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Talk about meeting cute: the perky star of All She Wants for Christmas, Noelle, meets hunky stranger Justin because the gigantic blow-up snowman balloon she accidentally loosened in the town square comes crashing down on Justin’s SUV. But no harm done, as this gently comic romance cues the viewer early on that there will be no heavy mental lifting in the film, which is a sweet valentine to the holidays, for the whole family. Noelle (played by Monica Keena, channeling a Dallas-era Charlene Tilton) is really named Judith, but her birthday’s in December, ergo the nickname. And her teeny home town, Forest City, is sort of like Santa’s workshop south of the North Pole–the biggest employer in the town is the local Christmas decoration company. So Christmas is never far from the minds of the locals. Noelle is trying to save the company, while making big plans to take her newly minted MBA to Wall Street. “While other girls were playing with dolls,” she winsomely te (more…)

Uh-oh, Christmas is in trouble! When the ten numbered boxes in Stiller the Elf s magical Christmas Counter Downer become lost, the arrival of Christmas is in doubt. Can Elmo and Abby Cadabby find the missing boxes and restore the big countdown to everyone s favorite holiday?

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The classic Dickens’ tale A Christmas Carol gets a Barbie makeover in this animated holiday program about the evils of selfishness. As Barbie and Kelly are preparing for a Christmas Eve charity fundraiser, Kelly complains that the new event is interfering with the family’s Christmas Eve traditions. Barbie takes the opportunity to tell her sister an important Christmas story set in Victorian England. The story is in essence the classic story of Ebenezer Scrooge, but with Eden Starling (Barbie) standing in for Scrooge, Catherine for Bob Cratchit, and young orphan Tammy for Tiny Tim. Eden is a self-centered star whose new stage show is about to open and who lives her life by the decree that “In a selfish world, the selfish succeed.” Completely lacking in Christmas spirit, Eden insists that her best friend and costume designer Catherine, as well as her other co-stars, cancel their holiday plans to work on Christmas day. Eden’s peaceful Christmas Eve s (more…)

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This half-hour Christmas show is one of the truly lovable animated specials in TV history, a status proved by its annual network telecast since 1965. A Charlie Brown Christmas was the first, and best, of a series of programs based on the Charles M. Schulz cartoon strip “Peanuts.” Hapless hero Charlie Brown finds himself depressed at Christmastime, searching for the true meaning of the holiday amidst the glitz and commercialism of the modern age. Appointed director of the school holiday pageant, Charlie Brown ventures out with Linus to buy “a great, big, shiny aluminum Christmas tree.” Instead they bring back a miserable tree–a real one. A Charlie Brown Christmas shows off the “Peanuts” gang doing what they do best: Lucy is bossy, Snoopy is crazy, Linus is sweet, and Pig Pen is, well, filthy. Instead of using adult actors trying to sound like kids, the production features real children providing the voices, an endearing effect. The jazz music score, composed (more…)

For the first time in its 75-year history, America’ s favorite holiday show comes alive on DVD! The Radio City Christmas Spectacular starring The Rockettes has been a familytradition since the 1930s. Time Life is proud to offer this amazing holiday tradition tothe home market for the very first time, bringing the sights and sounds of this cherished show right into living rooms across America.This special 75th Anniversary DVD features all the best-loved performances including: The Dance of the Nutcracker, Parade of the Wooden Soldiers, Santa’ s Toy Headquarters, the Living Nativity and the arrival of Santa. Home viewers will nowget it all signature high kicks and astounding precisionchoreography, dramatic theatrical lighting effects, breathtakingimagery and an array of glamorous costumes, leaving no doubts about the magic of Christmas at Radio City.

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When your significant other tells you you both need an exit “safe word” before you enter his dad’s Christmas gathering, you know you’re not in Bedford Falls. But while Vince Vaughn and Reese Witherspoon may not be It’s a Wonderful Life’s George and Mary Bailey, Four Christmases is a modern holiday classic in its own right. For one thing, every family neurosis and dysfunction have taken root in the four families of Vaughn and Witherspoon’s characters, Brad and Kate–and the sleek yuppie façade each has built with the other is about to come tumbling down. There are real belly laughs as the couple unexpectedly has to spend holidays with their four extended family groups. “I don’t want to speak ill of your mother on Christmas,” growls Howard (Robert Duvall) to son Brad, while Brad’s bullnecked ultimate-fighter brothers are rassling everything in sight, “but she’s nothing but a common street whore.” Brad may cringe, but Kate’s own family is about to mortify her i (more…)

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Self-proclaimed as “the greatest newsman-hosted holiday special since A Walter Cronkite Tet Offensive,” this fine, foolish and sentimental musical special is better than an Oreo with a cookie in the middle. Tis not the season to be bloviating. Its a kinder, gentler Stephen Colbert, of Comedy Centrals The Colbert Report, clad in homey blue jeans, red turtleneck and a (basic) cable-knit cardigan who welcomes viewers to his mountain cabin. Will a marauding bear at his doorstep prevent him from getting to his New York studio to film his Christmas special? It certainly doesnt prevent inexplicable celebrity drop-ins by country music superstar Toby Keith, country music legend Willie Nelson, indie folk darling Feist and even “ageless icon of generosity and joy Santa Claus (George Wendt).” Its all merrily “cheesy, crass and a commercial travesty” in the time-honored tradition of network holiday specials, and Colbert delivers with a smile, a song, and the Jo (more…)