Holiday Animation

Awhile back, we talked about favorite holiday movies. Now that it's actually Christmas Week, it's time for the real treasures: holiday animated specials. And the list is vast.

• My all-time favorite, no question, no argument, is Chuck Jones' adaptation of How The Grinch Stole Christmas! If I have to tell you why, I envy you, because you obviously haven't seen it, which we'll take care of right now.
• I also really love Santa Claus Is Coming To Town, to my mind the very best of the Rankin-Bass stop-motion specials. Great cast, great script, only one dumb song.
• A Charlie Brown Christmas is lots of fun, especially if you haven't seen it for a few years.
• Opus and Bill: A Wish For Wings That Work is just wonderful.
• The Nightmare Before Christmas is obviously not for everyone, but I adore it.
• Along the same lines are Richard Williams' animated Christmas Carol and Mister Magoo's Christmas Carol, both not seen much these days and both very underrated (and rather frickin' creepy).
• I have to mention Rankin-Bass's Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, but understand my love for it is not most people's. Sure, the songs are mostly great, especially "Silver and Gold" and "Holly Jolly Christmas". Sure, Yukon Cornelius is a fantastic character. But what I really love about it is that it's one of the most mean-spirited, abusive, misogynistic pieces of MST3K meat in video history. It's amazing Rudolph didn't come back with a machine gun to take out his entire herd and then the big fat guy himself, let alone agree to lead the sleigh. Seriously, go watch it with an eye towards political correctness. You'll be flabbergasted.

What are some of your favorites? Don't worry about overlap; go right ahead and name some of these, if they're your favorites, and your favorite moments.

Cooking

Corn muffins are done. There's a big pot of chili simmering. Soon, taco meat for freezing. Tomorrow, cookies. Russian tea cakes, decorated sugar cookies.

What's your holiday cooking lookin' like?