What's So Special About Christmas Specials? - The Top Animated Holiday Shows of All-Time!

Today we’re talking about those classic animated Christmas specials that everybody loves. Did you know that the very first animated holiday special made for TV was the classic 1962 “Mister Magoo's Christmas Carol”?

Bah-Humbug!

Since then, there have been hundreds of animated specials; some much better than others. (Anyone remember “Nestor, the Long-Eared Christmas Donkey”?)

All the better to hear you with, my dear!

Christmas specials are holiday video treats brought to us by the TV networks and their corporate sponsors to get us into the Christmas spirit, and of course sell stuff.  I remember thinking Santa riding that electric razor was just part of the show.

There was a time before streaming, on-demand, DVR's, DVD's and VCR's when these shows would just air once a year.  If you missed it, you'd have to wait 12 long months for another chance to catch it.

Must record Nestor, the Long-Eared Christmas Donkey!

These specials brought almost as much Christmas joy into our homes as a Christmas tree.

The staff here at Dad's Christmas Blog (DCB) has compiled a list of the four all-time greatest, most essential, definitive, iconic, not-to-be-missed Christmas specials of all-time! Check 'em out!

No kids, do it like this!

Frosty the Snowman: This special first aired in December of 1969, and has ran every year since. It tells the story of a snowman that comes alive with a magic hat and runs around town making friends with all the kids, especially little Karen. He's pursued by an inept magician who's after the magic hat, and ends up sacrificing himself to save Karen from freezing to death.  Of course, Santa comes in and saves the day and Frosty vows to return every year.  A promise he's managed to keep for well over 50 years!  This is a fun story with a theme song and narration by the famous Jimmy Durante.

Ain't no party like a Peanut party!

A Charlie Brown Christmas: Kicking off the holiday season of 1965, this was the very first animated version of the Peanut's gang. This laid-back special focuses on Charlie Brown who finds himself depressed at Christmas time.  With its tone, pacing and unorthodox jazz soundtrack, the network expected this one to be a big flop. Surprisingly, everyone seemed to love it. It's received several awards, including an Emmy, and the soundtrack, by the Vince Guaraldi Trio, has sold over 5 million copies in the U.S.  This show aired every December on broadcast TV for 56 years before moving exclusively to Apple TV+. “Good grief!”

Could this post get any longer?

Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas: The year after Charlie Brown hit it big, 1966, the Grinch came to town.  Chuck Jones, best known for making Bugs Bunny and Road Runner cartoons, convinced Dr. Seuss himself to let him make this show.  Making it even more special, he got legendary Frankenstein actor, Boris Karloff to be narrator and the voice of the Grinch.  The theme song, “You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch” is goofy fun and the story itself is heart-warming and funny.  It's been remade a few times now, but here at DCB, we stand by the original.

I'm just a misfit.

Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer: Created in 1964, this special, based on the song that was based on a poem by the same name, no longer runs once annually, but several times during the holiday season. It is the longest continuously running Christmas TV special in the U.S.; and for good reason. It's awesome! I was always fascinated by the stop-motion animation of Rudolph, and the song “Holly Jolly Christmas” has become a traditional favorite nearly as popular as the title song. Besides great music, this story has thrills, chills, comedy, romance and a monster!

Ahh! These wings are so hot!!

Well, there you have it. our best of the best of the TV Christmas specials! I suggest you gather the family and watch a few of these if you haven’t already. Weird how they all came out in the 1960's.  But they're still a lot of fun to watch.  If you can think of any that are better than these, you're probably wrong, but we'll gladly give them an honorable mention. (Any Long-Eared Christmas Donkey fans out there?) -DCB

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Rudolph: Have you finished your Christmas shopping?
Hermie: Well, this year I’m sending all my gifts telepathically.  After all, it’s the thought that counts!
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Hermie:  Did you know the man who invented the Ferris wheel never met the man who invented the Merry-Go-Round?
Rudolph: Really?
Hermie: Yes. Seems they traveled in different circles.

“Life in the Pink Lane” – A Dad's Look at the Barbie Aisle

Friends, if you're raising boys, or have only raised boys, you probably haven't spent much time in the Barbie aisle. Whether you're at Target, Walmart or any other big store that sells toys, there's this one section that you can't miss. They've toned it down over the last few years, but you still can easily find the “pink aisle” where all the Barbie dolls reside.

So much pink!

You might not know this, but there is a Barbie doll sold, somewhere in the world, every three seconds. That means about a dozen dolls have sold since you started reading this. That's a lot of Barbies!

There was a time in my life where I never noticed or paid attention to this aisle, because it held no interest for me, at all. But then I found myself with not one, but three lovely daughters. My girls, like many others, all went through a phase where they loved Barbie to some degree.

"Every night is girls' night!"

With nine years between my oldest and youngest, I spent a lot of time “patiently” waiting, while my little cuties looked at all the Barbies. This became an unavoidable part of going to any of these stores, and at the time I didn't truly appreciate the experience. I didn't like the Barbie aisle much back then, and I kept hoping they'd want to get a Batman figure or at least look at the Star Wars toys, but no, it was Barbie or nothing.

I did have one small victory when I got my oldest a “Star Trek” Barbie and Ken. We went on some “away missions” and fought off a band of alien vegetable people. 

To boldly go where no doll has gone before.

I also tried to convince her that a Jackie Chan action figure was a cooler “Kung Fu” version of Ken.

Everybody was Kung Fu Fighting!

This phase only lasts a few years, and then these little girls soon become big girls and their interests change to big girl things.

My little girls are all grown up now, and it's funny when I go to one of the big stores for groceries or batteries or whatever, and I pass by the “pink aisle” I get a kind of melancholy feeling. I really miss staring at those pink packages of molded plastic with my little girls.

Barbie is Everything! Ken is just Ken.

You've likely heard of, and probably saw the big “Barbie” movie that came out last summer. It made like $1.38 billion and was the highest grossing film of 2023. I got to see this movie with my three daughters, and while it wasn't really my kind of movie, I loved watching it with them and listening to them talk about the Barbie dolls they had and their memories of playing with them.

I guess my point here is, whether it's Barbie dolls or GI Joes, football practice or ballet lessons, whatever your kids are into, try to embrace it. It goes by fast. - DCB
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Santa: What's wrong Hermie?

Hermie: Rudolph accused me of stealing his thesaurus. Not only was I shocked; I was appalled, aghast and dismayed!
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Did you hear about the snowman that evaporated?

He'll be mist.

Favorite Christmas Presents from the Past!

Jingle Bells, Batman smells…

Like a lot of kids will this year, when I was young, I got Batman toys for Christmas. One year, under the tree, I got an official Batman helmet! This amazing product from Ideal Toys, was a tie-in to the super-popular 1966 “Batman” TV show.  At only 4 years old, there was nothing more important to me than Batman, except maybe candy!

Images borrowed from the web.

I have vivid memories of playing outside, like kids did back then, and asking my mom to yell at me when it was time for “Batman”.  This show was that important. We had nothing like a DVR back then, so if you missed it, that was just your Bat-luck.

Holy head-wear, Batman!

The Batman helmet didn’t fit me particularly well, and was not very comfortable.  But when I wore it, I was Batman!

I am vengeance, I am the night, I am Batman!

These things are worth a fortune on eBay these days, and for a simple piece of molded plastic, their monetary value is probably greatly overblown.  But to a little kid in 1966, it was the opportunity to to strike fear in the hearts of evildoers everywhere.
To the Batmobile!  Na-na-na-na....

So, what'd you get?  

____

North Pole Newsflash:

Elf steals Advent calendar.

Gets 25 days!

Dad’s Pick: Stan Freberg - “Christmas Dragnet”

 

We had this record when I was a kid and I would play it over and over. It came out long before even I was born, and I don’t have any recollection where it came from. It’s a fun record that was a parody of show called “Dragnet”, a procedural cop show that followed the cases of no-nonsense Sgt. Joe Friday of the LAPD. You don’t need to know anything about that to enjoy this great recording though. And it taught me what a scallion is, so it’s educational too! I hope you like it!

Santa: Why so glum, Hermie?

Hermie: It’s my wife, Santa.  She asked me to hand her a lipstick and I accidentally gave her a glue stick.  She’s still not talking to me!

From the Golden Age of Dangerous Toys!

Well, most of us survived!

I grew up in a wonderful time.  No, we didn’t have smart phones or video games, or even the internet.  And yes, we drank from garden hoses, rode in the back of pickups, never wore seat belts, yadda yadda yadda.  But we had some great toys!  Oh sure, some were “hazardous” or “dangerous” or potentially even “deadly”. (Jarts anyone?) 

I had several toys that would fit in one or more of these categories.  One of the coolest and weirdest of these was the Mattel Strange Change Machine!  

"Create 'Em! Crush Em! Create 'Em!" 

This wonderful device really lived up to its name!  The way it worked (without getting too scientific on you), the toy would heat to a finger-blistering temperature, in order to soften a plastic square that would transform into a monster or dinosaur of some sort. 

Looked like Starburst candy...Tasted like science!

I'm melting, melting...

When you were done, and this was really the best part, you would heat the plastic creatures again until they were squishy and you’d stuff them in the “compressor” and smash them back into squares with the Mattel logo restamped on the side! Hey, I'm tellin' ya, it was fun!

Watch and learn:

This was an amazing toy, and about 10 years ago I found my old one in my parent’s attic. It was in pretty good shape, and to my surprise, it still worked! They don't make 'em like that anymore.

Green volcano shaped packing material was part of the toy!

This toy was eventually discontinued due to “safety concerns”, and I did get a few minor burns on my fingers from it. But I feel like those minor burns were like little life lessons for me and other kids, like: “don’t touch hot metal or melted plastic”, or “don’t put your fingers, toes or tongue in the “compressor” to see if it leaves a Mattel logo”, basically “don’t be stupid!”.  

I guess sometimes you can learn more by taking a few risks.  You know, now that I think about it, this was really kind of an educational toy.  And I loved it!

Here's a great website that takes a lighthearted look back on all the dangerous toys from the last century! 

So, what did you get? - DCB
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I dropped a hard-back edition of "A Christmas Carol" on my toe.

It hurt like the Dickens.

Favorite Christmas Presents from the Past!

I must've been about 4 when I got one of these Herman Munster puppets for Christmas. If you pulled his string he would say many “munsterous” things! “The Munsters” was a popular show from the black & white era of TV.  Kind of a creepy toy but I remember really liking it a lot. What did you get?

Not mine.

Catalogs of Christmas Past

There are so many things that dads (& moms) of a certain age got to experience while growing up that today’s younger generations tend to miss out on.  Saturday morning cartoons, drive-in movies and Pixy Stix are all nearly as scarce as lawn darts, these days.

Helloooo up there!

One favorite little part of Christmas for me, that seems to have been missing for a while now, are those huge Christmas catalogs or “Wish Books”.  Every year we’d get these massive books in the mail from stores like Sears, JC Penney or Montgomery Ward that were about 5 or 6 hundred pages of gift ideas for adults and kids.  Imagine a print version of Amazon.

I wanted everything on this page!

Every kid knew to flip to the back half of the book, because that’s where the toys were. And I mean TOYS! They had every toy a kid could ever want or imagine!

Barbie was my sister's go-to.

My sister and I would fight over who would get the book first. What we’d do is go through it, page-by-page, circling all the things we wanted with a pen.  I guess the thought was, mom and dad would look at all the things we’d circled and get them for us.  As time went on, we figured out that we weren’t likely to get most of the things we'd circled, even with Santa’s help.  But we didn’t care. We just kept on circling those toys. After all, it was called the "Wish Book"!

Definitely had a few of these.

This seems like such a small thing now. But for me, it was all part of that holiday magic that only kids get to experience.  My kids have had their own versions of holiday magic, and they’ve certainly not been overly deprived.  But, as a dad, sometimes I wish they could have all the same happy experiences I did. I guess that’s just the way it goes.

Oh, and I still miss lawn darts.  - DCB

You'll Knock Yer Block Off, Kid!

I had Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em Robots when I was a kid. It was really a fun toy, and a great way to work out any pent up aggressions you might have toward robots.

For those who don't remember,  Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em Robots is a two-player action toy, manufactured by the Marx toy company.  It was first released in 1964, and features two robot boxers, Red Rocker and Blue Bomber, mechanically manipulated by the players, and the game is won when one player knocks the head off of the opponent.  (And they say video games are violent!)  

This classic toy has entertained kids for generations and the two robots were even featured in a great scene in the 1999 animated film Toy Story 2.

I read recently that Mattel Films (yep, that's a thing) is producing a live action Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em Robots movie starring Vin Diesel. ('m not making this up!)  

You know, considering the fact these robots can’t really move all that much, I wonder if they'll call it "The Stationary and the Furious". 

Well, the nice thing is even if the movie bombs, the Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em Robots will still get two thumbs up. (See what I did there?)

"We talkin’ or we boxin’?"

Is That An Orange In Your Stocking, Or Are You Just Glad It’s Christmas?

We had this tradition when I was growing up, that we would receive an orange in our stocking on Christmas morning.  Well, I was never particularly excited to get fruit instead of toys or candy and I remember asking my mom about this once.  She said it was a tradition from when she was growing up, oranges were hard to come by and were considered a special treat.  I thought that was nice, but we had oranges in the fridge, so it wasn’t that big of a deal to me. But I was cool with it.

Well, fast forward several years and my kids started getting oranges in their stockings too.  They thought (and probably still do) that this was weird.  My wife hadn’t heard of this tradition either, so I figured it must’ve been something unique to our family.  Turns out, I was wrong.

Kelli Foster, esteemed Food Editor for the website thekitchn.com did an extensive investigation into this Christmas mystery and has uncovered four possible explanations for how this tradition came to be.

“1. According to (one) story, St. Nicholas learned of a poor man who wasn’t able to find suitors for his three daughters because he didn’t have money for a dowry. St. Nicholas traveled to the house and tossed three sacks of gold down the chimney for each of the dowries. The gold happened to land in each of the girls’ stockings which were hanging by the fire to dry. The oranges we receive today are a symbol of the gold that was left in the stockings.

2. During the Great Depression of the 1930s, money was tight, and many families simply didn’t have the means to buy gifts. Instead, it was such a treat, even a luxury, to find things like a sweet orange or some walnuts in your stocking on Christmas. (DCB - This was my mom’s version of the story.)

3. Some also offer the idea that fresh oranges were hard to come by, especially in the north, so finding one of these fruits in your stocking was a huge treat, and a way of celebrating the holiday. (DCB – Pretty close to mom’s story.)

4. Another theory behind the tradition is that December is the season of giving, and the orange segments represent the ability to share what you have with others.”

Thanks Kelli! Orange you glad I asked? 😊

Did you ever receive an orange in your stocking on Christmas morning?  Maybe you got something else, like Oreos, or Chapstick.  Coal, anyone?

Feel free to comment and let me know!

-DCB

Yule be doin' all right...

I've been an Elvis fan since I was a kid.  My family all knew this, and one year for Christmas my grandparents gave me "Elvis' Christmas Album".  I really liked this album, it has a lot of great Christmas songs and according to my sources at the world-renowned Wikipedia Organization, is also the best-selling Christmas album of all time in the United States!  With total sales of more than 20 million copies worldwide, it remains the world's best-selling Christmas album and one of the best-selling albums of all time!

Impressed?  Well, you should be.  The album has been repackaged, remixed and rereleased dozens of times since it first came out in 1957.  Mine looked like the one above.

With songs like "Santa Claus Is Back in Town", "I'll Be Home for Christmas", "Blue Christmas" & "Santa Bring My Baby Back (To Me)" to name a few, this one's a true classic!  Even if you're not an Elvis fan, this album is special and worth checking out.

Here's the official video from the album's big hit, "Blue Christmas".  Enjoy!

First Post!

Happy December!  This is my first blog post ever!  I'm going to try this out to see if anybody likes it (myself included).  I intend to make posts about all the things that make Christmas fun.  I'll definitely be open to suggestions, but this will be just for fun.  Topics may include favorite Christmas movies, favorite Christmas songs, favorite Christmas presents, favorite Christmas memories, etc.  You get the idea.

I may also tackle some of the big issues like "Who's better, Frosty or Rudolph?", "Eggnog, Yes, please! or No, thank you?" or "Is Die Hard really a Christmas movie?". You know, important things like that.

Now that compact discs have virtually become extinct, I'll also feature my annual Christmas playlist that you'll hopefully be able to listen to. Somehow.  I'm still working on that one.

Anyway, I hope this becomes a fun place to check out once in a while for a little Christmas spirit.  Despite the name, this site won't be exclusively for dads, everyone is welcome.

Check back soon! I have some fun stuff on the way!

That time I helped out at the big parade!