Oh my god I forgot about The Christmas Toy. That was definitely my favorite.
We might have it on VHS somewhere in my parent’s basement. They taped everything when I was little. They definitely have the Claymation California Raisins as well. So much fun!
My fiancee has a taped copy of the Star Wars Christmas special that he says shows Chewbacca’s family. Maybe this year I will get to watch it.
Rudolph’s Shiny New Year, which I prefer to the more popular Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer. As far as I know, it’s never shown and nobody ever talks about it.
Not exactly forgotten, but not commonly seenn these days:
1.) Mr. Magoo’s Christmas Carol. the first animated Christmas Special for TV (especially if you don’t count those “From All of Us…To All of You” Commercials for their latest movies from Disney), with original songs by a seasoned team of Broadway writers, and the voice talents of Jim Backus, June Foray, Paul Frees, Jack Cassidy (!) and Morey Amsterdam (!) Great stuff, including a complex story-within-a-story about Magoo as a Broadway star doing a show of “A Christmas Carol”. It was years before I learned that Tiny Tim was basically Gerald McBoing-Boing with a voice. The success of this encouraged a Saturday night animated series of Mr. Magoo literary adaptations. Without music.
2.) A Christmas Carol, produced but not directed by Chuck Jones. It featured animation based on the original illustrations for Dickens’ story. Scrooge was voice by Alistair Sim!! (Who had played Scrooge in the 1951 film version, arguably the best).
3.) A sequel to A Charlie Brown Christmas was sold on VHS at (I think) gas stations back in the late 1980s. I don’t know if it was ever broadcast.
It’s Christmastime Again, Charlie Brown aired on CBS in November 1992, and was, as you mentioned, also available for sale at Shell gas stations (although Paramount later put out a commercial VHS a few years later). The special was, as many later Peanuts specials were, a collection of sketches taken directly from the comic strip. If you want to stay strictly on the Schulz side, you could also add the somewhat-obscure I Want A Dog For Christmas, Charlie Brown which aired on ABC in 2003 and 2004, and Charlie Brown’s Christmas Tales, which has filled out the hour-long Charlie Brown Christmas time slot since 2002 so ABC can show the latter uncut. Both of these are also taken directly from Peanuts comic strips.
Another Muppet offering, Emmett Otter’s Jugband Christmas. Never see it anymore, ever.
Although he’s shown up on CBS every year for decades, Frosty the Snowman is somewhat the black sheep of the Christmas special family- his Rankin-Bass show, created five years after Rudolph and starring the voices of Jackie Vernon and Jimmy Durante, is a charmer, but not as celebrated as his red-nosed pal. But ol’ Frosty is apparently so endearing a character that he’s shown up in three other TV specials over the years (not counting the Rankin-Bass theatrical feature Rudolph and Frosty’s Christmas in July). Although the first two of these have aired on TV every year for at least a decade, they are not as well-known as the happy, jolly soul’s first TV foray:
Frosty’s Winter Wonderland (1975). Vernon reprises his role as Frosty, who takes a wife (voice of Shelley Winters) and faces the evil Jack Frost, jealous of Frosty’s popularity with the kids. Andy Griffith narrates and sings both the snowman’s theme song and Winter Wonderland.
Frosty Returns (1992). Since all Rankin-Bass cartoons made after 1974 are owned by Warner Bros., Broadway Video (which owned the early R-B output at the time) apparently thought that they needed a “sequel” to air alongside Frosty’s original story. Despite the title and the fact this film was made by the then-rightsholders of the original, this Frosty (voiced by John Goodman) looks nothing like the one who appeared in the first two specials. Johnathan Winters narrated this tale, which was animated by Bill Melendez Productions, the same studio who does the Peanuts specials- and indeed, most of the characters in this special look like Schulz knockoffs (except for the grown-ups, one of whom is a dead ringer for Hallmark Cards’ Maxine). Frosty makes his way to sleepy Beansboro, which is not full of the Christmas spirit. Frosty must team up with a young girl to stop an evil businessman who is selling a snow-melting spray. The villain’s rap number and some of the dialogue (Teacher to rambunctious schoolchildren: “What do you think this is, MTV?”) horribly date this bizarre special.
The Legend of Frosty the Snowman (2005). This special, which premiered on Cartoon Network last year, was written by Emily Kapnek (As Told By Ginger, Emily’s Reasons Why Not). Animated in Canada and produced by Classic Media (the current owners of the classic R-B output), Frosty once again looks as he did back in 1969- and even says “Happy birthday” when he springs to life. This time around, a group of children learn of Frosty’s magic and use his help to bring the spirit of Christmas back to a bitter town. Frosty is voiced this time by Coach’s Bill Faggerbake, using the same deep tones as Spongebob’s dimwitted starfish pal.
Was recently re-released on DVD last year by HIT Entertainment, who has a licensing agreement with Jim Henson Productions. Due to rivalries between HIT and the Walt Disney Company, HIT was, however, unable to obtain permission to use the Kermit character who appears in the opening and closing.
Whoa, THESE ones, too? I’m beggining to think I only saw obscure christmas specials as a kid.
This airs annually on ABC Family, who shows most of the Warner Bros.-owned Rankin-Bass specials as part of their annual “25 Days of Christmas.”
A Christmas Without Snow with John Houseman.
Holy crap. It’s on DVD. And now on a UPS truck coming to my house! 
Thank you.
Produced by British animator Richard Williams (The Thief and the Cobbler a.k.a. Arabian Knight), this special based on the Tom Wilson character was recently released on DVD.
I don’t recall seeing the Garfield Christmas Special on TV recently.
I love that movie. Definitely recommended.
The Stingiest Man in Town (1956), the first musical adaptation of A Christmas Carol, with Basil Rathbone and Vic Damone as the old and young Scrooge. Performed live on the series Shower of Stars. The soundtrack album is still available on CD. Remade as a Rankin-Bass cartoon in 1979.
Nuveau,
It’s on a triple-header DVD in the $9.99 bin, sharing billing with Nestor the Long Eared Christmas Donkey, with The Year without a Santa Claus as the headliner act. Talk about your obscure Christmas specials. I’d forgotten about poor Nestor and his ears dragging in the sand until I got this disk.
Surely it is time for Blackadder’s Christmas Carol to rise again.
“The Marty Party Christmas Special” on TNN. Country singer Marty Stuart, his band the Fabulous Superlatives and special guest Little Jimmy Dickens. Made for about a buck fifty. I adore Marty and this show is hilarious - in a totally unintentional way. It’s not even listed on his filmography on imDB.
VCNJ~
They’re not Christmas specials, but they were Christmas cartoons that used to get shown a lot on the independent cartoon shows.
1.) Rudolph the Rad-Nosed Reindeer – long before the Rankin-Bass studios animated version, and I think even before the Johnny Marks song made famous by Gene Autry, Rudolph was a creation of Macy’s and a character in a story that had a completely different plotline than the more recent and famous special, which this Fleischer studios cartoon reproduces faithfully. I’d wanted to see this or years, and finaly did a couple of years ago. It’s like an alternate universe.
2.) Christmas comes but once a year – Fleischer Studios colotr cartoon in which inventor Grampy cobbles together Christmas toys for a NEGLECTED orphanage. Great stuff.
This is one Snopes this morning, and seems appropriate: