Family Christmas Special (The Third)

In the offs and ons while I have been decking my halls, trimming my tree, returning my tree to the Target and then trimming a better tree, wrapping my presents, and cooking my non-Christmas-related Japanese candied lima beans, I've been watching old-school Christmas specials, courtesy of YouTube and various other internet streaming video sites.

What strikes me most about the brief explosion of Christmas cartoons which seemed to hit America in the early 1980s (and then continued to be aired every year for a good decade afterwards) is the quality of the music.

Let's take, for example, our friend Stephen Colbert and his recent A Colbert Christmas: The Greatest Gift Of All. Colbert hired a roster of famous musicians: Elvis Costello, Toby Keith, Willie Nelson, John Legend, and Feist. Can anyone remember a single song from that show?

Now let's see if you can remember this one:

You hope, while I hurry
You pray, while I plan
We'll do what's necessary, 'cause
Even a miracle needs a hand!




Even though Twas The Night Before Christmas (better known as "that one about the mice and the clock") first aired in 1974, that tune is so catchy that, over thirty years later, the South Park people just assumed we'd remember it. Speaking of which, probably most people who saw any of the South Park Christmas specials even once can still sing (albeit with a few mumbled lyrics) songs like "Jew on Christmas" or "Mr. Hankey, The Christmas Poo." (Mr. Hankey, the Christmas poo... he loves me and I love you... therefore vicariously he loves you!)

Anyone up for a Colbert Christmas special sing-along? Anyone? How about any other Christmas-special songs written in the last five years?

Didn't think so.

But ten points for the first person to (without looking it up) finish the 1987 Garfield Christmas Special lyric:

Dad would chop down the tree (Work!)
Mom would cook up a meal (Chores!)
Doc Boy would get in the way (Fighting!)
...?

And a hundred billion bonus points to the person who recognizes the reference in the post's title. ^__^