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I am insane.

 It’s Christmas Eve and I’m in an empty building (except for our wonderful engineering staff) working. Call it a Puritan work ethic, call it catching up on projects but, alas, I’m here.

 However, I don’t feel I should suffer alone. With some help from the Internet, I dug up an old Christmas treat that was a special part of my childhood: Christmas Eve on Sesame Street! The first time I saw this was in 1978 right here on CET (we called it WCET back then… I often wonder whatever became of that old W…) and it was probably the coolest thing I’d ever seen. For one thing, right off the top you see Bert, Ernie, the Count, Oscar the Grouch and Cookie Monster ICE SKATING!

Yes, real live Muppet ice skating. No strings. Full size. Incredible! Sure these are just folks in Sesame Street characters costumes but it made me hop for joy when I first saw it. Yes, I was a geek even back then.

Another reason it’s cool is because we get to see some forgotten friends. Yah, the old gang is there: Big Bird, Gordon, Susan, Bob and the rest. But we also see forgotten friends Will Lee as Mr. Hooper and Northern Calloway as David.

Thirdly, Kermit the Frog pops up. It’s easy to forget what with the program’s 38 year history but Kermit was quite a fixture on the street.

Lastly, this special was the first time I heard José Feliciano’s Feliz Navidad. I hear that song and, to this day, the first thing that pops in my mind is Big Bird on ice skates.

 Through the magic of YouTube, I’m able to share this little nugget of my childhood Christmas:

 Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7

Merry Christmas!

-Brian