December in the 80's was a magical time of year to be a kid. Not only did we get all the fantastic toys for Christmas, but every year, throughout the holiday season, the television would segue from regularly scheduled programing to air animated holiday specials. They'd come on just late enough that it could be a family event, but early enough that we'd get to enjoy it just before bedtime.
Each half hour block was special. Perfectly crafted with just the right number of advertisements to remind us of all the toys on store shelves, the treats to be had from local restaurants and grocery stores, and all other manners of consumption in between. But at the heart of it was that cartoon which would come out of hiding just once a year, fill your eyes with wonder, bringing smiles, laughter, action, adventure, drama, but at the root of it, a classic holiday message of peace, giving, love, and joy.
It's become my own personal tradition each year to pull a holiday special off the DVD shelf each day to enjoy. It's a ritual which not only has become my way of counting down the twenty-four days of December leading up to my favorite holiday, but my way of reminding myself that no matter what's happening in the world, my day-to-day grind of work, life, health, trials, and tribulations, that for a moment, all of that can be put a side, and I can simply become a kid again, even if it's just at heart.
While I wish I could share the actual special with all of you, be it by inviting you all to my home to join me in front of the fireplace with a bowl of popcorn, sadly, that's just not feasible. However, between sites such as Youtube, Arhcive.org, Dailymotion, and Vimeo, you can probably find them to watch. Of course, for those of you so bold, you could also pick them up on DVD yourself, something I would highly recommend. If not for yourself, for your children.
Fat Albert and his friends are rehearsing in their junkyard clubhouse for a Christmas pageant that they want to put on for their families. The junkyard's owner, "Old Tightwad" Tyrone, shows up and threatens to kick them all out by midnight so he can bulldoze the clubhouse to the ground. After he leaves, they are worried about losing it, when a little boy named Marshall knocks on the door, looking for help. His parents are in big trouble. They came to town so his father, Ray, could get a job, but it fell through, so they are homeless, and his mother, Marge, is pregnant and in labor. The gang tries to help them. Turned away from the nearby hospital because they have no insurance, they are told to go to the city hospital as a charity case, but it is too far away.
Fat Albert strikes a deal with Tyrone to save the clubhouse. He works at Tyrone's store, giving away small gifts to entice customers to come in and shop. Things are going very well, until his friends show up, and think he has become a traitor. When he explains the deal, they all begin to grab for free gifts, angering Tyrone, who kicks them all out and says the clubhouse will come down anyway. Mudfoot Brown arrives to give Tyrone what-for, saying what his late wife, Martha, would do if she saw him acting like that and Tyrone admits to him and Fat Albert that he has been lonely, bitter, and miserable since she passed away. Mudfoot warns him that he needs to change his ways.
In the ruckus, Marshall slips away unnoticed. He heads back to the clubhouse, where he overhears Ray say in discouragement that he does not know how he will ever be able to take care of everyone. Marshall decides to run away to spare him the trouble and befriends a starving dog who is trying to get a bone from a trash can. When they realize he is missing, the gang searches everywhere for him. Marge is ready to have her baby, so they also get Doc Brown to come to the clubhouse. Fat Albert saves Marshall from falling into the icy river when he tries to get away from him, but he runs away again afterward.
Dejected, Fat Albert decides to go back to the clubhouse where, after hearing a baby's cry coming from there, he finds that the baby has come and that Doc Brown and the rest of the gang were present at its birth. Then Tyrone himself shows up with Marshall. Russell begs him not to throw the family out in the snow, but he tells them all he has had a change of heart. He will try to help Ray find a job and take the family to a good hospital. He also will not bulldoze the clubhouse, as it has become a "landmark" with the baby's birth so near to Christmas. He looks up at the night sky, smiling as he asks for Martha's approval of his change of heart.
Being released the year I was born, the Fat Albert Christmas Special isn't one I grew up with, or was knowledgeable of until I found it on DVD a few years back. Since then, it's been a staple in my Christmas cartoon rotation.
It's admittedly a bit dated, and a bit cheesy at times. It hasn't aged as well as other classics from the past, but that's also what gives it a bit of charm.
Wanting to get a little more holiday joy, I pulled out a couple more DVD's and enjoyed some random Christmas themed episodes. Today's picks were:
- Christmas Flintstone from The Flintstones
- A Tale of Two Santas, The Futurama Holiday Spectacular, and X-Mas Story from Futurama
- Cobra Claws Are Coming to Town from G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero
- The Year Without A Santa Claus, the 1974 Rankin / Bass classic
We also used the weekend to put the tree, and stockings up.
We decided that starting this year, we would each select one ornament to buy, and build up our collection over the next few years.
Naturally, my first ornament was Spider-Man. While my girl's was a homemade kit to make an ornament out of the dog's paw.
He didn't seem to mind the process.
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