I can now say it without feeling dirty -- the Christmas season hath arrived. Along with the obvious long lines at stores, rude shoppers willing to run over thier own grandmas for the opportunity at grabbing a poorly made and destined to break in 8 weeks DVD player that would be better used as a doorstop; this means that the inevitable slew of Christmas specials are upon us.

Call me jaded and bitter but I can get my fill of Christmas cheer by simply looking in my own front yard or decking my own halls. I don't need to sit in front of my TV with a freshly popped bowl of popcorn and ooh and aah over the choreographed celebration happening outside the doors of the NBC studios in New York City tonight at 7 PM on KARE 11 for the Rockefeller Center Christmas Special.

Another thing I don't need is "Shrek The Halls". It's a Christmas, oops Holiday special airing tonight at 7 PM on KSTP 5 featuring the careening towards forced humor talking donkey paired with the namesake ogre and his Cameron Diaz-voiced ogre wife. How much funny can be stuffed into a 22 minute animated special which will likely be devoid of the underlying adult humor which actually made the first two feature films worth watching?

All I want for Christmas are the classics. It may sound to me like I am stuck in the past and afraid of change but I am. I already saw a portion of Chevy Chase's "Christmas Vacation" and am hoping that NBC or some network airs "It's a Wonderful Life" because those two flicks are the true meaning of Christmas. Huh, maybe that makes me a softie after all.