Here's the most difficult part of being a Canadian living in Canada: I feel like I have to wait to enjoy Christmas until American Thanksgiving has passed. We celebrate in October, which means I'm itching to ring in the Christmas season by about mid-November. I'm ready for the Christmas movies and the decorating and, my God, all the eating. But I guess I have to wait to eat and catch the Christmas classics. Whether you're American or Canadian or elsewhere, if you're wondering when Frosty The Snowman is on TV, this is a good news/bad news situation.
I don't know about you, but there's a certain natural order to holiday movie watching in my household. We like to start out with a soft entry, with your holiday episodes of The Office and Friends and such, then start dipping our toes tentatively into the cartoon classics. Movies like Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer, for instance, and definitely the 1969 weirdly guilty pleasure Frosty The Snowman.
I'm just now realizing that both of those movies are based on songs, which is something you don't see every day. In the case of Frosty The Snowman, the song was sung by comedian Jimmy Durante, who voices the narrator in the movie. And fellow comedian Jackie Vernon voices the nearly eternally optimistic snowman who comes to life with the aid of a magic hat and the faith of small children. Some of whom are wearing questionable outfits like bare legs and winter coats.
So here's the beauty of American Thanksgiving as opposed to our Thanksgiving in Canada: my holiday leftovers are a distant memory, whereas Americans can watch Christmas movies like Frosty the Snowman on TV with a heaping plate of warmed up turkey and stuffing. Because CBS will be airing Frosty the Snowman on Friday night — yup, Nov. 23 — at 8 pm EST.
And obviously everyone is going to be really excited to end their long day of Black Friday shopping with some leftovers and a little time with the happiest snowman on the planet. Who wears a bow tie and also sings and such.
While there are plenty of Christmas movies to get excited about, of course, there is something extra special about watching Frosty. Maybe it's the magic hat, maybe it's the children whose bodies are much too small for their heads and feet, or maybe it's the magician who gets his hat stolen but comes across as the villain of the piece, even scoring a reprimand from Santa himself. I feel as though people would see the poor, misunderstood, neurotic magician named Professor Hinkle (yes, really) quite differently in 2018, but what do I know?
Here is what I do know: the minute all of you glorious Americans finish your Thanksgiving festivities I'm jumping feet first into the holiday season. I might even skip a step in my holiday movie watching and go right to Frosty the Snowman. Because what's the point of living if you can't embrace tiny elements of change now and then, am I right?
