It’s only 10 weeks until Christmas, which for me means it’s time to start watching Christmas movies! Disney has re-released four of their popular animated shorts in a collection called Mickey’s Christmas Carol, out now on DVD. The disc contains these four cartoon shorts: Mickey’s Christmas Carol, The Small One, Pluto’s Christmas Tree, and Santa’s Workshop.

Mickey’s Christmas Carol is an animated retelling of the Charles Dickens’ classic, with Scrooge McDuck as Ebenezer Scrooge, Mickey Mouse as Bob Cratchit, and Goofy as Jacob Marley. Just like the original movie, this version has Scrooge visited by three Ghosts, including Jiminy Cricket as the Ghost of Christmas Past, showing Scrooge his life as a young apprentice when he was in love with a girl (played by Daisy Duck) but chose money over her. The Ghosts of Christmas Present and Future visit Scrooge as well, until he wakes up in the morning with a new sense of compassion for others.

The Small One was a short I had not seen before, and in my opinion, this is what makes this DVD worth buying.  A boy has a beloved donkey called “Small One” that is smaller than the family’s other donkeys, and is unable to carry a heavy burden of sticks. His father tells the boy that the donkey must be sold in the market at Nazareth for a piece of silver. The boy takes Small One to Nazareth, where he finds that the only interested buyer is the tanner, which means the donkey will be killed for it’s hide. Devastated but with no other options, the boy takes the donkey to the tanner, where a man comes along and asks if the donkey is for sale. He needs an animal to carry his pregnant wife to Bethlehem. The boy agrees to sell the man his donkey for a piece of silver, and the short ends with Mary on the donkey, riding to Bethlehem with Joseph leading the way. Don’t be surprised if you find yourself getting choked up by this one.

Pluto’s Christmas Tree finds Pluto and Mickey picking out the perfect tree to chop down for Christmas, with Chip and Dale hiding inside. As Mickey is decorating, Chip and Dale, who have never seen a decorated tree before, are gazing around in wonderment at the ornaments and lights. When a bulb goes out, Pluto discovers that Chip is playing with one of the lightbulbs, and tries to chase him out of the tree, with Mickey wondering what the heck Pluto is doing. Chip runs out of the tree to play with the candles on the hearth, and Dale rescues him before Mickey can light him up like a candle! Both run back to the tree and this time Mickey knows what’s going on, and mayhem ensues. The evening is saved by Minnie, Donald and Goofy appearing at the door as carolers singing “Deck the Halls”. Mickey, Chip and Dale join in, but when Pluto starts howling along, Chip slaps a “Do Not Open Til Xmas” sticker on his mouth, which Kaitlyn thought was hilarious!

Santa’s Workshop is a short that was first released as part of the “Silly Symphonies”.  It was also the first Disney cartoon to show Santa and his elves. Santa is getting ready to deliver presents, and he’s reading letters written to him by children to his elves, as they discuss what gifts each should get. We see the elves putting together toy horses, painting checkerboards, and giving dolls curly hair by scaring them with a spider. Santa tosses a toy airplane and it crashes into a shelf,  causing dolls to come marching towards his toy sack. We see several penguins, an elephant, a donkey, two oriental dolls blowing their hair straight up, a Charlie Chaplin doll with a cop, a black doll on a donkey cart, Noah’s ark, a few ducks, tumbling teddy bears, two piggy banks, a Russian dancer, and a jack-in-the-box. Santa then sings his goodbyes to everyone and takes off on his reindeer.

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