Top 10 Great Christmas Cartoons From the 80's

Growing up in the 80's it was all about cartoons. There were cartoons for every thing you could imagine, even ones to help us learn (remember School House Rock?). Before we knew it the 80's were ending and with it came the end of Saturday morning cartoons. Since then cartoons have never been the same. At one time the whole month of December was devoted to watching Christmas specials of your favorite cartoons. Yes, we still have a lot of the Christmas classics on TV today. However, we left some great Christmas specials behind. Take a step back in time with me and revisit some of your old Christmas favorites.

1. He-Man and She-Ra Christmas Special (1984): Who can forget He-Man and She-ra? Adora returns to Eternia to celebrate Christmas with her parents and her twin brother Adam. Everything is going great until Orko accidentally launches a ship and ends up on the mysterious planet Earth. Landing in the woods he comes across two lost kids who end up back in Eternia with him. Skeletor tries to kidnap the kids because they are believed to be the source of the "disgusting Christmas spirit" that is polluting the universe and ends up filled with the Christmas spirit himself after spending time with the kids.

2. The Cabbage Patch Kids First Christmas (1984): This was one of my favorites. There were a couple of Cabbage Patch Kid Christmas specials, but this one was an actual cartoon and the others weren't. It starts out in the "cabbage patch" where the the kids are hearing a story about Christmas. They decide they want to go to the city to see if they can find the "Christmas Spirit" and end up being chased by robbers while trying to return a stolen robber. They meet a little girl named Jenny from the orphanage and she joins their journey to return the wallet. When they finally find the man who owns the wallet, him and his wife end up adopting Jenny.

3. For Better or Worse, Bestest Present (1985): The Patterson family learns the true meaning of Christmas after their 3 year old daughter loses her stuffed rabbit. Based on the comic strip "For Better or Worse"

4. The Christmas Raccoons (1980): Ralph, Melissa, and Bert Raccoon are left to find out who is cutting down all the trees in their forest when someone cuts down the tree they live in. With Cyril Sneer trying to profit from selling all of the trees in the forest and the big dog chasing them, the raccoons have their work cut out for them. Eventually, the dog realizes his families Christmas tree was the raccoons home and the animals team up to find the real criminal.

5. Alvin and the Chipmunks, A Chipmunk Christmas (1981): Alvin and the Chipmunks set out on a journey into the forest to find their mother. They get lost in the forest, however, eventually find her.

6. A Family Circus Christmas (1984): The family is worried when they can't find the star to top the Christmas tree. With it lost it just doesn't seem like Christmas. However, the happy ending comes when Grandpa, who is recently deceased "connects" with Billy and shows him where the star is.

7. Ziggy's Gift (1982): Ziggy gets a job to be a street Santa on Christmas Eve and has a crooked boss. He doesn't realize the donations are going right into his boss's back pockets.

8. A Garfield Christmas (1987): Garfield, Jon, and Odie visit the family on the farm for Christmas. Mom, Dad, Jon, and Doc Boy are very into their Christmas traditions. Jon and Doc Boy are acting like they are children celebrating Christmas as they always have. Garfield discovers the true meaning of Christmas when Odie gives him a back scratcher. Then he gives Grandma some letters he found that Grandpa had written her when they were young.

9. Emmet Otter's Jug Band Christmas (1980): Jim Hensen originally produced this as an hour long HBO special in 1977. It aired on network TV in 1980 and didn't disappoint any muppet fans. Emmett and his mother struggle to make ends meet and enter a local talent contest in hopes to win the $50 prize and buy each other Christmas gifts.

10. Berenstein Bears Christmas Tree (1980): Even though Mama wants Papa to go buy a tree, he decides to find the "perfect" tree in the forest instead. He loses track of what Christmas is all about while looking for a tree. Luckily, he remembers before he cuts down someone's home.