For a start I was quite in awe of the beautiful artwork done on the opening scenes of the wintry house with the glowing window shining outside, the burning fireplace with the Christmas stockings adorning it, and all the children sleeping in the gigantic bed, it's so joyous and snowy, so warm and marvellously simple, so luminously beautiful. It was heartwarming and nostalgic to me, I watched this recently for the first time in a long time and that part of it made me feel like a kid again for a moment, it awakened that old cosy childhood feeling of Christmas. Those images are what I love the most about this short. I'm afraid there's a fair bit about it that stops me from finding it all that great, including Santa himself! Yes I thought it was a rather poor version of old Saint Nick. The face was all wrong, it was toonish and unlovable, and I didn't like his too-scary boisterous laugh which definitely was no "Ho-ho-ho!" And he was a most indiscreet Santa, in fact bringing a whole fanfare with him! I did love that part of it though, when all of the toys come to life and decorate the tree. There's lots of rich colours and details and fun sight gags in the actions of the toys. I love the toy soldiers cannoning the baubles onto the tree's branches, the mini aeroplane flying around the tree to drape it in tinsel, and the fire engine spraying it with mock snow, all marvellously adorable and clever. It's a sequence that's done time and again not just throughout the Silly Symphonies but with many short cartoons of the 30s, some kind of parade of small beings all working together to accomplish some bigger goal(or going to war!), and I've always tended to love it, it's very visually fun and fascinating. This sure isn't one of my favourites of this series but I don't dislike it or anything either, it's very sweet and wholesome innocent fun and is definitely a worthwhile watch as a short, especially around the season to which it owes its name. And that classic Christmas imagery and tone is sure to put big smiles on practically all viewers faces. Merry everyone!
