Christmas Marathon Double: Veggie Tales & The Cat in the Hat

Its so typical of me to start Christmas marathon (finally!) with animation.

I have a whole rundown of movies and since I’m starting a week later, I’m trying my best to crank out what I can. My goal is to beat last year and thats not going to be too hard since I did 5 reviews. Pathetic, yes, I know! I won’t let that happen again this year 😉

I’m focusing on what I can find on Netflix so if it turns out to be weird movies, I apologize in advance.

VEGGIETALES

SAINT NICHOLAS: A STORY OF JOYFUL GIVING! (2009)

Director: Brian Roberts

Laura the Carrot’s dad might lose his job for not completing his deliveries because of a breakdown that he can’t afford to pay for. Without the truck, he won’t even be able to get a Christmas tree to celebrate the holidays.  Bob the Tomato tries to lighten the mood by telling the story of a little boy call Nicholas who lived in Greece and discovered the joy of giving in Bethlehem and comes home to Greece hoping to be able to continue what his parents did. It shows the story of how Saint Nicholas came to be while using it to reflect on the current situation with Laura the Carrot and the importance of joyful giving 😉

 I’m personally not too familiar with Veggie Tales.  I think the concept is cool but I’m not huge on the whole religious thing since I’m pretty much agnostic.  However, I never shrug away any animation.  Veggie Tales is very much for younger kids.  Its very musical and adds a little cute jokes here and there.  It uses vegetables and simple names to remember the characters. What works is that it really doesn’t matter what background you have, it shares good values to the younger generation and that works for me.

I fully acknowledged that it was geared for younger kids but it still has its fun moments.  Plus, I’m not sure how accurate any of these stories are but if Saint Nicholas’s story comes from this, well, I’d say, I learned something new.  There’s a good amount of fun to be had with this one 🙂

THE CAT IN THE HATE KNOWS A LOT ABOUT CHRISTMAS (2012)

Director: Tony Collingwood, Steve Neilson

Cat hosts a Christmas Eve party and invites Sally and Nick along with Thing 1 and Thing 2 and all his friends.  When the party ends, he drops them off at home, only to find that Ralph the young reindeer got off at Sally and Nick’s.  Cat appears again to help take Ralph back home to Freeze Your Knees to be back in time for Christmas with his family. On the way, the Thingamajigger has a problem and they get stranded. Will they find a way to get everyone home in time for Christmas with their families?

I’m a HUGE Dr. Seuss fan. Like if I could live by Dr. Seuss, I would. I read his stories when I’m having a crappy day before bed and it makes me feel better.  There is so much good about his stories.  Only because of Netflix did I hear about this The Cat In the Hat Knows A Lot thing, so I gave the Christmas one a shot.  I’m going to admit that it wasn’t quite what I expected but it wasn’t all that bad.  A little long and its really only geared for kids but the colors and the animation are really nice to see, especially since its a step up from the old versions, right? This one takes the characters of The Cat in the Hat so it adds some fun.

If you have young kids, this one might be entertaining to watch.  I mean, kids under 8 would probably be the demographic for this.  Regardless, it also has a few lessons to be learned about friends and keeping promises.  There’s something valuable to be taken away from this one (just like Veggie Tales).

Now that we have Christmas marathon finally started, I’m sure I’ll be able to catch up with a few other entries.

Any Dr. Seuss fans? How about Veggie Tales? Have you seen these before? 

Santa Claus Around the World

Last Friday, I had a little lunch stroll to take some pictures around the area.  I made it a point to stop at the World Trade Centre Building because every year they have a fantastic exhibit of Santa Claus.  Its from the traditions of all over the world and how they came to be.  Its pretty neat actually.

As a part of Christmas celebrations, I’m taking you on a Santa journey around the world.  Sounds fun, right? Lets go!

Father Ice

The first one we have is Father Ice (also known as Dedt Moroz) and his legend is originated from Siberia.  The story is that a kind and gentle girl was pushed from her own home by her (Evil) Stepmother to the Frozen Forest during a storm.  Father Ice appeared and showered her with diamonds.  The stepmother learns about this and sends her own daughter to do the same.  Disgusted by this, Father Ice froze her for eternity.

21st Century Santa

Santa Claus is rocking it in the 21st Century here with his gadgets and staying fit.  It seems 21st Century Santa is doing what we saw in Arthur Christmas. Cellphone to keep in contact with the North Pole headquarters and he even has a tablet to track the gifts for the children.

Black Peter

Black Peter helps St. Nicholas in taking care of the bad children.  He is more known in Central Europe through different names such as Butz and Hans Trapp in different parts of Germany and Pere Fouettard in France.  If you’re a naughty one, he’ll be the one dropping off that lump of coal.  Apparently if the naughty child’s behaviour has changed, he will deliver a gift instead.

Russian Saint Nicholas

Russian Saint Nicholas is actually a Ukrainian version of Saint Nicholas from the growth of belief in Christianity into Russia.  By the 1800s, it had established this figure as the Russian Saint Nicholas that gave birch rod switches as punishment and a reward of gift symbolized by the christmas tree.

Saint-Nicholas- Bishop of Myra

This is seemingly where it all started.  Saint Nicholas was a bishop at the church in Myra, a city in Asia Minor.  He has a deep understanding of the church at a young age and this made him a church high official and was called “Boy Bishop”.  There aren’t many written stories about him as they were mostly passed on generation after generation secretly by families.  We know him by all the names around Santa Claus, Kriss Kringle,  Pere Noel, Father Christmas, etc but he remains a symbol of unselfish generosity, good cheer and joy.

Medieval Santa

Medieval Santa was known to be around the twelfth century when there were kings and castles and wizardry and so on and so forth. During the Christmas season, the castle gates would remain open and Medieval Santa would give out gifts by foot and spreading good cheer.  The folklore goes that when his load was too heavy, he would have merry gnomes helping him out.

Bavarian Santa

The Lutheran Church in Bavaria saw Santa in a different way. They saw him as the messenger of the Angels.  This Santa would bring the requests of the children up to heaven and then would descend to give the gifts from the angels.

 North Pole Santa Claus

So we finally arrive at the one that is most widely known and its North Pole Santa Claus to end things off.

Its a nice little exhibit on Santa Claus all around the world.  Which one do you like the best? Have you heard of any of these before?  I’ve only heard of North Pole Santa and Saint Nicholas-Bishop of Myra, the other ones are actually quite new to me.