Christmas Happenings- A Holiday Meme, Week Three

'Christmas Happenings' is a meme designed to let you readers in on what makes Christmas special to me. It will be a weekly installment here on the blog until Christmas comes to town! (Which is in five days if you didn't know!)


I'll be making the theme of this years 'Holiday Happenings' a visual one and will be showcasing the holiday specials that share the season with me year after year. You never know, maybe you'll remember a few!

Christmas Happenings meme -- Week Three(ish)

You've seen clips from my favorite Christmas special and the corniest Christmas special. Now it's time for a twist in the format-- Holiday movies. I'm sure you have holiday themed movies you watch every year and (surprise surprise) I have some to! Here are a few movies that I think you need to check out this year!


White Christmas (1954)
Premise: Army buddies and popular song and dance men Wallace and Davis try to save their old generals Vermont inn when the lack of snow causes money to become a big problem. Along the way, their lives get entangled with the Haynes Sisters. What follows is filled with fun, laughs, and tons of great song and dance numbers!

My Thoughts: If you haven't seen White Christmas, go rent it right now. Seriously. It's a classic.


Holiday Inn (1942)
Premise: Crooner Jim Hardy is ready to give up show business and settle down in the country. When his fiancée expectingly leaves him for dance partner Ted Hanover, plans change. Convinced he can make it on his own in the country, he continues on. When country life turns into a nightmare, Jim has a smashing idea-- to open an Inn that is only open for business on holidays. He hires Linda Mason, up and coming dancer/singer, and from there, hijinks, music, and dancing ensue. Holiday Inn is filled with fantastic holiday themed songs, fantastic sets, some sweet dancing with fire crackers, and tons of fun.

My Thoughts: I love this movie. I believe I saw it for the first time seven or eight years ago and from then was hooked. The songs are fantastic and very catchy. And the fire cracker dance number that Fred Astaire does? Fan-Tas-Tic! It's so well done. If anything YT that number.. Or maybe I'll embed it for you. :-)





Since this was made in 1942, be warned that is has a black face number celebrating Lincolns birthday. My own personal opinion of it is that there is no harm done in this number because it was made in a time where people still remembered or had performed in vaudeville and black face was something you saw in those days. 


Miracle on 34th Street (1947/1994) 
Premise: Susan doesn't believe in Santa. But when a man who looks the part comes to work at her mothers dept. store, she begins to wonder...

My Thoughts:  I think we've all seen this movie, so I felt I could keep this premise short and sweet! Both versions are wonderful. I like how each version has a different ending.  It keeps it the same, yet fresh.  And both Santa's are completely believable-- heck, if I saw them I'd probably believe they were Santa, too!


Jingle All The Way (1996) 
Premise: A harried father decides to dream the impossible dream, to get that year's hot toy for his son just before Christmas Day. (Taken from IMDB)

My Thoughts: This is actually a really cute holiday movie. It's a bit corny, yes, but who can't related to wanting to find a hard to find item during the holidays. *cough*Monster High*cough* It's worth taking a look at. Plus, the Gov. of California has always been an entertaining actor to watch.


I'll Be Home For Christmas (1998) 
Premise: A college student experiences difficulty in getting home for Christmas after being hazed by his friends. While struggling to get home in time for Christmas, he learns quite a bit about himself and the true meaning of the holiday. (Taken from IMDB)

My Thoughts: Yes, this movie stars JTT (have I just dated myself calling him JTT and not Jonathan Taylor Thomas?). And yes, it also has Seventh Heaven star Jessica Biel. But it also has a fun script and is an entertaining holiday movie. It's something you might want to check out if you haven't!


There you go-- Five Christmas movie I watch at home during the holidays.  Do you like any of these?  What are you favorite Holiday movies?

Christmas Happenings- A Holiday Meme, Week Two

 Christmas Happenings' is a meme designed to let you readers in on what makes Christmas special to me.  It will be a weekly installment here on the blog until Christmas comes to town!  


I'll be making the theme of this years 'Holiday Happenings' a visual one and will be showcasing the holiday specials that share the season with me year after year.  You never know, maybe you'll remember a few!

Christmas Happenings meme -- Week Two

Last week, I highlighted the He-Man/She-Ra Christmas special.  This week, I'm highlighting the special that is near and dear to my heart.  Literally, it is my most favorite Christmas special ever.  Unlike last weeks, it's one that a lot of you might also be fans of!  Can you guess?

Hint One: It was first scene on the small screen in December 1986.  

Hint Two: This live action tale is filled with songs, such as 'We Need A Little Christmas', 'Jingle Bell Rock', and 'Pass It On'.

Hint Three: The cast is humongous and includes a turkey and a rather large yellow bird!

Think you know?  Ready for the big reveal?  The 'Christmas Happening' for today is none other than...  

The Muppet Family Christmas!!!!!!

Here's the premise found on the Muppet Wiki,"In this one-hour Christmas special, Fozzie Bear surprises his mother Emily on Christmas Eve by bringing the entire Muppet gang to her farm to celebrate the holidays. Doc and his dog Sprocket, who had planned a quiet Christmas, end up joining the Muppets in their holiday activities and preparations.

The Sesame Street regulars, including Big Bird, Bert, Ernie and others, join the festivities, but to Kermit's dismay, the only one missing is Miss Piggy, who has been caught in a snowstorm."

Timeline:  I've been watching this every year since it aired.  It never gets old!  I even went to the trouble of dubbing my old VHS tape to DVD when I learned that the current american releases were being heavily edited due to copyright laws.  (bah, humbug!)

Why should you watch this?  Because it's packed with musical numbers galore and the whole entire muppet family (including Kermit and friends, Fraggles/Doc/Sprockett, the Sesame Street gang, AND Jim Henson himself)!!!  

Seriously, you should watch this.  If you haven't seen it, you're missing out on some great running gags ("Watch out for the Icy Patch!"), spot on humor (ie: Ernie, Bert, and Doc's 'small talk'), and touching moments (ie: Jim Henson and Sprockett).


Now, your job (if you choose to accept it) is to watch this holiday special!  Like it?  Leave a comment?  What's your favorite part?


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Christmas Happenings- A Holiday Meme, Week One

Christmas is my favorite time of year.  I love everything about it-- crazy Christmas shopping, snowy sweater weather, Christmas cookies, tree decorating, even listening to Christmas music on the radio.  Call me a kid, but I still write Santa each year at The North Pole and even track him on Christmas Eve.   Who says getting older means forgetting about the magic of Christmas?

'Christmas Happenings' is a meme designed to let you readers in on what makes Christmas special to me.  It will be a weekly installment here on the blog until Christmas comes to town!  It will take a different form every year (yes!  I plan on being in business for a while!).  I'm not sure how this will transpire, but we'll see where it goes!  Hopefully it will be as entertaining to you as it is me!!!

Christmas Happenings meme -- Week One

Traditions...  Traditions are big for all of us during the holiday season.  One of the things I really love about Christmas is having a valid reason to re-watch holiday specials from my youth and classic holiday movies!  And because I love watching them so much, I'll be making the theme of this years 'Holiday Happenings' a visual one and will be showcasing the holiday specials that share the season with me year after year.  You never know, maybe you'll remember a few!


This week Brooke's Box of Books will be showcasing an animated television special that is one that all products of the eighties should remember.  Let me give you a few hints...  Hint one: It debuted in December 1985.  Hint two: Both title characters had amazingly popular toy lines at the time (and for some years later).  Hint three: This special, as well as every episode the title characters starred in, ends with a 'moral' tag.


Ready for the big reveal?  Alright.  All three hints point to one very action packed hour of television special goodness-- 

'The He-Man/She-Ra Christmas Special'!

When Orco accidentally blasts off in the Sky Spy, he finds himself stranded on Earth.  There, he finds two Earth children who have been separated from their father while looking for a Christmas tree.  When Orko asks what Christmas is, the kids are taken aback and tell him all about the holiday as they follow Orko into his warm ship.


Back on Eternia, the royal family is preparing for Prince Adam (aka He-Man) and Princess Adora (aka She-Ra) birthday party.  Man-At-Arms opens up a transport beam that opens up in the useless Sky Spy and transports both kids from Earth to Eternia.  Being that the twins mother is an Earthling, the royal family decides to not only celebrate the twins birthday, but to have a Christmas party for the kids, as well, to keep them occupied while Man-At-Arms can figure out how to get them home!


From there, the fun begins.  As it turns out, the evil Horde Prime wants the children!  Hordak and Skeletor both try to snatch the kids.  Hordak gives up quite easily, while Skeletor has an easier time catching them.  But as the two children, a lost dog, and Skeletor travel together, the good nature of the children and the caring nature of Christmas season rub off on poor Skeletor!

In the end, Skeletor stops the evil Horde Prime from snatching the kids, the birthday/Christmas party goes off without a hitch, and the children are returned to Earth safe and sound.  And like all He-Man/She-Ra episodes, the tag emphasized the morals of the story, "Though we celebrate it and get presents, Christmas is about caring, sharing and goodwill and its spirit is within all of us".  Perfectly said, I think.


This special is animated well and filled with an even amount of action bits and holiday themed scenes.  I've been watching it as long as I can remember (which isn't too hard, since this special is only 2 years younger than me!).  Is it corny?  Oh, yes.  Is it awesome?  Oh, yes.   I love this special as a whole, but here are a few of my favorite things about it!

First, I love how Skeletor is with the kids.  He had a good arc during this episode!  Also, the end has a nice bit of animation where Prince Adam is dressed up as Santa.  We usually only get to see Adam in two outfits, so it was a nice change!  (Plus, animators could legitimately forget to color his hair!)  Last, I really like this special because we got to see a huge cast of characters interacting in a quite jovial environment.  These three bits are only a handful of instances that make this Christmas special one with sticking power (at least in my household).


Do you remember watching this special?  Just finished watching it for the first time?  What's your thoughts?  Share your memories of this or other Christmas specials here on the blog and maybe it will be featured sometime during this holiday season!!!  

Now, on to the fun bit of this post!  If you haven't seen it, here's your chance to take a peek at the 'He-Man/She-Ra Christmas Special'!  I've scoured youtube and embedded a few here!


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