The holiday season is here and there will be a lot to look forward to on PBS KIDS all winter long, with fan-favourite episodes and specials as well as snowy new stories on the way. Christmas and Hanukkah classics from Arthur, Curious George and The Cat in the Hat to Peg + Cat, Nature Cat, and Let’s Go Luna will delight children and families for the whole month of December, along with a very festive Nochebuena and Three Kings Day special from Alma’s Way, based on series creator Sonia Manzano’s own childhood.
The wintery fun will continue with a brand-new Donkey Hodie special, premiering 5 December, that features one of kids’ favourite winter things, a snow day! In Snow Day, Panda enjoys a snow day in his own way. Then, in the Snow Surprise Challenge, Bob Dog wants to win a glowy, snowy, floating fun ball. There will be more cold weather adventures on 11 January with Daniel’s Wintertime Walk, a new story from the Emmy-winning Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood, in which Daniel and Katerina really don’t want to stop playing in the snow. And, in Snow Day in the Bronx, a new Alma’s Way episode launching on 23 January, Alma and her friends must change their movie plans when a snowstorm causes a power outage.
The official descriptions of the aforementioned shows are as follows:
Alma’s Way: Alma’s Nochebuena/Three Kings Day Do-Over – When Alma’s family’s Nochebuena traditions don’t go as originally planned, she must learn to celebrate in a whole new way.
Three Kings Day Do-Over – After Alma notices Junior hasn’t played with her Christmas present, she skips playtime to make a do-over Three Kings Day gift.
Arthur’s Perfect Christmas – Everyone’s favourite aardvark gives kids a new spin on seasonal traditions in his first one-hour prime time special, showing children many ways to celebrate the holidays. Plans are underway in Elwood City for the best holidays ever as Arthur, D.W., their family and friends make preparations for perfect gifts, perfect parties and perfect family traditions for Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa and even Baxter Day. The only problem is, just like in real life, perfection is hard to attain and things start to fall apart.
The Cat in the Hat Knows A Lot About Christmas! – This adventure finds the Cat in the Hat, Nick and Sally on a journey around the world to help a lost reindeer find his way home to Freezeyourknees Snowland in time for Christmas. On the way, the Thingamajigger breaks down and they depend on a variety of animals – from African bush elephants to bottlenose dolphins to red crabs – and their remarkable abilities to help them make an amazing journey home. With gorgeous animation and pull-out-all-the-stops musical numbers.
Curious George: A Very Monkey Christmas – Curious George and The Man with the Yellow Hat are having a wonderful time getting ready for Christmas. There’s only one dilemma – neither of them can figure out what to give the other for a present! In the end, both gift-giving predicaments are simply and beautifully resolved, revealing the true spirit of the holiday season.
Let’s Go Luna!: Christmas Around the World – When the Circo gets stranded in Antarctica on Christmas Eve, Carmen enlists Luna and the kids to play Santa and save Christmas for an unbelievably cute stowaway duckling named Lil’ Teeny.
Nature Cat: A Nature Carol – Tally ho-ho-ho! Please join Nature Cat and his pals for an extra-special, hour-long Christmas movie! In this homage to A Christmas Carol, Nature Cat is bursting with what he thinks is Christmas spirit, and wants to celebrate with lots of presents for himself, and by decorating the woods with bright lights and loud festive music for everyone. Fa-la-la, that doesn’t sound like a Nature Cat? Daisy, Hal and Squeeks are upset because Nature Cat’s desire to celebrate Christmas in a great – big – way is causing problems with their friendship, as well as bothering all of the animals in the woods. It’s not until Nature Cat is visited by three Christmas Spirits that he finally sees the true meaning of Christmas.
Peg + Cat + Holidays – The Penguin Problem – The South Pole. Peg and Cat coach a team of skiing penguins, who would have a shot at the Olympic gold medal if only they knew over, under, and in between.
The Christmas Problem – The North Pole. When Santa Claus is in trouble, Peg and Cat have to solve their biggest problem ever: how to make and wrap presents for all the children of the world, and then deliver them using 100 sleighs.
The Hanukkah Problem – Albert Einstein’s House. When Albert Einstein has Peg and Cat over on Hanukkah, he shows them how to make a 2D piece of paper into a 3D dreidel. Later, they need to use this process to bring peace to Al’s home and save his Hanukkah.
