Dec 24, 2008

Merry Christmas

Christmas will be unique this year. As most of you will be celebrating the birth of the baby Jesus with family and friends I'm stuck here at my apartment cause the hill to the entrance is a sheet of ice and my vehicle refuses to climb it. Sadly my family get together will be postponed this year till the weather gets better and I'll be spending this holiday in front of the tube watching Christmas specials.

I started racking my brain for some of the strangest holiday specials as a kid. Sure we all remember Rudolph, Frosty, Charlie Brown, and The Little Drummer Boy, but I recall one that really boggles the senses.

No it's not The Star Wars Holiday Special, but I'm glad to see you're thinking.

I recall The Life and Adventures of Santa Clause, originally written by L Frank Baum who was the brains behind The Wizard of Oz. Taking the story of St Nick the writer made a twist and gave it a pagan approach. The show starts with nature spirits having a conference about whether to make Santa Claus an immortal. Some important one tells the story of Santa's life and tries to convince the others that he must live forever.

The scene I remember is when the child Santa is being taken around the world by the immortal with elk horns and is shown how brutal humans can be. They observe two boys in Japan training to be samurai and kicking the living crap out of each other with wooden swords. Little Santa does not like this and sees a world where children must be happy.

My sister and I had this recorded for whatever reason, but we watched it constantly. I loved stop motion animation as a child.

I have no idea why I spent time writing about an obscure Rankin/Bass production. Oh well.

The folks at Erik's Ramblings wish everyone a safe and Merry Christmas.

"Unless we make Christmas an occasion to share our blessings, all the snow in Alaska won't make it 'white'" -. Bing Crosby









5 comments:

JLee said...

Just remember, when you're snowed in, there's always FACEBOOK. lol
I will have to challenge you to a quiz or something. Have a great holiday, Wiwille!

word verification: fulatio

Anonymous said...

We are with you, Erik. As you know my mom lives on a hill so we are spending xmas by ourselves not at our usual spot. Only problem...all of the three year olds presents are already at Grandma's!! Atleast she can't read a calendar!

Grace said...

Aww it bites that you're stuck at home... hills are bad that way. I hope you find some good Christmas movies to watch, there are some good ones out there.

Merry Christmas!

AccountDeleted said...

Only one of those Russian Secret Agents from a Bond movie could ski down that hill and come rescue you from boredom, dressed with lingerie under a thick, white fur coat and a bottle of Stoli... but if she is British, run, run as fast as you can, cause it could be Camilla-Parker Bowles and a bottle of Bitter... Feliz Navidad Yo!

Mattbear said...

Sorry to hear that you are stuck on Christmas, man. Have a good Christmas anyway.