Los doce días de Navidad

In this lovable children's cartoon, the song "The 12 Days of Christmas" gets an entirely new meaning. Growing up, my brother and I looked forward to watching this tv special every year (and sometimes multiple times a year) - my parents, on the other hand, sometimes fled from the room. It is a bit noisy, as many cartoons are, and if you find the repetitive "Christmas version of '99 Bottles of Beer on the Wall'" irritating, you won't stand a chance at liking it.

However, if you don't mind the song and are looking for an interesting explanation behind the random lyrics, this movie might be one of your favorite holiday cartoons. In a world of talking animals, there's a bear princess who's selective about who will win her heart. She writes a Christmas list to her doting but dotty father, and her list gets accidently switched with the answer key to his weekly crossword puzzle. Her most ardent suitor thinks the list will win her heart if he gives her one present a day. It's so funny!

With spoofs on pop culture, like an Elvis impersonator and Motown backup singers, this very unique twist to the Christmas carol is really adorable. Endlessly quotable and guaranteed to capture the attention of even your most distractable children. It's only half an hour, but you can always play it again to keep them occupied. They'll be laughing so hard the first time around, they'll need a second viewing to catch every bit of the magic.

I remember watching this special when it was on! All the characters were anthropomorphic bears. I remember they did one of the verses for the title song in the style of Michael Jackson. I remember thinking at the time that it was freaking hilarious! That's about all I remember about it, though. I don't know why they never showed it again. Maybe it's on VHS somewhere or maybe they've shown it on some cable network. But I haven't seen it since it was first on. If any network executives are reading this (and I doubt they are), you should dig this special up and show it again this holiday season. I guarantee it would be much better than the normal sentimental, sap-drenched, "Hallmark Hall of Fame"-type Christmas drivel you're probably planning to show. We need more Christmas specials like this. Nobody wants to see a "Survivor" Christmas, or "A Very Will & Grace Christmas" or other such nonsense.

Anyway, if you're flipping through the channels this Holiday Season and you see that this special is on, you should watch it. Sure, it's no "Charlie Brown Christmas", but hey, what is?