Christmas Eve on Sesame Street

Directed by:	Jon Stone
Written by:	Jon Stone Joseph A. Bailey
Release date:	December 3, 1978
Running time:	58 minutes
Available on:	VHS DVD iTunes Amazon Instant Video

The cover to the storybook adaptation

Christmas Eve on Sesame Street is an hour-long Christmas television special based on the television series Sesame Street. It was originally broadcast on PBS on Sunday, December 3, 1978, and won the 1979 Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Children's Program.

Synopsis

The opening features the inhabitants of Sesame Street enjoying an ice skating party. Big Bird has trouble skating, but a little girl gives him a hand, and he ends up doing very well. Bert falls victim to the antics of Ernie, Cookie Monster, and The Count as they play ice hockey with one of his shoes as the puck, clown around while barrel jumping, play a practical joke on him, and make him very dizzy in a game of Crack the Whip which somehow sent Oscar thrown into the air, tumbling down a flight of stairs, through a couple of walls, and onto the sidewalk where Big Bird and Patty catch up to him and get him back up on his feet. After everyone leaves the ice rink, the story leads into three principal plotlines.

Oscar tells Big Bird and Patty that there will be no Christmas presents if Santa Claus is unable to go down all the narrow chimneys. Distraught, once they return to Sesame Street, they enlist the help of Kermit and Grover to ask children how he does it. Their responses vary. Big Bird even tries to experiment by having Mr. Snuffleupagus play Santa entering a pretend chimney, but he still does not find the answer. Patty tries to comfort him, but fails instead. He winds up trying to stay up all night on the brownstone's roof watching for Santa, but falls asleep while everyone becomes very worried and starts looking for him. During the search, Maria confronts Oscar for upsetting him. He says he was only teasing him and agrees to search for him. Back on the roof, at one point, sleigh bells and hoofbeats are heard, and a person's shadow falls over the dozing Big Bird. He is startled awake, but sees nothing unusual.

Meanwhile, in a retelling of The Gift of the Magi, Bert and Ernie want to give each other a Christmas present, but they both have no money. Bert trades away his prized paper clip collection to buy a soap dish for Ernie's Rubber Duckie, but Ernie has bartered that to buy Bert a cigar box for his paper clip collection. Mr. Hooper realizes what is happening and gives both their treasured possessions back while also reminding the audience that being Jewish, he doesn't celebrate Christmas but understands its spirit.

While all this is going on, Cookie Monster tries to write Santa and request cookies for Christmas. However, as he talks to himself about the many different kinds he wants, he gets hungrier and hungrier, absentmindedly devouring the instruments he is trying to use (a pencil, a typewriter, and a telephone). At the Robinsons' apartment, he laments that he was unable to contact Santa. Gordon reminds him that he might get what he wants if he leaves a plate of cookies for Santa.

At the end, when Big Bird comes down from the roof to warm up, Susan and Gordon make sure he stays. They comfort him by showing that there were indeed presents brought, but having him back is more important. Then Oscar appears and, stepping out of character, admits he's glad to have him back again...but, reverting back, only to ask him how the Easter Bunny hides all his eggs in one night! The special concludes with the Robinsons returning to their apartment to find that Cookie Monster has eaten the needles and decs off their Christmas tree. ("Scotch Pine delicious, but Douglas Fir give me heartburn!")

Songs

• "True Blue Miracle"
• "Keep Christmas With You (All Through the Year)"
• "I Hate Christmas"
• "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas"

Home video releases

US releases

VHSRandom House
1987

VHSSony Wonder
1995

DVDSony Wonder
2002

DVDGenius Entertainment
2008

DVDWarner Home Video
2010

DVDWarner Home Video
2016
Part of the Holiday Double Feature DVD along with Elmo's Christmas Countdown

International releases

VHS (Australia)VDI
1987

VHS (United Kingdom)The Video Collection
1989

VHS (Australia)ABC Video for Kids
1995

VCD (Asia)1995?

VHS (United Kingdom)Walt Disney Home Video
1999

VCD (Asia)2009

DVD (Australia)Madman Entertainment
2009
Part of the Christmas on Sesame Street DVD boxset, along with Elmo Saves Christmas and Elmo's World: Happy Holidays!

VCD (Thailand)TIGA

Trivia

• When Big Bird and Patty check on Oscar following his ice skating accident, his original line was, "Sure. I've been thrown out of better places than that." It was later redubbed in post-production to "Let's go back and do it again!", as the original line was deemed too adult.

Edits

• In various reairings on PBS in the late 80s, the closing scene with Susan and Gordon finding that Cookie Monster ate the needles and decs off their Christmas tree was cut.
• On video releases since the mid 90s, the original 1978 Children's Television Workshop logo with Christmas music was cut. The 1995 VHS replaces it with the 1983 opening logo, while the DVD releases start with no logo at all.

Cast

Actor / Muppeteer	Character
Caroll Spinney	Big Bird Oscar the Grouch
Jim Henson	Ernie Kermit the Frog
Frank Oz	Bert Grover Cookie Monster
Jerry Nelson	The Count Mr. Snuffleupagus
Linda Bove	Linda
Northern Calloway	David
Will Lee	Mr. Hooper
Loretta Long	Susan Robinson
Sonia Manzano	Maria
Bob McGrath	Bob Johnson
Roscoe Orman	Gordon Robinson
Alaina Reed	Olivia Robinson
Debbie Chen	Patty
Jon Stone	Santa Claus
Richard Hunt	Assistant puppetry

Gallery

A little girl teaches Big Bird how to ice skate.

Big Bird with Patty.

Grover asks a child how he thinks Santa Claus comes down the chimney.

At Hooper's Store, Ernie trades his Rubber Duckie to get Bert a cigar box for his paper clip collection.

Cookie Monster attempts to write a letter to Santa.

Snuffy gets into a barrel to show how Santa gets down a chimney.

Oscar starts singing "I Hate Christmas".

Ernie and Bert opening their Christmas presents.

Maria confronts Oscar about Big Bird's disappearance.

Big Bird with Gordon.

"Scotch pine delicious, but Douglas fir give me heartburn!"

External links

• Muppet Wiki: Christmas Eve on Sesame Street
• Christmas Eve on Sesame Street at the Internet Movie Database