You know what I like? Emmet Otter's Jug-Band Christmas by Jim Henson. If anyone doesn't know it, it's the story of Emmett, a young otter who is raised by his single mom after his Pa dies. He tries to earn money to help his poor starving mother who works several jobs yet still finds time to have fun and serenade her son with her bitchin' otter voice. One day Emmett finds out there's a local talent contest and if he can win it, he can buy Ma a christmas present, so he takes her only washtub (and only source of income) and drills a hole through it to make a bass for his jug-band. Then they lose the talent contest to The Riverbottom Nightmare Band, a gang of local hooligan so-and-so's who demonstrate their bad behavior early on in the show by stealing Kemit the frog's (the story's narrator) scarf and throwing him violently from his bicycle.

The best part about this movie by far, is the scene in which Ma and Emmett play on the slide that Pa built. The slide leads to the now frozen lake, and Ma and Emmett go slippin' and a-slidin' on the ice, leading to much joy and merriment. This scene was done by just basically tossing the limp, lifeless puppets down the slide, and dubbing their voices over the scene, saying things like,"Wheeee!" and "Now watch me, MA!!!". Hilarious. But there is one part in particular, where the two Otter puppets collide, and Emmett clearly kicks his Ma in the poo-nannie. This blink-and-you'll-miss-it scene was definitely overlooked in the editing room, but I gotta say, nothing says Joyeux Noel like throwing your mom down a slide onto the ice and kicking her in the crotch. Can you feel the presence of Jesus? Unto you, a child is born.

The other reason I like this movie so much is I can really relate to the main character's plight. I, too, was raised by a talking, old-timey widowed Otter surviving on a very fixed income.

Okay, that's a lie.