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Monday, December 7, 2009

Holiday Messages


Those are my Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer peeps. I love them. (I also have all of the Rudolph characters in plush...about beanie baby size, lounging under the tree)

See, Rudolph is one of my favorite holiday shows. There are soooo many layers going on. I mean, most holiday shows have the it-is-better-to-give-than-to-receive message or the Christmas-is-not-about-presents message.

But Rudolph? Man...so much conflict, so much character development....so much growth.

First, let's look at the characters, shall we?

We've got Hermie who is the elf who wants to be a dentist. (Be yourself, Hermie!!)
There's Rudolph, born different from the other reindeer. (Don't hide what you are, Rudy!)
Not to mention Donner (or Donder, depending on which Christmas story you are reading)....(You did NOT just cover up your kid's uniqueness, did you?)
There's Santa...prejudiced against red-nosed deer....

And that's just for starters.

Throw in the whole island of misfit toys (I love that flying lion king....), a monster who's maybe not so fearsome, and a gold prospector who just does his own thing and you've got one spectacular, character driven holiday epic!!

And what I love about watching the little claymation-looking puppets struggle is that the writers did not make things easy for them. They had to tackle huge obstacles, and in the doing of their deeds, they grew.

Even the youngest of TV watchers gets the theme: Be who you are. Accept others for who they are.

Right now, my little plastic elf band peeps are playing right outside of my daugher's Lego Hogwarts (which is decorated, naturally, because there's no place like Hogwarts for the Holidays). The Bumble is perched atop the tower. Rudolph is hanging with Yukon Cornelius, with Clarice trailing behind, as usual. Hermie is about to extract a molar from Hagrid (it's really been giving him trouble). Harry and Ron are playing hide and seek with Santa.

Such is life.

hrh

20 comments:

Catherine Denton said...

Ohhh, I'm jealous of your adorable collection! I've always loved Rudolph. But your analysis revealed why. Never thought of the story being character driven before. Thanks for enlightening us! ;)

Casey Something said...

Cute collection! I can't tell you how many times I've watched Rudolph in the past couple weeks already. My daughter has really gotten into this year.

lisa and laura said...

I keep trying to get my son to watch Rudolph, but he's just not interested yet. He's more of a Grinch guy.

storyqueen said...

Catherine-Okay, maybe I'm reaching...but Rudolph is pretty cool.

Casey-I remember the year Noel was 2...think we watched it until the video tape wore out.

L and L-Say What??? Not Rudolph?? Well, I love me some Grinch, too.

Susan R. Mills said...

I love the collection. Rudolph is one of my favorite. Like Catherine, I never thought of it in terms of being character driven, but that it is.

Natalie said...

That is awesome! I love the old Christmas specials. We've been watching them with our kids this December--so much fun.

Shannon Messenger said...

Hi. I don't know how I've missed your blog all these months, but I found it now through your comments on some of my favorite blogs and wow--I love it! So I hope you don't mind that I'm following you now (why do I ALWAYS feel like a stalker when I say that) and I can't wait to read more of your posts!

Kelly H-Y said...

LOVE it!

Clementine said...

Me too! I love Rudolph and have always wondered why Santa was so mean to him in the beginning? He decided to be nice to him after he learned that he could use his nose to guide his sleigh, what's up with that?

Stephanie Faris said...

What's amazing to me is that many of the shows we loved as children were only 30 minutes in length. I didn't realize that. As a kid, they seemed so long!

Shannon O'Donnell said...

This is one of my favorite, all-time childhood movies. To this day, I have most of the dialogue and all of the songs memorized - my kids think I'm a freak! :)

Love the collection and big-time jealous!

Dawn Simon said...

I love Rudolph, too. I even loved it when I was little and thought it was sooo scary! Your collection is adorable!

Shelli (srjohannes) said...

love this movie!

MG Higgins said...

I love your analysis of this movie! I never thought of it as being complex, but boy howdy is it ever. Wonderful toy collection!

Shannon O'Donnell said...

Good morning! I have an award waiting for you at my blog today - come and see! ;-)

Wendy Sparrow said...

My kids have been watching all of these shows. It's wonderful to pass this love off to a new generation of kids.

Julie Dao said...

Agreed! I love Rudolph more than any of the other Christmas cartoons, although Frosty is a close second - I like to think that there's a theme of loss and fleeting friendship with the story of the snowman. Love your collection :)

Kim said...

Love that collection...and love Rudolph! The whole land of the Misfit Toys gets me every time.

mrsshukra said...

This put a smile on my face this morning, thanks and Happy Holidays!

holiday messages said...

Hello friends,see some more cute holiday messages here:
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