WINNINGEST ENTRY

Okay--what about MY favorite weird or unusual Christmas program? I'm glad you asked!

I'm actually asked this quite a bit by the people who interview me for newspapers, radio shows and blogs. And I have to admit, I frequently give a different answer each time I'm asked. It's hard to pick just one.

TODAY my favorite is the holiday episode of the children's animated program Chowder, entitled "Hey, Hey It's Knishmas!" The writers of this series have created a parallel to Christmas--not exactly Christmas, just slightly off. (This trend to not name Christmas in children's programming is actually quite common--I can only speculate that it's an effort to multiculturalize the holiday without offending anyone.) But this parallel is more psychedelic and surreal than tolerant of multicultural traditions. If you are familiar with the series, then you know that the characters and the action centers around food stuffs--and in the holiday episode the food stuff activity is Schmingerbread house-building. (And, no that's not a typo--it's a parallel experience to gingerbread houses, I guess.) My favorite is the parallel Santa creature: Knish Krinkle. He only comes to kid's houses if they have a sincere Schmingerbread house (sounds like the Great Pumpkin, huh?). But when he does, it is very bizarre: he's shaped like a wormy caterpillar with a blue face. He writhes through the house, speaking not words but spews 'blech' as he vomits the gifts he delivers. I know--weird huh?

If you want to see it for yourself, SET YOUR DVRs: for Thursday, Dec. 17th at 8pm (EST) for Cartoon Network. Or, it airs again Sunday, Dec. 20th 8:30 am (EST) as well as several more times before Christmas day.