Every Christmas season as a child I looked forward to seeing "cartoons" like the original "Frosty The Snowman" sung by Gene Autry and other shows that were more like short cartoons, I don't remember the names of them all. As you can tell I was a child during the ice age!
It seems the shows were pretty much the same, choices didn't seem to vary much from year to year but I got just as excited in anticipation of watching them as if it was the first time! Towards the end of my childhood "A Charlie Brown Christmas" came out and it seemed to change everything, heralding the coming of the "Christmas blockbusters," very exciting for a child, although I was growing up.
As an adult I saw "The Box Of Delights" and was fascinated, an enchanting children's story that convincingly hovers between realty and fantasy.by Wonder Works on PBS. It is about a young English boy Kay who is sent to a bucolic estate in the countryside on Christmas Eve during WWII.
One of the first scenes is at the train depot, snow is falling and the boy is given a handsome wooden box by an old man who looks like Santa Clause. The boy soon discovers the box has magical powers and can make him small. Wonderful scene of him having an eye to eye conversation with Mr. Mouse as he ice-skates under the house. The boy discovers a spy ring next door at the Abbey and all the adventures that ensue. Classic and extremely well done as only the British can do it.
Here is the movie: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DUkOsMSN7PI&list=PL9essfVPD5ORk-JH22u3LvyeCPuOdI3JV
