Inside, most of everybody is drinking cocoa over a PK Thunder-powered fireplace. The Stollen has been stolen into everybody's stomachs. In the kitchen.... 
: I heard your real-life supervisor was unable to get Looney Tunes Platinum Collections 1 and 2, so here you go, Toadette!
Me: Why, thank you! Oh, if only I—or Toontown and Videoville in general—were as real as these parties would have people thinking. And how went your Stollen?
: Certainly it got a better reception than that fish. Look,
's getting sick from that horribleness!
Gagging, turns green, purple, and plaid before doing a dramatic death scene!
:
Oh no, I killed him! Not even my dog can stand that dumb fish! AUUGGGHH!! *runs off in frustration*
Me: Hmmmmm.....maybe
needs a little love, is all.
I stand up 's corpse and start decorating it with a bunch of ornaments and lights from a box nearby, whereupon he starts growing coniferous branches.Me (to the tune of "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing"): Ooh, ooh ooooooh, ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh, ooh, ooh oooooooh, ooh ooh ooh ooh....
As I do this, however, comes to and notices what has happened to him and what I am doing! (very angry):
RAAAAASGDHAGRHRHRHAAAHGGH—In a drybrushed whirl, transfers all the ornaments and lights and tree branches to me! Such it is that I'm the Christmas tree now, and adds on a star on top of my pileus. (continuing from where I left off): Ooh, ooh ooooooh, ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh....(continues)
Me: I don't know what I was thinking with this.
(upset at how I'm speaking): *ranting in Melendez-speak*
Me: Fine, I'll be quiet!
So continues his vocalising of "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing".Me (whispering to you readers on the other side of the fourth wall): Anyways, for my final Animated Musing for this season—if you folks are looking for a different special about the TRUE true meaning of Christmas besides "A Charlie Brown Christmas", I would highly recommend Chuck Jones's "A Very Merry Cricket", from 1973, as an alternative.
It is distinctly more visual in its communication of how commercialism and the problems of human pettiness have polluted the season, along with, naturally, the meaning of Christmas. Despite the fact that it's a sequel to "The Cricket in Times Square", it is more personal of a film than Jones's famous Grinch.
The way I see it, there are two main reasons why this unique cartoon has not achieved the fame of the Grinch. One is elaborated upon in Thad Komorowski's most recent WBGO podcast—the Grinch was made at a time when Christmas specials were a relatively new thing, and the makers of the specials—whether Rankin-Bass, Bill Melendez, or Chuck Jones—were encouraged to put as much effort in as possible, as they did not know whether they would be able to make such specials again. In contrast, by 1973 it seems that Christmas specials, even those talking about the meaning of the season, were very commonplace, and nearly all the studios had gotten into the act.
The other reason, and one that many serious critics might point out, is that, as mentioned above, it is a very personal film, made clearly according to Jones's whims. Said critics might take it further and call it Jones's by-this-time-unrestrained pretentious ego at work, and I would not entirely object to that. I might even call it Jones trying to prove that quality animation CAN be done on television, and that one does not need monologues to express the true meaning of Christmas.
If one looks at how Jones was railing against "illustrated radio" and the lack of actual animation in his later years, one can pinpoint what he was going for with this special. Drawings and/or inanimate things come to life, after all, are the basic root of animation. However, it seems that Jones took it a little too far with the striking visuals and overall artiness, at least too far to appeal to a general audience, so to speak.
The results are, nonetheless, quite charming; the final sequence, in particular, which looks like something that could have come from the National Film Board of Canada, is surely one of the greatest things Jones ever did in his post-WB years. For those of you who haven't seen it, I would recommend you check it out at least once!
Now that it's officially Christmas Day by IAD time, I think now—midnight—would be a good time to finish this story. We've had a long, wonderful year of parties for this 10th anniversary of the independent GAC forums—so
join us on the 26th, when Sailor Mars's mansion will host the GAC-IAD 10th Anniversary New Year's Wrap Party! It'll be one last romp on these old IAD forums before the move occurs. See you then, and Happy Christmas! 
The camera pulls back to reveal all the toons (and video game characters) singing the last lines of "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing" around me! The following text fades in above me, and I look up at it:Happy Christmas from the IAD Forums!
With one final wink from me , fade out.
