Dec 23 2008 12:45 PM ET

What's the saddest moment in a holiday TV special?

Frosty_lSo, I’m sitting down to enjoy my Original Christmas Classics Limited Keepsake Edition DVD — that’s a collection that includes Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, Frosty the Snowman, Santa Claus is Comin’ to Town!, The Little Drummer Boy, Mr. Magoo’s Christmas Carol, Cricket on the Hearth, and Frosty Returns — when I read the back of the box: "Remember When… Frosty was brought to life by a top hat on Christmas Day?" No, actually. I remember when Frosty melted in that greenhouse (pictured), because I sobbed. Every year. Watching it again just now, I thought for the first time about how horrible that must have been for little Karen to witness! It’s like the end of Titanic. In reverse! Is this the saddest moment in a holiday special or movie? If not, what moment tops it?

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Comments (82 total) Add your comment
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  • Rich S.

    You said you have the Little Drummer Boy in the same set. Check out the scene where his pet lamb is run down by the runaway cart. Yeah, like Frosty he’s eventually resurrected. But I’m convinced that scene (and the fact that LDB is one of the few Christmas specials with actual religious content) is the reason that Little Drummer Boy was pulled from TV for two decades.

  • Crystal

    Tiny Tim.

  • Lori

    Saddest moment is in Garfield’s Christmas special when it’s Christmas Eve and Garfield is sitting in Grandma’s lap in the rocking chair, and she’s telling him about how Christmas Eve is the night that she misses Grandpa the most……I cry every single time I watch it.

  • Jenn

    The saddest scene is in “Nestor: the Long Eared Donkey”, when Nestor’s mother dies. Tragic!

  • Tracy

    Hands down, saddest is Little Drummer Boy, with that lamb. I was traumatized as a child watching that piece of art and to this day, have to leave the room when it happens! What a tearjerker!

  • TrP

    Another vote for when the mother dies to save her son in Nestor the Long Eared Christmas Donkey. That scene still makes me cry 30+ years later!

  • wendy

    In One Magic Christmas when the parents are too poor to get any presents. That makes me sad. That movie has alot of sad parts.

  • J

    I agree with the Garfield one.

  • Dennis N.

    I’m with you, Mandi. Nothing gets me as much as that greenhouse scene. It’s seriously traumatic.

  • Steve B

    The ALF Xmas special when the little girl dies. Dammit, it’s Xmas!

  • Jason

    The entirety of Emmett Otter’s Jug Band Christmas.

  • Kellan

    The movie Prancer makes me cry pretty much from start to finish. I mean, really cry! I’ve watched it twice so far this season, and I still get all weepy. For some reason, it’s my favorite Christmas movie (along with The Year Without a Santa). Frosty melting is pretty traumatic though. I never liked Frosty for that reason.

    • John

      YES! oh man, I thought I was the only one! I ball my eyes out everytime, theres only been two movies to ever make me cry. Prancer, and Bridge to Terabithia

  • Donald

    Mean old Ben Weaver in the alley, softly singing along to “Away in a Manger,” as he watches Andy and company’s jailhouse Christmas celebration on “The Andy Griffith Show. Gets me every time. That, and Mr. Magoo’s Scrooge singing, “I’m All Alone in the World.”

  • Emilee

    My husband and I rented a collection of Disney Christmas cartoons, and one of them was titled “The Small One,” and its about a boy who has to sell his little donkey because its too old to work. After trying all day to find the donkey a good home, the boy eventually ends up at a tanner. I have never cried so much during a cartoon before. It ends happily with Joseph buying the little donkey to carry Mary to Bethlehem, but I can’t ever watch it again!

  • Hey Jason

    Wow, I totally forgot about Emmett Otter. That movie always got me.

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