[7.0/10] This is the kind of special you have to grade on a curve. It’s plainly targeted at younger viewers, without much in the way of bonuses for parents, aunts, uncles, or other grown-up relatives watching with their favorite kiddos. That’s okay! It’s alright for Sesame Street in particular to be directed at the kiddie crowd, but it makes the proceedings a little less enjoyable for their parental units.

That said, *Elmo Saves Christmas* still works on a basic level, telling a tidy story with themes of “Be careful what you wish for” and “You can have too much of a good thing.” When Elmo wishes that it was Xmas every day, he sees the results of his blithe request to a magic snowglobe and tries to undo it.

That provides for a solid structure to the rather played out “Christmas Every Day” genre of holiday tales. We get to see the joy of Elmo’s initial Xmas day, understanding why he wishes it could last all year, only to watch the slow degradation of the joy and merriment of Sesame’s Street’s residents over the course of the year.

The special does a good job of finding examples of those waning bits of happiness. Maria and Luis are initially happy to have the time off and presents to share, but eventually miss being able to open their fix-it shop. Carolers lose their voices from signing year-round. Worst of all, Snuffy is only supposed to be visiting his granny over Xmas for one day, but when Xmas stretches on ad infinitum, so does his absence from his best friend, Big Bird.

Beyond the abstract comments from Santa himself about workers not being able to make things and kids not being able to go to school, the special does a good job of finding these examples of *why* eternal yuletide would be a bad thing, through characters we know and love.

That leads to the one part of the special adults might truly enjoy -- the continued back and forth between Grover and the blue guy over Xmas tree sales. It has the duo’s standard “exasperated straight man vs. oblivious goofball” dynamic that brings the laughs in any setting, and there’s some great comic escalation as the special goes on.

Otherwise, there’s not much for the grownups here (which, again, is totally fine!). I wasn’t sure what the point of all the clips from *It’s a Wonderful Life* were, beyond the fact that it’s partly in the public domain and it’s a shoutout to another “Be careful what you wish for” supernatural story. But getting to see Bert and Ernie react to hearing their names said in the film is a treat in and of itself.

Plus, I remember catching the end of this one as a kid and wondering why the hell Santa had a “Moo Bunny” and why Elmo would want it. So hey, watching it as an adult and learning that it’s the product of an exhausted, building-year-round elf workforce is a pleasant solution to a near quarter century-length mystery!

Otherwise, there’s not too much here. The celebrity guest stars all acquit themselves well. Maya Angelou is a hell of a get, even if she’s in a pretty generic role. Charles Durning does a capable job as Santa Claus, seeming a little tired but game. And Harvey Fierstein almost steals the show with his “Easter Bunny trying to hack it at Xmas” song.

The introduction of Lightning the reindeer doesn’t do much, but it provides a sturdy, “If you do well, you’ll get to join Santa’s sleigh team” story for the amiable caribou. And I appreciate the twist that Elmo accidentally breaks his snowglobe and so can’t unwish his “Xmas every day” request, but instead uses Lightning to travel back and forth in time, both to see the results of his wish and to eventually undo it, with a knowing Santa suggesting that was the plan all along.

Overall, I wouldn’t recommend this to grown-ups out of anything but nostalgia, but it is, as is the standard for *Sesame Street*, an age-appropriate story with a good lesson about how something only coming around once a year can be both necessary and something that helps make it special.