Children’s Christmas TV and Films

As every family grows, certain elements of Christmas become, for a while at least, traditions that are kept up from year to year. This is especially true of the Christmas TV programmes and films that come out every year. They are comforting in many cases, and they give the whole family the warm feeling that comes from shared memories and shared enjoyment. There are various DVDs (or videos back in the day)that were given an airing every year as the children grew up. They may not necessarily be played any more, but just the sight of them as I flick through the DVD collection brings a rush of nostalgia.

I have deliberately avoided the obvious Christmas staples like the original cartoon version of How the Grinch Stole Christmas, Polar Express, The Santa Clause and The Snowman to concentrate instead on three much less familiar Christmas offerings. They may be available on DVD still, or they may be on YouTube, but they are all very much worth considering.

The Bestest Present

A gorgeous film from the world of For Better or For Worse

When I lived in Japan, I took over the flat that went with my job from my predecessor. Luckily for me, she left some of Lynn Johnston’s For Better or For Worse collections in the bookcase. At a loose end one day I picked up one of the books, never having heard of the series that never made it to the UK. Well, within a few pages, I was completely hooked. Over the years I collected all the collections, only giving them to charity when I started to upgrade to the complete collection series of hardbacks.

Now, a number of years ago I found out that the For Better or For Worse series had been made into a series of specials with The Bestest Present being the Christmas one. I bought it from Lynn’s website where you can still get it, and the whole family just loved it. Elly and John Patterson, the parents, take daughter Elizabeth to a big department store for Christmas shopping. Here she loses her beloved soft toy, which threatens to completely spoil Christmas for the whole family. The usual mix of comedy, sadness and thought provoking reflections on Christmas are all taken from the amazing source material to create a completely new story that will appeal to fans of the Pattersons, and those who have never heard of them, alike. It is one of those that I can still put on for myself because the beauty and simplicity of the story appeals to parents and, perhaps, affects them more.

Santa’s Bumper Christmas

Three songs bought to life in cartoon form

The three cartoons on this DVD are simply animated and built around three songs, White Christmas, Twelve Days of Christmas and Santa Claus is Coming to Town. The first of the three was never particularly popular, although it could happily play in the background. Twelve Days of Christmas is huge fun as an initially gruff and sceptical father will not let a young man marry his daughter unless he collects everything from the song, the Twelve Days of Christmas! Some of the 12 gifts required some very lateral thinking, but as he worked his way through the list he got more confident, until just one piece of the song proved elusive. It becomes very much a task that you are hoping the young man will complete. Some years this had three or four plays, so popular was it. The final cartoon Santa Claus is Coming to Town is probably the pick of the three with probably the most unexpected storyline that got very emotional at times. I won’t spoil it, but it is an absolute gem. Ignore the fact that the animation is very old-fashioned and just lose yourself in the stories.

Father Christmas

Raymond Briggs on superb form yet again.

Although nowhere near as popular as The Snowman, Raymond Briggs partially connected follow-up Father Christmas, is a superb piece of film making in its own right. It creates the marvellous character of a grumpy Father Christmas, superbly voiced by Mel Smith in the British version, who decides that one year he is just going to get away from everything and treat himself to a long overdue holiday. He goes to many places around the world including Las Vegas, France and Scotland, only moving on when he has had enough or when someone has recognised him. We are used to a permanently happy Father Christmas, so his occasional irritations with the world around him is refreshing and very funny. We do see his deliveries on the big night, but even they don’t quite go as expected. It’s a great story with bracing humour and a central character who refuses to fit in to the conventional mould. The children were always highly amused by his continual use of the word ‘Bloomin’ and by his general demeanour. Even now, I can watch it myself and find huge pleasure from such a well-crafted cartoon.

So, there you go. Three Christmas offerings that may be entirely unfamiliar to you and your children, but shows that have stood the test of time with us and may very well stand the test of time with your family. Happy viewing!