The First Christmas: The Story of the First Christmas Snow

<p>🎄 It’s 1975, and a shepherd boy just lost his sight after staring directly at a lightning bolt.  </p><p>Join us as we return to enchanted world of Rankin/Bass Christmas specials for an overlooked, underrated, and redundantly titled hidden gem about neither the first Christmas, nor the first Christmas snow.  </p><p>****  </p><h2>🎙 Guest:  </h2><p>Mike Troxell (<a href="https://twitter.com/Prune_Tracy/">@Prune_Tracy</a>, Mastodon: <a href="https://sharetron.com/@PruneTracy">PruneTracy@sharetron.com</a>).  </p><p>****  </p><h2>💬 Topics & Tangents:  </h2><p>1. <a href="https://www.vox.com/2014/12/24/7446181/worst-christmas-specials">Vox’s Emily St. James ranks all the Rankin/Bass Christmas specials</a>.  </p><p>2. A very brief <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christmas_card#History">history of the Christmas card</a>.  </p><p>3. <a href="https://www.debisimons.com/was-there-really-any-winters-snow-at-the-time-of-the-nativity-in-bethlehem/">Was There Really Any Winter’s Snow at the Time of the Nativity in Bethlehem?</a>  </p><p>4. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flash_blindness">Flash blindness</a> is real.  </p><p>5. Arthur Rankin Jr. recalling how <a href="https://interviews.televisionacademy.com/interviews/arthur-rankin-jr?clip=65386#interview-clips">Irving Berlin really, REALLY didn’t want “White Christmas” in the special</a>.  </p><p>6. <a href="https://soundeffects.fandom.com/wiki/Elektra_Records,_Coyote_Howls">This exact sound</a> of a wolf howling (or, actually, a coyote) is heard over and over again.  </p><p>****  </p><h2>📼 Retro Commercial Break:  </h2><p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-3a8lscJAFA">Toys “R” Us Time of Year Christmas Commercial</a>, 1976.  </p><p>****  </p><h2>🎤 And Now, These Messages:  </h2><p><a href="https://christmascreeps.com">Christmas Creeps</a>, keeping the Christmas spirit alive through the magic of terrible holiday films.  </p><p>****  </p><p>“The First Christmas: The Story of the First Christmas Snow” © 1975 Rankin/Bass Productions.  </p><p>Theme song by <