For those of us born in the mid-fifties or later, our first Christmas favorites generally came from animated Christmas specials. Rapt and amused, we watched these programs year after year, and the tunes lodged in our brains like bubblegum in curly hair. The shows, which featured songwriting of the highest order, include Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer (starring Burl Ives, 1964); A Charlie Brown Christmas and Dr. Seuss' How The Grinch Stole Christmas (1965); Frosty The Snow Man (starring Jimmy Durante, 1969); Santa Claus Is Coming To Town (starring Fred Astaire, 1970); and Year Without A Santa Claus (1974). A Classic Cartoon Christmas (1996), a Nickelodeon release, compiles many highlights from this sacred cartoon canon; a second volume, A Classic Cartoon Christmas, Too (1997) is fun but far less impressive (despite featuring the wonderfully malevolent "Heat Miser").