Our Favorite Christmas Things: TV

Judy:  One of my favorite Christmas programs is “The Littlest Angel.” It was a Hallmark Hall of Fame production in 1969 and starred Johnny Whitaker from “Family Affair” and Fred Gwynne who was Herman Munster.  The show was based on the book by Charles Tazewell about a little angel boy who is having trouble adjusting to heaven.  He wants to be good and do things the right way, but he’s still very much a little boy. Finally he’s allowed to go back to Earth to get his box of treasures, a collection of odds and ends that he picked up such as a robin’s egg or a pretty stone. I haven’t seen it in awhile, but it’s still a favorite.

Christie:  I’ll pick the same show I picked last year, “A Charlie Brown Christmas.”  It’s a tradition!  It has all the right elements, including that wonderful jazzy music.

Janice H.: My favorite is "The Night the Animals Talked." It's about the legend that on the night Jesus was born, the animals in the stable were given the gift of speech. It hasn't been shown many times, but I certainly remember it.

Jeanne:  I wrote about “Amahl and the Night Visitors” last year, so this year I’ll pick “Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer” which premiered when I was six, probably the perfect age for it to make a big impression. A close second would be “The Little Drummer Boy,” both of which used stop motion animation.I really liked Greer Garson's narration of the latter.  I also like versions of “A Christmas Carol,” especially the one with George C. Scott and the animated Mr. Magoo. A quick check of Wikipedia claims that Magoo was the first animated special made just for television. It’s going to air on NBC on Saturday, December 22 at 8 pm.  This will mark the program’s 50th anniversary. Then there were the old Johnny Cash and June Carter Christmas specials.  There were two I remember especially, one with the Highwaymen (Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, and Kris Kristofferson) in Switzerland which was very funny, and of course I loved the one filmed at the Carter Fold. (Note:  the library has two of these Christmas Specials on DVD.)

Brenda:  My favorite to watch with kids is “Annabelle’s Wish.”  It’s about a little calf named Annabelle who can talk. She becomes friends with Billy, the farmer’s grandson who can’t speak. It’s sweet and the kids really love it. (Note from Rebecca: “To watch with kids?  She just likes to watch it herself!”)

Nicki: Don’t laugh, but in Sweden we all watch Donald Duck. It’s a tradition! On December 24, at 3 pm, they always run a long Donald Duck cartoon and just about everybody watches, because we all grew up watching it at the same time every year. (Note: For more information, read the special post on Nicki’s Swedish Christmas traditions!)

Ashley:  I love “How the Grinch Stole Christmas,” but the animated version not the live action movie.  I love the book, too. 

God Jul!

Stockholm: Image credit Ola Ericson/imagebank.sweden.se

 From Nicki:

I grew up in Sweden, where the traditions are a little different in some ways, but mostly it was a time for family to be together. Christmas is Jul so "Merry Christmas" is God Jul. We celebrate on Christmas Eve. The things I remember best are dancing around the Christmas tree.  We ate nuts, fruit and candy, and drank glogg in the evenings. Glogg is a sort of hot spiced wine.  We lit candles. We ate egg toddy in front of the fireplace.  There was a big family dinner, a julbord which means “Christmas table.”  That’s a smorgasbord with traditional Christmas dishes, like herring, ham, cheese, potatoes,gravad lax, meatballs, and prinskorv, which is sort of like a delicate little hot dog. There are lots of other foods, but those are the main ones.  One of the big things was doppa i grytan, which is dipping chunks of hard bread into the juices from the ham broth. We drank julmust, which is a Christmas soda. My mother made ours, but you can buy a non-alcoholic version at the store but just at Christmas. It’s a little like root beer in taste.

We also got to light tomtebloss, sparklers, while we sat at the fireplace.

Swedish decorations.  Note the traditional goat.  Image credited to: Helena Wahlman/imagebank.sweden.se

At 3 pm, most people settle down to watch a Donald Duck cartoon. Don’t laugh, it’s a modern tradition!  On December 24, about 3 pm, they always run a long Donald Duck cartoon. When I was growing up, there weren’t many cartoons on TV.  They did run them during the Christmas holidays when the kids were off from school, so I’d get up early to watch them.  The Donald Duck special is something just about everybody watches, because we all grew up watching it at the same time every year.  There’s an article about it here:

http://www.mindrepanda.com/stockholm/the-modern-tradition-that-is-donald-duck-on-christmas-eve-in-sweden

Presents were brought by the tomten,  who is a sort of Christmas elf or gnome.  He comes on Christmas Eve about 4 pm because it’s already dark then.  He doesn’t come down the chimney—he comes right to the door! His helpers are called tomtenisse.

Glogg.  Image credit: Helena Wahlman/imagebank.sweden.se

If you want to make your own glogg, there is a recipe here:

http://goscandinavia.about.com/od/restaurantsdining/r/gloggrecipe.htm

Image credit:  Lola Akinmade Åkerström/imagebank.sweden.se