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Music, traditions, and crafts highlight these nonfiction holiday titles. Also check out InfoSoup for more Christmas Music on DVD & VHS.
See also: Holiday Films | Nontraditional Holiday Movies | Viewer Favorites
Advent calendar on DVD
(2006)
Make this a Christmas like none other as you discover: where such Christmas features as the wreath, mistletoe, candy cane, Christmas trees, gift-giving, and the 12 days of Christmas all came from. And you will find out the stories behind Santa Claus, Rudolph, the Nutcracker, the Christmas ANgels, Handel's Messiah, and the Fourth Wise Man. This a DVD tha makes for a Christmas experience the whole family will enjoy. The Advent Calendar on DVD contains 25 mini-documentaries (each between 3 to 4 minutes) that take viewers on an entertaining yet informative journey through the Advent season.
The Brian Setzer Orchestra live: Christmas extravaganza!
(2005)
Along with their classic hits, The Brian Setzer Orchestra add some holiday tunes to their set list. Featured songs include Jump Jive An' Wail, Rock This Town, Winter Wonderland, Sleigh Ride, Run Rudolph Run, Stray Cat Strut and many more.
Christmas
(2004)
Focuses on both the legendary and religious stories of Christmas. Explores Christmas around the world, with emphasis on similarities of American traditions. Also available in VHS.
A Christmas celebration
(2007)
A Celtic Woman performance of Carol of the Bells; Silent Night; White Christmas; Away in a Manger; Ding Dong, Merrily on High; Little Drummer Boy; The Christmas Song; and other holiday favorites. Recorded live at the Helix in Dublin, Ireland.
Christmas with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and Orchestra at Temple Square: featuring Audra McDonald and Peter Graves
(2004)
The Mormon Tabernacle Choir presents their annual 2004 Christmas concert.
Christmas with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and Orchestra at Temple Square: featuring Renee Fleming and Claire Bloom
(2005)
The Mormon Tabernacle Choir presents their annual 2005 Christmas concert.
Genius Club
(2006)
Rated: PG
Seven geniuses, with IQs over 200 are brought together by a terrorist on Christmas Eve to try and solve the world's problems in one night. It's a cat and mouse battle of intellectual superiority with a mad genius who wants to detonate a nuclear bomb in Washingon D.C. A 3-word password has to be uncovered.
The gift of Chanukah
(2006)
Includes the following programs: The menorah, Miracles, World's wildest menorahs, Chanukah play, Children's choir,and Menorah lighting guide. Games: Dreidel snowboard, Chanukah bubbles, and Chanuka painting. Plus facts, recipes, and bonus footage.
Gingerbread housemaking with the gingerbread lady
(1999)
Patti Hudson, the Gingerbread Lady shows how to assemble a cookie cottage from graham crackers, and a larger gingerbread house from specifically shaped and baked pieces of gingerbread.
The joy of Christmas: with Angela Lansbury
(2001)
The Mormon Tabernacle Choir presents a program of traditional Christmas music filmed in Salt Lake City, Utah, in December 2001.
Kwanzaa
(2004)
Traditional West African drums, spirited dances, colorful candles and traditional clothes introduce young viewers to the African-American celebration of Kwanzaa. This program explores the seven principles of the Kwanzaa festival. An African folktale "Unanana and the enormous one-tusked elephant" vividly illustrates the the idea of conflict resolution within the community.
The Night of the Hunted
(1955)
A psychotic self-styled preacher marries and murders a young widow for her money. He then pursues her children to get his hands on the money, only to meet his match in the form of a saintly farm woman.
The Nutcracker
(1977)
From The Baryshnikov collection. From an imperial-era Russian Christmas party, a young girl named Clara is whisked in her dreams to an imaginary world populated by the animated creations of the wizard toy maker Drosselmeier. Clara innocently develops a crush on the imaginary Nutcracker prince. Upon her arrival in the Land of the Sweets, she dances a yearning pas de deux with the Nutcracker Prince. It makes the ballet far more interesting. The frequent involvement of Drosselmeyer throughout the ballet reinforces a magical effect.
O Christmas tree: a celebration of the Christmas tree
(2006)
Traces the history of the Christmas tree through the ages, from its origin as a pagan symbol of fertility to a Christian symbol of rebirth.
Silent night, holy night
(2002)
The Mormon Tabernacle Choir presents a program of traditional Christmas music.
This list was contributed by Appleton Public Library Reference and Information Services Staff
Looking for more family holiday movies? Check out our Holiday Movies for Children list.