"Santa's Little Genies" is the Christmas episode of Nickelodeon's animated preschool show Shimmer and Shine, produced for the first season (in a 2D series format).
Synopsis[]
It is Christmas time in Leah's hometown, and Leah is busy finishing up her letter to Santa when she is visited by her best friend and next-door neighbor, Zac, and his dog, Rocket, who needed some stamps for his letter to Santa due to Rocket having mistook his for candy canes due to the design on them and eating them. Zac wants Santa to bring him a canoe for Christmas, despite how he will have to reorganize his bedroom to make room for it by removing his bed since he cannot have both in there at the same time. Leah's letter for Santa is for him to make it snow since it rarely does in their hometown. Once they head home, Leah is rushed to get both her letter and Zac's into her mailbox before the mailman arrives, as he was only a couple of houses away from Leah's when she saw him. In her haste, she drops Zac's and only gets her letter into the mailbox in time for the mailman to pick up. Upon discovering her mistake and that the mailman forgot Zac's letter, Leah fears he will not get his canoe now, and it is all her fault. However, she realizes that she can still get the letter to Santa, with the aid of Shimmer and Shine, as she holds up her genie bottle necklace upon knowing she can ask them for help.
Speaking of Shimmer and Shine, in their homeland of Zahramay Falls, the two genie sisters are busy cleaning up their respective bedrooms, but while Shimmer enjoys it, Shine sure does not. Shine and her pet, Nahal, barely escape being buried by all the stuff she swept under her bed that began to avalanche after Nahal sneezed from Shine's perfume, and keep Shimmer from finding out by closing the doors after escaping into the hallway. Luckily, before Shimmer can find out about Shine's lack of effort in cleaning her room, their bracelets glow to indicate that Leah is summoning them, and together with Tala and Nahal, they depart on their magic carpet to respond to Leah's summons, making their usual trip through Zahramay Falls before heading to Earth.
Once Shimmer and Shine emerge from Leah's genie bottle, and their carpet drops them off before vanishing, they are amazed by Leah's Christmas decorations and become curious about the holiday. Once Leah explains what Christmas is mostly about, the genie sisters want to partake in the celebration as well, since they never celebrated Christmas before in Zahramay Falls. Leah reminds them that she needs to get Zac's letter to Santa. Once Shimmer reminds her to use a wish, Leah's first wish is to deliver Zac's letter to Santa.
With a shout of "Boom Zahramay!" as she grants the wish, Shimmer transports everyone to the North Pole, much to Leah's surprise as she only wanted to have the letter delivered, not meet Santa in person. Despite that mistake on Shimmer's part with granting the wish, which is a habit for the genie sisters, once Shimmer dresses everyone in warmer clothes to accommodate to the freezing weather because of how far north they are, they head over to Santa's workshop, and are brought inside by some of Santa's elves who answer the door, who then give Leah, Shimmer, and Shine some hot chocolate, complete with little marshmallows shaped like cups of hot chocolate. Soon, Santa himself appears, and upon realizing that he knows their names, Shimmer and Shine are curious as to how he does, and why they have never heard of him until now or gotten a single Christmas present. Santa reveals that he knows all the genies of Zahramay Falls alongside everyone on Earth, but without a genie bottle, he cannot come to Zahramay Falls to deliver presents for them. If he had one, he could deliver presents every day to make up for all the Christmases he missed. He also reveals that even if Leah had forgotten to mail him Zac's letter, Santa has been getting a letter from Zac every day since last Christmas asking for a canoe anyhow, since as Zac sees it, his letter could get thrown away in the trash or be misplaced while being delivered, since he knows it happens a lot.
Afterwards, he takes them on a tour of his workshop, showing all the toys and gifts that the elves are busy working on and loading into his sleigh for delivering around the world, and introducing Shine to his reindeer when she mistakes them for elves as well. As one elf announces that there is one hour left before Santa has to make his annual flight to deliver the gifts, Leah is so happy to have met him as she considers that as great as when she got Shimmer and Shine, which they are touched by.
Unfortunately, when a cold breeze blows in through the doors the reindeer were brought through, causing her to shiver, Leah makes the mistake of wishing Santa lived somewhere warmer. As a result, "Boom Zahramay!" Shine takes this as Leah's second wish, and transports Santa to a tropical island in the middle of the ocean. Santa at first is worried upon seeing where he ended up, but makes the most of it with teaching a crab he encountered when he first arrived and befriended with practicing singing, or in this case, clicking his claws, to a few Christmas songs.
Back at the North Pole, when word of Santa having disappeared becomes public, the elves break into a panicked frenzy as, without Santa to keep order, there is no way to finish the gifts and load the sleigh for his annual journey. As Leah tries to calm the elves down, she unintentionally makes her third wish with saying out loud how she wished the elves would calm down. "Boom Zahramay!" Shimmer grants it, and the elves all fall asleep. Leah admits that this time, it was her fault, but as she worries as to how they are going to clean up this mess, the mention of the word "clean" inspires Shimmer as she loves to clean, and with the aid of Shimmer and Shine's genie magic, the toys are finished, wrapped, loaded into the sleigh, and all set to be delivered. However, no one knows how to work the sleigh because of the various controls on the dashboard, and when Shine suggests pressing a button with Santa's face on it, Leah tells her not to touch anything. Shine is unable to resist the temptation of pressing the button, and the reindeer take the sleigh, and them, right to the island where Santa is.
Seeing that they are about to crash, Shine hits another button, which turns out to be the Reindeer Release button, undoing the reins of the reindeer, allowing them to fly free and land individually, but the sleigh itself crashes into the sand. Thankfully, Leah and the others are alright, and are glad to see Santa, who is just as relieved that they found him using the Santa Tracker in the sleigh, but with the sleigh stuck in the sand, Santa wonders how to deliver his gifts now as he needs something to fly on.
Shimmer and Shine have just the thing, and summon their magic carpet for Santa to use instead, with the reindeer lined up so that they can still pull the carpet, but without the use of their reins. With Leah, Shimmer, Shine, Tala, and Nahal joining him, Santa is able to complete his deliveries before returning Leah safely back home. Once back at Leah's house, Santa reveals her letter she wrote to him, and grants her wish for it to snow. As for Shimmer and Shine, they take Santa back to the island where his sleigh is stuck, only to find that the crab that Santa befriended was able to dig it out all on his own while they were making the deliveries. Santa invites him back to the North Pole as he could always use an extra pair of claws, and then presents Shimmer and Shine with their first Christmas gift as thanks for all their help. The gift includes a hot chocolate maker, the little hot chocolate cup marshmallows, and sweaters for Tala and Nahal. In return, Shimmer and Shine reveal they have a gift for Santa as well: His own genie bottle. Now he can fulfill his wish of delivering gifts to the genies of Zahramay Falls. Santa declares his new genie bottle to be his favorite present, and gives Shimmer and Shine a final hug of thanks before he gets back in his sleigh with his new crab friend, and departs to return to the North Pole, wishing Shimmer and Shine a Merry Christmas. Shimmer and Shine also return home to Leah so they can return to Zahramay Falls via her genie bottle, but not without one final summary of their latest adventure.
Songs[]
- "Magic Carpet Song" (We Are on Our Way)
- "Mistake Song"
- "A Genie Christmas"
Availability[]
Santa's Little Genies was available in Nickelodeon Favorites: A Very Nick Jr. Christmas DVD on October 11, 2016 in Region 1.
Cast[]
| Voice actor | Character |
|---|---|
| Eva Bella | Shimmer |
| Isabella Cramp | Shine |
| Alina Foley | Leah |
| Blake Bertrand | Zac |
| Carl Reiner | Santa Claus |
| Dino Andrade | Male Elf |
| Amber Hood | Female Elf |