The best-remembered of several Christmas Specials featuring The Muppets; it could probably be better called A Henson Family Christmas. It originally aired on ABC in 1987.Fozzie Bear has packed up the Muppets crew and brought them with him to surprise his mom for Christmas. There's just one problem: mom's scheduled a trip to Malibu and rented out the farm house to Doc (of Fraggle Rock), who's looking forward to a quiet Christmas in the country. Throw in the Fraggles themselves, the Sesame Street gang, and even a bit of Muppet Babies, and Hilarity Ensues.
Art Shift: In a meta sense. The Muppet Babies segment is puppeteered, matching the rest of the show but differing from the cartoon. The puppets (with the exception of Baby Animal) were re-used from The Muppets Take Manhattan, officially going from Piggy's dream sequence to actual backstory status.
Bilingual Bonus: As usual, most of the Swedish Chef's dialogue is a lot of incomprehensible babble interspersed with enough English to follow. But when he first arrives at the farmhouse, he greets Kermit with a cheery "Glaedelig Jul!" Yep, that means "Merry Christmas" — in Danish, not Swedish.
The Cameo: During the final sequence, Uncle 'Traveling' Matt is singing alongside Doc and Sprocket.
Carnivore Confusion: One of the Swedish Chef's shticks; in this special the turkey tries to get out of being cooked by siccing the Chef on Big Bird instead. Before Big Bird arrives, he also attempts to persuade the Chef that Sprocket is a turkey, which leads to what may be the best line of the entire special:
Doc: I don't care if the turkey says the dog is the turkey! The dog is not the turkey! The turkey's the turkey, you turkey!
Christmas Songs: Lots of them. Sometimes they're justified, such as the Sesame Street caroling sequence.
Cool Old Guy: Doc proves to be one of these, once he gets past his initial grumpiness.
Creator Cameo: Jim Henson himself shows up at the very end, looking on from the kitchen doorway and commenting. "Well, Sprocket, it looks like they're all having a good time. I like it when they have a good time."
Cross Cast Role: Bert dons a woman's nightgown during "'Twas the Night Before Christmas".
Ernie: C'mon, Bert. Somebody has to play Mama, and you lost the toss!
Cuteness Proximity: After the Muppet Babies segment, Doc admits that "even weirdos are cute when they're babies!"
Gonzo: I knew you'd learn to love us!
Doc: I didn't say that.
Oscar, though, doesn't share the opinion of the Sesame Street play:
Mrs. Bear: Oh, aren't they adorable.
Oscar: Don't encourage them!
Deadline News: A gag carried over from the regular Muppet Show, when the newscaster reports on the storm and states that barometers are falling sharply. And no, he's not hit by the storm, he's hit by falling barometers.
Description Cut: As they drive to his mother's farm, Fozzie gives Kermit a nostalgic description of what she will be doing at that very moment; cut to the farm, revealing that he is incorrect in every detail.
Dramatic Thunder: Count von Count IS in this, after all. Also when the Turkey initially sics the Swedish Chef on Big Bird, we hear thunder booming for no apparent reason except to heighten the drama (except there isn't any lightning at that part!)
Dub-Induced Plot Hole: Or rather, Importation Expansion Plot Hole. The first thought of many young Britons on seeing it was "Why is Sprocket owned by some guy called Doc? What happened to the lighthouse keeper (from the British version of Fraggle Rock)?"
Rowlf has a conversation with Doc's (Muppet but non-anthro) dog Sprocket.
Doc: (amused) Don't you hate it when you can't speak the language?
An anthro turkey hits on non-anthro chicken Camilla.
Kermit gives Piggy a mink for Christmas - a live one that proclaims herself Piggy's biggest fan.
Getting Crap Past the Radar: Miss Piggy at one point asks a rude man very quietly but firmly if he'd like to have children someday. (Yes, threat of castration, or at least a really good Groin Attack. Just one of the unique spins Piggy brings to the Season.) This is one of the scenes which were deleted from the video release.
Half Dressed Muppets: You can tell that the gathering at the end of the show is a special occasion, because even the Muppets who are normally not dressed (e.g. Kermit) have put on special duds.
Heterosexual Life Partners: Lampshaded with Bert and Ernie, who play a couple for a presentation of Twas The Night Before Christmas. (Bert's humiliated that he's "Mama", Ernie responds that someone had to and he lost the coin toss.)
I Am Not Weasel: Fozzie's mom mistakenly refers to Kermit as a lizard several times.
I Got a Rock: In this case, it's apparently a good thing. The "nice yellow pebble" has been a Fraggle gift thirty-seven times, then is given to Robin, then is given to Grover.
Let's Meet the Meat: The turkey seems rather nonchalant about being, as Gonzo notes, "in the wrong place at the wrong time".
Peking Duck Christmas: Subverted. The Swedish Chef first intends to cook a turkey for Christmas, until he sees Big Bird ("Gobbla gobbla humunga!") and tries to kill him instead. Big Bird, in his innocent oblivious way, completely charms the Chef, who decides that his feast is going to feature "shredded wheat and cranberry sauce."
Pet the Dog: When trying to figure out sleeping arrangements, Rizzo considers bunking with Oscar - and the usually-antisocial Grouch admits he likes the idea of having a rat in his trash can.
Pretty in Mink: Piggy's dress for the finale has fur trim; and then, of course, Maureen the Mink takes this trope Up to Eleven in the literal sense.
Snowed In: The gang must weather "the worst blizzard in fifty years," while Kermit worries about Miss Piggy, who is apparently lost in it.
Snowlems: Fozzie builds a snowman who promptly comes alive and shares his sense of humor.
That Reminds Me of a Song: "Well, everybody, it's Christmas Eve and the tree is trimmed, so it's time for our annual carol sing!"
Throw the Dog a Bone: Fozzie actually gets some laughs when he teams up with the snowman. One of the woodland creatures even calls them the funniest comedy team in the business.
True Meaning Of Christmas: Robin the Frog defines it for the Fraggles as a time when "you gather together with the people you love, and you wish each other peace on Earth."
The Unintelligible: Good thing they didn't have Beaker do a solo on the more obscure carols...
Visual Pun: Grover plays a mouse for Twas The Night Before Christmas, and he's carrying a bowl...
Don't Explain the Joke: ...which, as he spells out, he is not stirring. (As in "Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse.")
What's a Henway?: Fozzie and the snowman's act feature two jokes of this type.
You Mean Xmas: The Fraggles have never heard of Christmas, but coincidentally happen to celebrate a very similar holiday, the "Festival of the Bells," at the same time.
Statler: Hey, this page is comparing us to Cthulhu!
Waldorf: Well, you're an Old One, but you sure aren't Great!
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