Countdown to Christmas #25: Christmas

Dur. 

Countdown to Christmas #24: Christmas Eve

"To the most beautiful moment in life, better than a deed, better than a memory, the moment...of anticipation!"

--Jacques, Marge Simpson's would-be-lover in the season 1 episode "Life on the Fast Lane".

In much the same way that Friday is my favorite day of the week because the promise of what the weekend holds is usually better than what actually ends up happening, I've always enjoyed Christmas Eve far more than Christmas Day.

Countdown to Christmas #23: A Charlie Brown Christmas

Without a doubt, A Charlie Brown Christmas is my favorite Christmas TV special, though it's difficult for me to explain exactly why. 

Countdown to Christmas #22: Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer

If Santa Claus is Comin' to Town is the Rankin/Bass version of a modern comic book writer's pedantic origin story, than Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer is their version of a batshit insane Silver Age DC comic.

Countdown to Christmas #21: The Muppet Christmas Carol

The Muppet Christmas Carol is my favorite Christmas movie, one I watch in whole or in part every year. The movie takes the standard story of A Christmas Carol and adds the Muppets (including Kermit as Bob Cratchett, Fozzie Bear as Fezziwig and Statler & Waldorff as the Marley Brothers), Michael Caine as Scrooge, original songs and fourth wall breaking narration from Gonzo (as Charles Dickens) and Rizzo the Rat.

Countdown to Christmas #20: Soundwave

Yes, Soundwave. Megatron's second-in-command (well, the second-in-command who wasn't also constantly trying to kill and/or usurp him). The monotone Transformer who turns into a tape player.

Countdown to Christmas #19: Christmas Village

For whatever reason, I've always been fascinated by Christmas villages, those dioramas of buildings and figures you'll see in fancy Christmas stores. My grandpa always setup a small one on an end table in the living room, and I think my interest stems from that (as well as the fact that, as a kid, I never just played with my action figures but set them up in elaborate diaroma-esque scenarios first).

Countdown to Christmas #18: The Elves Song

 From the Futurama episode "A Tale of Two Santas", one of my favorite Christmas episodes.

Futurama
New Santa
www.comedycentral.com
Funny Jokes It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia Ugly Americans

Countdown to Christmas #17: Christmas Comic Books

Whether taking on A Christmas Carol or featuring Superman teaming up with Santa Claus to defeat Toyman, super hero comic books, like TV, have a long tradition of paying homage to the holiday.

Countdown to Christmas #16: Elf

The most recent of my favorite Christmas movies, Elf combines my love of Christmas with my love of Will Ferrel comedy into a fun little movie I watch in whole or in part every holiday season. Though the climax bugs me (specifically the shoehorning in of some pretty random action movie beats) there's plenty of good stuff to balance that out in this story of a man raised to be an elf trying to reconnect with long lost father.

Countdown to Christmas #15: Candy

The candy most associate with Christmas is, of course, the candy cane, but I'm not a big fan. They make my hands sticky and get rather difficult to eat as one approaches the curve.

Countdown to Christmas #14: Santa Claus is Comin' to Town!

"Santa Claus is Coming to Town!" is one of Rankin & Bass' Christmas stop motion specials (and is less well known than their Rudolph special, which will be covered in this series in due time). It first aired in 1970 and is essentially the origin of Santa Claus, but even better, it's the origin of Santa Claus as though a modern comic book writer wrote it for the most pedantic of comic book geeks, in which even the most minor of details are given a specific background story to explain it. This thing is like the "Superman: Birthright" or "Green Lantern: Secret Origin" of Christmas specials.

Countdown to Christmas #13: Mr. Hankey's Christmas Classics

"Mr. Hankey's Christmas Classics" is a Christmas album released in conjunction with the South Park episode of the same name. Like most of South Park, the songs (some original, some covers of classic Christmas songs) are crass, offensive and hilarious.

Countdown to Christmas #12: Dominick the Donkey

Another thing I love about Christmas are those more regional and international traditions and characters that haven't made it into the Christmas zeitgeist yet.

Of those, my favorite is, without a doubt, Dominick the Italian Christmas donkey, who helps out Santa by climbing the mountains around Italy to deliver toys to children.

Countdown to Christmas #11: Presents

Presents! Whether you like to give them, receive them, or (like most of us) both, there's no denying that the modern holiday season is centered around presents.

Countdown to Christmas #10: Ebenezer Scrooge

Ebenezer Scrooge is one of literature's great iconic characters, one of those characters (like Sherlock Holmes) that's become an archetype. Even if you've never read A Christmas Carol, you know who Scrooge is and what his deal is. His name has become an adjective synonymous with miserly and skinflinted and his use of the word humbug to describe Christmas has transformed that word's meaning to one who doesn't like Christmas or isn't cheered by the holiday season.

Countdown to Christmas #9: Snoopy's Christmas

 
"Snoopy's Christmas" is a Christmas song recorded by the Royal Guardsmen in 1967 as a follow-up to their hit "Snoopy vs. the Red Baron." The song chronicles a Christmastime aerial duel between the World War I Flying Ace and Germany's most notorious aviator and illustrates the power of Christmas to bring even the bitterest of enemies together, if only for a brief moment.

It is one of the best Christmas songs ever.

Countdown to Christmas #8: Snow

This one's for Joan!

Countdown to Christmas #7: TV Christmas Episodes

It's darn near inevitable that, at some point in its run, a TV show will air a Christmas episode. Usually, these episodes come in one of four varieties: 

Countdown to Christmas #6: A Christmas Carol

I'm not a big Charles Dickens fan, but A Christmas Carol is the one exception. With it, Dickens manages to speak to the subject most important to him (the disenfranchised poor in Victorian England) but due to it's relative brevity compared to his other works, that subject doesn't overwhelm the story.