25 Days of Christmas: Day Four

A Muppet Family Christmas (1987)

"I don't care if the turkey said the dog was a turkey! The dog is not the turkey! The turkey's the turkey, you turkey" - Doc








Of all the Christmas movies of my childhood this is the one that stands out the most. I remember watching this every year on an old VHS tape and marveling at the fact that all the muppets were in one place at the same time. We go to see the Muppets interact with the Sesame Street gang. Kermit and Robin sang with the Fraggles. There were live action Muppet Babies! It was awesome!

It's a simple little story about how the whole gang crashed the farmhouse of Fozzie's mom for the holidays and a massive storm rolls through and everyone is worried about Miss Piggy as she is the only one that hasn't arrived yet. So we have the little bit of drama needed for a Christmas special, we have music, jokes, and even a surprise appearance by the man himself, Jim Henson.

It was magic to me as a kid and it still holds up to this day. I still love the running gag about the slippery spot on the porch that causes all who enter to fall on their butts. I like the Swedish Chef trying to lure Big Bird into the kitchen so he can cook him for the Christmas dinner. I also love out of tune pianos...

As I said... the story is simple and the whole thing is really just a bunch of sections slapped together to make an hour long special. It's jumbled. But it doesn't matter. To see the original cast get together and have some fun is great in itself.

One thing that I never noticed when watching this over the last few years... when the Sesame Street folks show up caroling I thought to myself that this was my Sesame Street. Back before Elmo took over. No Elmo here, no sir. And then I saw him. That little red guy was singing with the rest of them. I had never noticed him before and was a little shocked that Elmo was hanging with the crew even back then. I wonder if he was Elmo back then or just another random unnamed monster...

Another thing I never noticed before... When the Fraggels come out to see what the singing is near the end of the movie, I never noticed that Uncle Traveling Matt was there as well. He was standing right underneath where they were. He was so close to his Nephew and he didn't even notice... kinda sad.

It's a great Christmas special and I urge you to take a look. I just watched the whole unedited version on YouTube. There is a DVD out there but it's edited and some of the music is missing. For your first viewing I guess that would work but for those who grew up on the special we can see that there is something missing and it's not cool at all.

After watching this I truly feel like the Christmas season is upon us...