list... I just got my offishul Charlie Brown tree!

http://lowdownfromlois.blogspot.com/2007/11/our-christmas-tree.html

Isn't it cute?

Country Dawn said...

Year without a santa claus is STILL my fav, because of the heat miser and the cold miser... LOVE them. :)

Sadie said...

LOVE LOVE LOVE Polar Express. Sob like a big ole baby every single time I see it, too. Kills me.

Do you like the Jim Carrey Grinch? I thought it was cute. Oh, what about "Miracle on 34th Street" with cutie patootie Dylan McDermott? Yum.

My Busy Life said...

Your blog looks way cool! Love your TT, I'm up too:
http://momtoanangel.blogspot.com/2007/11/tt-13.html

Thea @ It's Me Vs. Me said...

This is one of my favorite times of year BECAUSE of Charlie Brown and that soundtrack. That's some good stuff.

Deb said...

Oh yes, definitely 13 classics on your list! :)