| Genre: | Comedy Family Music |
| Based On: | |
| Director: | Jon Stone |
| Starring: | Caroll Spinney Frank Oz Jerry Nelson Richard Hunt Jim Henson |
| Music: | Dick Lieb |
| Country: | United States |
| Language: | English |
| Executive Producer: | Jon Stone Jim Henson (uncredited) |
| Producer: | Dulcy Singer |
| Location: | New York City |
| Cinematography: | Charles F. Wheeler (director of photography) (uncredited) |
| Editor: | Vincent Sims (videotape editor) John Hutchison (videotape editor) |
| Runtime: | 60 minutes |
| Company: | Children's Television Workshop |
| Network: | PBS |
Christmas Eve on Sesame Street is a Sesame Street Christmas special first broadcast on PBS on Sunday, December 3, 1978.
The special starts with live-action versions of the Muppets enjoying an ice skating party. Afterward, they head home to Sesame Street performing the song "True Blue Miracle".
In the main story, Oscar the Grouch plants the seeds of doubt in Big Bird's mind whether Santa Claus can actually get down chimneys to deliver Christmas presents. Big Bird enlists the help of Kermit the Frog and Grover to interview children about how he manages it; their responses vary. Big Bird even attempts a reenactment with Snuffy but it is unsuccessful. He spends the night out in the cold on the brownstone's roof, waiting for Santa to appear in person. After the residents of Sesame Street realize that Big Bird has gone missing, Maria confronts Oscar for upsetting Big Bird. Oscar reveals that he was only teasing Big Bird and agrees to help search for him.
Meanwhile, in a variation on the 1905 O. Henry story "The Gift of the Magi", Bert and Ernie want to give each other Christmas presents, but they have no money. Bert trades away his prized paper clip collection to buy a pink soap dish for Ernie's Rubber Duckie, but Ernie has bartered it to get Bert an empty cigar box for his paper clip collection. Mr. Hooper, the store owner, realizes what is happening and gives them their treasured possessions back as Christmas presents.
Also, Cookie Monster attempts to get in touch with Santa Claus to bring him cookies for Christmas. In confusion he ends up violently eating a pencil and typewriter to write a letter, and a telephone to call the North Pole. At Gordon and Susan Robinson's apartment, he laments to Gordon that he was unable to contact Santa. Gordon suggests leaving cookies for Santa, leaving him perplexed.
In the end, Big Bird walks down from the roof to warm up, much to the relief of his friends. He realizes Santa had already come and gone when he sees the presents under the tree (due to him falling asleep on the roof and Santa's shadow looms over him while he's asleep). He regrets not learning how Santa can go down chimneys, but he comes to recognize that being together with family and friends is more important. Oscar, true to form, starts needling him about how the Easter Bunny can hide all the eggs in one night, only to be rebuked by Gordon and Susan as Big Bird begins to fret about the holidays all over again.
The special concludes with Susan and Gordon returning to their apartment to find that Cookie Monster has eaten the needles and decorations off their Christmas tree.
A variety of Christmas songs help interweave these three plot lines and make the production much more touching, including:
One of the special's competitors that year was a lesser-known, critically panned Sesame Street special on CBS -- A Special Sesame Street Christmas.
In 1988, the production was converted to a live show and performed on ice for a single show in Philadelphia, PA.
In various re-airings on PBS in the late 1980s the closing scene with Susan and Gordon finding that Cookie Monster ate the needles and discovered off their Christmas tree was cut, likely due to a combination of the PBS closing credits at the end of the original and for Cookie Monster's excessive belching.
On video releases since the mid-1990s, the 1978 Children's Television Workshop logo with Christmas music was cut. The 1996 VHS replaces it with the 1983 logo, and DVD releases of the special start without any logos.
In December 2020, the special was released on the HBO Max streaming service. Approximately 2 minutes of Big Bird skating to Jose Feliciano’s recording of Feliz Navidad was removed. The closing scene featuring Cookie Monster, Susan, and Gordon is present on Max as of December 2023.
When Big Bird and Patty check on Oscar following his skating accident, his original line was "Sure. I've been thrown out of better places than that." It was later re-dubbed in post-production (to "Let's go back and do it, again!"), because Jon Stone considered the original joke too adult-focused.[1]
The special was released on VHS in 1987 and 1996, and on DVD in 2002 and 2008. As of 2023 the show is also available for streaming on Amazon Prime.
The soundtrack album features several of the songs from the special, along with narration. It was nominated for a Grammy Award, but lost to In Harmony: A Sesame Street Record.