🎄 It’s the 200th episode of the Advent Calendar House, but more importantly, it’s Christmas Eve! So we’re celebrating with a salute to the last remaining special we have left to talk about in the Rankin/Bass Christmas canon: 1974’s “The Year Without a Santa Claus.”  It’s a packed party with Tim Babb, Michael DiGiovanni, Joey O., and Matt Spaulding as we spread Christmas cheer over Southtown and everywhere else — something we could’ve seen Mrs. Claus search for if she hadn’t immediately dropped the idea, but then we wouldn’t have met the true stars of the special: The Miser Bros.  ****  💬 Topics & Tangents:  The original story by Phyllis McGinley.  A read-along record narrated by Boris Karloff.  The DVD menu and only the DVD menu, if that interests you.  Snow Miser’s song in “Batman and Robin.”  Shirley Booth (Mrs. Claus) as “Hazel.”  Today’s TV Tropes: Dressed to Heal, Spinning Paper.  Bob McFadden (Elf Doctor) as “Cool McCool.”  “Panic In New York: Menagerie Breaks Loose,” and other prop newspaper headlines.  Are Santa’s Reindeer Female? (Old Farmer’s Almanac)  Survivor Series 1994: Clowns Are Us vs. the Royal Family.  Ron Marshall (Iggy’s dad) marks the first time I ended up on Muppet Wiki by surprise.  Charlie Chaplin’s hanging out in Southtown.  Heatmiser, the band.  ****  📼 Commercials:  Coca-Cola: “Candles (Buy the World a Coke)” (1977)  Coca-Cola: The World Needs More Santas (2023)  Matt’s book: “Santa in His Own Words.”  “A Bomb for Christmas 2: Past, Present, and Future” on the Can’t Wait for Christmas Podcast.  ****  “The Year Without a Santa Claus” © 1974 Rankin/Bass Productions, Inc.  Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.  Full show notes with links at adventcalendar.house.  Hosted by The Retro Network.

🎄 Rise and shine while you still can! Since this year’s December Solstice falls on a Sunday, I’ve come bearing the gift of an unexpectedly very merry Scrooge Sunday episode of “Xena: Warrior Princess” from 1996.  April Ryley and Sammy Hain join the mission to warm the cold heart of a king who’s banned all Solstice celebrations on an almost wibbly-wobbly timeline that manages to smash together “A Christmas Carol,” the Three Fates of ancient Greek tradition, a Santa Claus origin story, and the Nativity. It even throws in some “Home Alone” style shenanigans, as a treat!  📺 As of this recording, “A Solstice Carol” is available to watch on Prime Video.  ****  💬 Topics & Tangents:  Lucy Lawless in “Spider-Man.”  “Ebenezer and the Invisible World,” the video game.  Moirai: The Three Fates.  The Simpsons: “Desperately Xeeking Xena” from “Treehouse of Horror X” (1999)  Inside Senticles’s toy closet, and his King Friday XIII lookalike jack-in-the-box.  The song: “Solstice Night.”  Karl Urban as Cupid in a Valentine’s Day episode.  ****  📼 Commercials:  7up: Holiday Celebration (1996)  Bad Princess Movies.  ****  “Xena: Warrior Princess” and “A Solstice Carol” © 1996 MCA Television Limited.  Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.  Full show notes with links at adventcalendar.house.  Hosted by The Retro Network.

🎄 Fresh from 1996 comes a Christmas tale that’ll make you cry, but only because it’s being told by an onion.  Anthony Strand hops along for the ride as we buzz back to the VeggieTales’ first Christmas special, in which the only children’s toy that comes with a working circular saw embarks on a quest to find the true reason for the season.  📺 You can watch the official version of “The Toy That Saved Christmas” for free on YouTube, or the original 1996 version on the Internet Archive.  ****  💬 Topics & Tangents:  Differences between the original and the reanimated version from 1997.  “Happy Birthday, Baby Jesus.”  “Most folks call ’em green onions, but they’re really scallions.”  This Mr. Nezzer is not the previously seen Nebby K. Nezzer, but his brother, Wally P. Nezzer, who’s not as cleverly named.  The original vs. the new, improved Bunny Song.  The shelves of Buzzsaw Louies predate the shelves of Buzz Lightyears in “Toy Story 2.”  Ken Cavanagh (Buzzsaw Louie) may have authored this Medium post from 2020: “Leave Jesus Out of It. Viruses don’t care what you believe.”  “The Dead Sea Squirrels,” by Mike Nawrocki.  Today’s TV Trope: Blatant Burglar.  Doctors in the hallway in “Muppets From Space.”  What do you call a group of penguins?  Two More Eggs: CGI Palz.  ****  📼 Commercials:  VeggieTales: “The Incredible Singing Christmas Tree” album (2005)  The Incredible, Edible Egg: Wisecracks (1991)  Mouse Trap (1990)  The Studio Demands It!  ****  “VeggieTales” and “The Toy That Saved Christmas” © 1996 Big Idea Productions.  Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.  Full show notes with links at adventcalendar.house.  Hosted by The Retro Network.

🎄 What if Mr. Christmas was on the naughty list this entire time, thanks to a curse on his family for generations?  Gerry Davila (Totally Rad Christmas) and Guy Hutchinson (Pointless Nostalgia) join us on a Christmas quest back to 1985 as Andy Williams leads a dozen “true believers” on a trip to Finland to find Santa and answer for his totally-not-made-up ancestor.  📺 You can watch “Andy Williams and the NBC Kids Search for Santa” on the Internet Archive.  ****  💬 Topics & Tangents:  The NBC Kids are: Soleil Moon Frye, Cherie Johnson, Ami Foster, and Casey Ellison from “Punky Brewster”; Lisa Bonet, Tempestt Bledsoe, Keshia Knight Pulliam, and Malcolm-Jamal Warner from “The Cosby Show”; Alfonso Ribeiro from “Silver Spoons”; and Joey and Matthew Lawrence from “Gimme a Break!” But not Mindy Cohn from “The Facts of Life,” who shows up, sings half a line, and that’s it.  Guy visits New York City’s Christmas cinematic landmarks, including the locations from “Mr. T and Emmanuel Lewis in A Christmas Dream.”  Not Just Theo: Malcolm-Jamal Warner’s Surprising Career.  Alfonso Ribeiro’s Pepsi Commercial with Michael Jackson (1984)  The painting supposedly featuring Lars Sven Olaf Williams, from 1863.  The Sàmi.  “Sea for Catwoman!”  Porvoo Cathedral (pronounced like “Borga”).  ****  📼 Commercials:  NBC “Let’s All Be There” ID with Santa (1985)  Polaroid: “Christmas – Santa Claus” (1985)  Tinsel Tunes - The Christmas Music Podcast.  ****  “Andy Williams and the NBC Kids Search for Santa” © 1985 Pierre Cossette / Barnaby Productions.  Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.  Full show notes with links at adventcalendar.house.  Hosted by The Retro Network.

🕎 Celebrate Hanukkah with a community talent show we don’t even get to watch.  We’ve miraculously found another Hanukkah special — with yet another spelling of it — so join us as we instantly reappear back in 1991 with a bunch of Canadian animal puppets to discover the magic of the holiday Under the Umbrella Tree.  April Ryley is our lovely assistant as we meet a humble shopkeeper and former magician once known as “The Great Goldberg,” played by the equally great Harvey Atkin.  📺 As of this recording, you can watch “Hanukah Under the Umbrella Tree” on YouTube.  ****  💬 Topics & Tangents:  Holly Larocque in “The Big Band Broadcast” (2008)  Stephen Brathwaite’s (Jacob) artwork portfolio.  Bob Stutt (Iggy) as Wander McMooch on “Fraggle Rock.”  David Copperfield makes the Statue of Liberty disappear.  “Peoples is peoples.”  Today’s TV Trope: Magicians Are Wizards.  A Star is Borscht: The Harvey Atkin Young Jewish Performer Competition (2022)  “Under the Umbrella Tree: The Mask Special” (2020)  ****  📼 Commercials:  Happy Holidays from “Under the Umbrella Tree” (CBC)  Hallmark “Old Friends” Hanukkah Card Commercial (1993)  Remember That Show?  ****  “Hanukah Under the Umbrella Tree” © 1991 Noreen Young Productions, Inc.  Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.  Full show notes with links at adventcalendar.house.  Hosted by The Retro Network.