December 17th Holiday Recommendations

by Amy K. Bredemeyer

It's hard to believe how close to Christmas we're getting! Below you'll find some of our recommendations for holiday programming to watch or DVR for Saturday, December 17th. It's a bit heavy on the ABCFamily, so I hope that you get that network! For a full listing, check out our Holiday Programming Schedule. As always, times are Eastern and Pacific to the best of our knowledge (except when noted otherwise), but it's always good to double-check with your own provider.
 
7am: Nestor, the Long-Eared Christmas Donkey (ABCFamily)
- Now, I'm a sucker for some of the "weirder" Christmas specials out there, but I like this one. I don't love it, and I don't own it, but I do tend to watch it annually. Nestor is a lot like Rudolph... he's different from the others, but gets a really important job at some point. Rudolph got to take Santa through the fog, and Nestor got to be the donkey that carried Mary to Bethlehem.

10am: Twas the Night Before Christmas (ABCFamily)
- The songs in this Christmas special are the most precious thing ever. I was always jealous that I couldn't sing as well as the children heard in this feature! Rather than actually read Twas the Night Before Christmas, we would watch this special as kids. I think that's why it became one of my favorites, actually.

2pm, 10pm: Santa Claus is Comin' to Town (ABCFamily)
- As a child, I based all of my Santa knowledge on this stop-motion special. The story of Kris Kringle, the fact that his wife was named Jessica, the fact that he was an outlaw, why he grew the beard, why the reindeer fly, and that the bad guy is always the Burgermeister Meisterburger. When children ask me questions about Santa, I spit out answers from things I learned here. It's worked so far! 

3:30pm: Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (ABCFamily)
- It's not Christmas if I don't watch the first two Home Alone films! (I saw the third and fourth for the first time last year... what disappointments!) I prefer the original, personally, but I understand why the second one tends to be pretty popular. The "Kevin Saves Christmas" part of the film is a lot better than the "Kevin Saves his House" idea. The bird lady is more appealing than the snow shoveler. And, let's not lie, New York City at Christmas has a magic all its own. And, as I continue to steal bits from others, I tell Mr. Duncan's story of the two turtle doves as if it's fact... never having actually looked it up elsewhere. ha!

8pm: Frosty the Snowman (CBS), 8:30pm: Frosty Returns (CBS)
- I love the song. I love the idea of bringing a snowman to life with a mysteriously magical hat. I'm not the biggest fan of the actual Christmas special in comparison, though. Maybe it's that whole greenhouse scene with Karen, but I was upset that Frosty would give his life to save someone else. I still get angry with that scene, and fast-forward through it when I watch to this day. Oh, and if you want another sequel, Frosty's Winter Wonderland is on ABCFamily at 3pm.

8pm: Wipeout "Deck the Balls" (ABC)
- I made it a point at the end of the summer to give up watching Wipeout. It was a lot of fun for a very long time, but I just got sick of it. However, if you want a few laughs and physical injury is funny for you, I'm sure that this will be good. Their themed episodes were generally their best, and you'll get to see Jill's replacement as well. Should anyone tune in for this, report back and let us know how it was!

9pm: Everybody Loves Raymond "Season's Greetings" (TVLand)
- This is the one where Debra wants to write a Christmas letter and it soon turns into a disaster. Marie and Debra decide to team-up (because that always goes so well... haha!), but nobody is happy with what's being written about them. This episode changed how I write my family update each year... the good and the bad are fine, since history is history.