Before we got onto the conclusion of our big Christmas Special ranking, let me just wish all of you a merry Christmas! It’s cliche, but it only comes once a year and you never know how many you’re going to get in a lifetime. For my family, it’s a somber one as it’s the first Christmas without my mother-in-law. And she absolutely loved Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. If she knew I didn’t place that one in the top 10 she’d probably be angry with me, but you know, the top 25 ain’t too shabby either.
The Christmas Spot is a labor of love for me. I love Christmas and I love indulging in it as much as humanly possible each year. And that means watching as many Christmas specials as I possibly can. I love discovering new ones, especially so if they’re new and actually enjoyable, but I also can’t disagree that settling in with an old favorite isn’t a ton of fun too. And a lot of what makes up the top 10 can be described as an old favorite. I suppose that likely comes as no surprise considering the name of this blog is The Nostalgia Spot. With Christmas, a holiday that burns even brighter for children than it does adults, it’s pretty much impossible to separate nostalgia from the equation. I try to be as objective as possible, but I know that I can’t remove those childhood memories and affection from a lot of these. There is a drive to go against the grain, zig when others expect me to zag, but I also hate being a contrarian for the sake of being one. No one likes that guy. As a result, these ten are pretty familiar and not all that different from the last time I did this. It just couldn’t be helped, but their staying power in my heart and in my mind is also a testament to their quality. And I do think I have a couple in here that probably aren’t in a lot of top 10s and I even have two that aren’t even ten years old! That’s enough preamble though, it’s Christmas and you all have stuff to do and places to be, so let’s get to it:
10 – Prep & Landing
It’s funny how the Disney holiday special Prep & Landing still feels new to me, even though it’s now old enough to drive in most states. When this one first came up I was averse to it for no particular reason. I just lumped it in with Disney Channel fair and assumed it was for little kids, if not outright bad. Boy, was I wrong. It was actually recommended to me by my parents, of all people, who had somehow made it part of their annual tradition. I say “somehow,” but this actually is the rare Christmas special to still get a showing on network television year after year. A lot of those have dried up, but so long as ABC is owned by Disney it seems like we can count on Prep & Landing to be shown every year.
And that’s a good thing because it’s pretty great. In this special, we’re introduced to the concept of Santa Claus having an entire division of elves called Prep and Landing. These elves arrive first and basically clear the area for Santa’s arrival. They’re like his own Secret Service. It’s a genius bit of lore because it opens the special up to spy type missions in addition to traditional Christmas special tropes. Wayne is a part of this division only he’s getting kind of sick of it and seeing his partner get a promotion instead of him basically sucks the life out of him. He gets partnered up with an excitable new recruit named Lanny on the big day (an odd time to announce promotions, honestly) following the bad news and basically tries to coast through the night. Nowadays, we call this quiet quitting. This results in disaster and Santa is forced to pass over the house where little Timmy lives (it’s always a little Timmy) and the shock of that realization forces Wayne back into form in a bid to save Christmas for this kid. It’s a unique setup and a pretty relatable premise about feeling unappreciated at work which honestly is something that likely appeals more to adults than kids. Not that there isn’t plenty for kids to latch onto. That relatable element, and the newness of it all, is what makes this original Prep & Landing much better than its sequels. A new installment was actually premiered this year and if you want my opinion on it it’s fine. Maybe better than Naughty vs Nice, but that’s a discussion for another day. When it comes to what I consider modern Christmas specials, this is the one I use as a measuring stick.
9 – Duck the Halls: A Mickey Mouse Christmas Special
This Christmas special is one of two in the top 10 that isn’t even a decade old. It also prominently features Donald Duck who appears in a whopping six of the top 10! I knew I was a big Donald Duck fan, but even I didn’t realize it ran that deep. One of those six was Prep & Landing where he just has a cameo, but six is six. This one features the famous duck in the starring role. He is the “duck” in Duck the Halls and that subtitle almost feels like it only exists to placate the ego of a certain mouse. If Mickey is in something, he needs to at least share top-billing with the rest of the cast. It’s like a rule they have at Disney.
This special comes from the most recent era of Mickey Mouse cartoons by Paul Rudish. It takes the classic characters and adds more of a mad-cap feel to them. They’re all allowed to be funny with no straight man to play off of. In this one, Donald wants to spend Christmas with his pals, but since he’s a duck that’s a no-no as he’s supposed to migrate with the rest of the flock. This happens every year, but this time is different as Donald opts to stay. The results are disastrous as the cold weather literally causes the poor guy to fall apart forcing Daisy and the other ducks to stage a rescue attempt. Meanwhile, Mickey and the gang is well aware of Donald’s deteriorating condition and vow to get him south, but Donald wants none of it and basically goes insane and runs around town naked with a tree skirt draped around his shoulders. It’s wonderfully funny with just some great visuals to go along with it. I suppose if you don’t like this non-traditional take on Mickey then Duck the Halls won’t change your mind, but I love everything about it. What it lacks in Christmas feels it more than makes up for with humor and outlandish visuals. I just wish Alan Young had been around to voice Scrooge McDuck.
8 – Toy Tinkers
I wanted to break these two up, but I just could not do it. Toy Tinkers is our other Donald Duck starring vehicle only this one is much older than Duck the Halls. This comes from the 1940s when Donald was on fire. Mickey may have been the mascot for the Walt Disney Company, but Donald was the star. And in this short, he gets paired up with perhaps his greatest rivals: Chip and Dale. The two chipmunks are going to infiltrate the duck’s home on Christmas lured in by the warmth, festive decor, and those nuts. A bowl of nuts may feel more decorative than anything these days, but to a pair of chipmunks it’s a feast.
Chaos ensues when Donald realizes the rodents have invaded his home. Not one for sharing, Donald essentially declares war which is probably why this Christmas short still remains absent from Disney+. Donald disguises himself as Santa and hands out presents to Chip and Dale, only for a revolver to emerge from one such gift that Donald gleefully shoves in their adorable little faces. Modern Disney probably isn’t crazy about one of its most famous cartoon characters brandishing a realistic firearm in such a manner. And from there, a firefight breaks out. While Donald is using a pop gun, it looks realistic and fires nuts and ornaments like a machinegun. There’s a bunch of war-like parody images as the chipmunks return fire and even explosives are introduced. It’s one of the most Warner-like of all the Disney cartoons. And it’s just a ton of fun and it’s all over in less than 10 minutes. I love this era for cartoons and I love a good Christmas themed short. There’s just one I prefer to this one, but Toy Tinkers is always a good time around the holidays.
Speaking of chipmunks, here we have A Chipmunk Christmas starring those lovable little rascals Alvin, Simon, and Theodore. The trio had been in a bit of a lull until the son of creator Ross Bagdasarian, together with his wife Jan Karman, paired up with the legendary Chuck Jones to bring us this animated classic. The chipmunks were given a makeover that is very evocative of the Chuck Jones style and the existence of their classic “The Chipmunk Song (Christmas Don’t Be Late)” meant the special didn’t need to come up with its own theme. All it needed was a purpose and a plot.
For that, we get a pretty typical Christmas special plot. Alvin needs to learn how to appreciate what he has and not focus on the “getting” aspect of Christmas. The twist here is he figures that out in the first act when he gives away his prized Golden Echo harmonica to a sick little boy. From there, it becomes a story about how Alvin feels a need to replace that harmonica before his adoptive father, Dave, finds out he gave it away. And in his quest to do so, he appears selfish and greedy in the eyes of his father because he doesn’t know what’s really going on. It’s all going to work out in the end and whatever ailed young Tommy even magically disappears once he gets the harmonica. What I also like about this one is that Mrs. Claus gets to get in on the act instead of her more famous spouse. It’s a delightful little reveal at the end that I can still remember seeing for the first time as a kid. The antics of Alvin and his brothers are fun and this one does register in the “feels” department. Plus, the chipmunks never looked this good before and really never will again making this Christmas special feel all the more special.
I often here people refer to A Charlie Brown Christmas as this very low energy, low stakes, Christmas special. The way it’s phrased is to imply surprise at its staying power and how universal the love is for the special. One holiday special that might be even more low energy by comparison is 1987’s A Garfield Christmas. In this one, Garfield, Odie, and John head to the farm where John grew up to celebrate Christmas with his family. They have dinner, trim the tree, sing, read a story, and that’s about it. A very ordinary Christmas that is held every year by countless families that are far bigger than John’s. The fact that A Garfield Christmas is so beloved is because it’s driven by its characters.
Garfield is a character that requires little explanation. He embodies the emotions we humans attribute to cats. He’s lazy, enjoys eating, and would prefer to spend Christmas in his nice, warm, bed. In some respects, we can all relate to Garfield. The rest of the family helps to round things out. John and his brother, Doc Boy, provide some humor via their apparent case of arrested development going so far as to try and get their parents up at 1 in the morning to open presents. A lot of the heavy lifting when it comes to the emotional side of this special is provided by Grandma. She’s a high energy grandma, but she’s also a sad character as she reveals in a long monologue how Christmas is the time of year she misses her late husband most. It’s the moment in this one where things kind of stop in their tracks. We were having fun just observing this family up to that point and now find ourselves all thinking about the people missing from our own lives this Christmas. If you can’t relate to that part, you will some day. The special has a sweet ending and it’s buoyed by some lovely animation and even some decent songs that do not overstay their welcome.
5 – Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire
The 1980s were a great time for Christmas specials and sneaking in right at the end of the decade is The Simpsons. You don’t need me to tell you about The Simpsons. They’re basically the most famous family in America, animated or otherwise. It will never stop amazing me that this show is still running, but we’re currently in season 37 of the show with no end in sight and it all started with this holiday episode. “Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire” wasn’t supposed to be the premier of the show, but it’s how it all ended up happening. And as a result no matter how many Treehouse of Horror installments the show does, it will always share a special bond with Christmas for as long as it lives.
Returning to this one annually is always a fun reminder of how this show began. The Simpsons wasn’t all that different from other sitcoms of the era with the main exception being that the family was kind of poor. The premise of this episode is that a thing like Homer losing his Christmas bonus could absolutely ruin the family’s holiday. It’s further compounded by Marge having to blow the family’s rainy day fund on getting Bart’s tattoo removed. Not wanting to let his family down, Homer tries to keep everything under wraps and secretly takes a second job as a mall Santa Claus, but when that ends up only paying out a measly thirteen bucks he’s forced to go to drastic measures and gamble his small sum of money at a dog track in a last ditch effort to raise enough funds to provide for his family. Since it’s The Simpsons, things can’t just work out for Homer in a nice, tidy, fashion, but he and Bart fall ass backwards into an even better present for the family: a dog. It’s also interesting going back to this one because the show is very much not at all concerned with preserving the Santa Claus myth for its audience. The writers definitely envisioned the show as more of an adult one that older kids and teens would probably also find interest in, but it ended up taking off most with a younger audience. As a result, this may be the only one in the top 10 of my list that you won’t want to expose the youngest viewers to, but for everyone else it’s a true classic and remains the best Simpsons Christmas episode.
I mentioned it already in the Duck the Halls portion, but Mickey needs to receive top-billing in anything he appears in. Take this cartoon for example which, by all rights, should be considered a Pluto short, but it’s actually considered a Mickey Mouse one. It follows a familiar premise when compared with Toy Tinkers and even comes after it, but I find this one just a bit more enjoyable. It’s also simpler and the violence is far more tame so you can find this one on Disney+ all year long.
Mickey and Pluto begin this one in search of a Christmas tree. While doing so they encounter the pair of Chip and Dale who enjoy poking fun at Pluto for some reason. I guess because he’s just a fairly normal dog while they are chipmunks of a much higher intelligence. Pluto chases them up a tree which also ends up being the one Mickey settles on and the two end up inadvertently infiltrating the mouse’s house. There, they find a lovely home among the well-decorated tree. There’s the allure of nuts as well, but Pluto is not having it. After trying and failing to get Mickey’s attention to point out the rascals, it turns into a chase sequence which basically destroys the tree and results in Mickey strangling his dog. Yes, he really strangles Pluto. Despite that bit of animal abuse, this cartoon short is quite enjoyable and it all starts with the beautiful backgrounds and animation. The interior shot of the titular Christmas tree is the most Christmas shot ever dreamed up in animation. If I had the money and the ability, I’d go to great lengths to own that animation cel of Dale taking it all in. It’s just gorgeous and I love indulging in this one several times a year.
3. DuckTales – Last Christmas!
This is likely the one that’s going to be the biggest outlier in my list and I am okay with that. When most people my age hear DuckTales they likely refer back to the series that began in the 1980s and was part of the inaugural Disney Afternoon programming block. That show did not have a Christmas episode despite featuring a main character named Scrooge. To make up for it, the 2017 reboot had two Christmas episodes and this first one is one of my most favorite things.
DuckTales is a modern animated series with a strong throughline. It’s not entirely serialized though in such that someone just jumping in at any point would feel lost, but those who have kept up will probably get a little more out of it. And the main plot of the show is that Donald Duck has been left to raise his nephews all on his own, but eventually needs a little help and turns to his uncle Scrooge. The boys have never met their mother and do not even know if she’s alive and what happened to her because their uncle and great uncle refuse to discuss the matter, but they know it caused a major rift in their relationship. And we also have Scrooge who, like his namesake, appears to hate Christmas only in this episode we find out that’s a ruse. He just pretends to hate the holiday (though he truly hates Santa Claus for other reasons) so people will leave him alone freeing him up to go galivanting through time with his friends the ghosts of Christmas. It would seem they visited the wrong Scrooge years ago, but enjoyed hanging out with this one. Using the powers of the Ghost of Christmas Past (who is a cricket in just one of many nods to Mickey’s Christmas Carol), the group travels to holiday parties past, only this year Past is plotting to make sure the night never ends as he’s pretty lonely.
When the group travels back in time, there also happens to be a stowaway: Dewey Duck. Dewey is able to drop-off and land at McDuck Manor back in a time when his Uncle Donald and mother Della lived there as children. It’s through this bit of time travel that the young duck gets to meet his mother for the first time, only he can’t tell her who he is unless he wants to risk his very existence. Even sharing his name could have unintended consequences. It’s a really powerful plot device that only time travel could bring about. We saw Marty McFly meet a past version of his own parents which is interesting, but in his case he at least knew both of them in the present. Dewey has never interacted with his mother and to first do it with her as a child is wonderfully creative. It’s also kind of heartbreaking. The episode is careful to balance this all out with plenty of humor and some action as well as the two plots converge for the climax, but it’s also the sort of plot where if one sits with it and digests it they’ll likely find it pretty affecting. I just love it and there’s some wonderful callbacks in it that even one-time viewers should get. If you have never experienced it then I recommend you right that wrong. It’s the rare holiday episode I watched in the moment and I knew I’d be returning to it for years to come.
I swear I didn’t set out to spotlight a bunch of Disney Christmas specials, it just worked out that way. Until doing this, I was almost unaware of how much enjoyment Disney has brought me over the years at Christmas time, but there’s no displacing the classics. Mickey’s Christmas Carol is my favorite version of Dickens and it’s not particularly close. Some love the Muppets (ironically, another Disney IP) while some love the more traditional, but for me it’s all Mickey and primarily Scrooge McDuck. This was my introduction to the character who would go on to star in DuckTales voiced by the wonderful Alan Young and I’ll never be able to separate him from Ebenezer Scrooge as a result. A huge tip of the cap goes out to my mother and her Christmas Tape she made in 1987 for me and my sister. On that famed relic, Mickey bats lead-off along with a trio of classic Disney shorts in Donald’s Snow Fight, Pluto’s Christmas Tree, and The Art of Skiing. A truly splendid way to fill an hour of television.
This version of A Christmas Carol quite simply has it all. There’s gorgeous animation, wonderful backgrounds, terrific voice acting, humor, and all the feels one would expect from this classic story. I love Disney’s version of the three ghosts and Marley and they will always be the first images that come to mind when speaking of those characters. The music is terrific and the sequence at the graveyard is both terrifying and heartbreaking. The resolution is as uplifting as it would have been if played by human actors and maybe it’s even better since these characters can emote in very specific ways. It’s kind of amazing what Disney can do with that duck visage which should be pretty rigid, but in the capable hands of Disney animators is capable of any expression needed. I already mentioned Alan Young by name, but this was also my introduction to Wayne Allwine as Mickey Mouse and he would go on to voice the character into the new millennium. He is probably my favorite Mickey voice actor for this particular take on the character and he’s wonderful here. It’s also the swan song for the original Donald, Clarence Nash, and while he doesn’t have a huge presence in this cartoon he sounds just as good as ever when called upon. My only disappointment with this one is that it disappeared from network television at some point in the 90s. Why? I don’t know, but it never should have. Especially with Disney owning ABC. I’d love to see that 80s block revived, but for now this one can at least be found on Disney+ and is also free to stream on YouTube.
1 – Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas!
As if it could be any other. Once again, I am declaring the animated classic How the Grinch Stole Christmas! the best Christmas special of all time. At this point, I can’t imagine anything dethroning it. It’s the perfect combination of story, visuals, song, and nostalgia that makes for the best Christmas special. How could one improve upon the Grinch? It plays to those who love Christmas and those who are exhausted by it. The Grinch is both relatable and a villain with a redemption arc. And in the hands of Chuck Jones he looks as good as he ever did and ever will, and we now have two feature length films to prove that point.
I honestly can’t remember if the Grinch was my favorite Christmas special as a kid. It was certainly up there, but I can also recall really loving Rudolph, Mickey, Frosty, and even ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas. The Grinch was always there though, that really consistent player smack dab in the middle of my Christmas Tape. Working in his favor is the half-hour format. I love a good short, and if a special is special enough to command an hour that can work in its favor too, but the half-hour cartoon is certainly my preference. The songs in this one are simple, but oh so effective. We all know “You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch,” but the songs sung by the people of Whoville are just as catchy and the moment when they all sing on Christmas morning still lands hard for me every time I return to this.
What will always please me the most though, are the visuals and the Grinch and Max dynamic. The Grinch is just so expressive in the hands of Chuck Jones. His scowls, his nervousness, that smile! I mentioned wishing I could afford an animation cel of the interior of the tree in Pluto’s Christmas Tree and right up there would be a cel of Grinch in full smile. Even though an image can’t do it justice since it’s the animation that sells it as the smile just keeps creeping up his face well beyond where you would have expected it to end. And the way his hair unfurls is just the icing on the cake. Max is also adorable as the poor pup victimized by Grinch throughout. He is the sympathetic core of the picture, but he’s also infectious in the few moments he’s excited. We root for the Whos to get their Christmas back, but we also really just want to see Max have a happy ending. I love this one and I will love it for the rest of my days. I cannot foresee a time in my life when I will get sick of watching How the Grinch Stole Christmas! I am always down for a viewing and it feels like I can’t possibly watch it enough each season.
If How the Grinch Stole Christmas! is not your favorite Christmas special then that is okay. It’s more than okay. It’s okay if your favorite isn’t even in my top 10, 25, or not in this countdown at all. Whatever your favorite is, I hope you feel as strong about it as I do the Grinch. I hope you have that one Christmas special that can turn your day around with a simple viewing. It just makes you happy and helps you to appreciate what a unique time of year Christmas is. I hope you enjoyed this countdown and that you have a wonderful Christmas this year and all the years to come!
If you can’t wait until next year for more Christmas then check out what we had to say on this day last year and beyond:
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