The First Christmas: The Story of the First Christmas Snow falls during the pageant works a small miracle. The film contains a performance of Irving Berlin's "White Christmas". The film's title actually refers to the Christmas pageant the orphan children presented on Christmas Eve, though the title could also refer to the first time Lucas actually experiences snow after his sight returns. It originally premiered on December 19, 1975 on NBC. In later years, it aired on CBS, usually as the last Rankin/Bass special aired for the season. Freeform once aired the special each year during its "25 Days of Christmas" programming block, but AMC has now taken over broadcast
The Muppet Christmas Carol Williams's songs as unmemorable. Likewise, "Variety" praised the production design and criticized Williams's songs, writing "Muppets Christmas Carol" is "not as enchanting or amusing as the previous entries in the Muppet series. But nothing can really diminish the late Jim Henson's irresistibly appealing characters.” Giving the film three stars out of five, Almar Haflidason of the BBC wrote the film is "liberal but fun adaptation of a classic" that "turns out to be quite touching as Muppet movies go. Less pleasing are the forgettable songs that offer both clumsy word construction and dire music that eats away at the aesthetic