Christmas Eve on Sesame Street

Christmas Eve on Sesame Street is a Sesame Street Christmas special first broadcast on PBS on December 3, 1978.

The opening features the inhabitants of Sesame Street enjoying an ice skating party. Big Bird has trouble skating, but a child gives him a hand, and he ends up skating very well. Bert falls victim to the antics of Ernie, Cookie Monster and Count von Count as they play ice hockey with one of his shoes, clown around while barrel jumping (the Count counts the barrels, Ernie cheats by lifting his left foot over them, and Cookie tries to jump only to land on and destroy them), play a practical joke on him, and make him very dizzy in a game of Crack the Whip. After the skating party, the characters head home to Sesame Street performing the song "True Blue Miracle." Then, the story diverges into three principal plotlines.

In the main plot, Oscar the Grouch tells Big Bird and his friend Patty (a girl around age seven) that there will be no Christmas presents if Santa Claus is unable to go down narrow chimneys. Distraught, once they return to Sesame Street, Big Bird and Patty enlist the help of Kermit the Frog and Grover to ask children how Santa does it. Their responses vary. Big Bird even tries to experiment by having Mr. Snuffleupagus play Santa Claus entering a pretend chimney, but still does not find the answer. Patty tries to comfort him, but fails. He winds up trying to stay up all night on the brownstone's roof, watching for Santa Claus, but falls asleep while the residents of Sesame Street become very worried looking for him. During the search, Maria confronts Oscar for upsetting Big Bird. He says he was only teasing Big Bird and agrees to search for him. Back on the roof, at one point, sleighbells and hoofbeats are heard, and Santa's shadow falls over the dozing Big Bird. He is startled awake, but sees nothing unusual.

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