Michaelann Dahlman's blog

Friday, November 01, 2024

 

I bought some new decorations for my studio apartment at Dollarama & decided that I would do my post Thanksgiving Christmas show post today, since it is past Thanksgiving in Canada. For all my followers & friends who have internet, but not cable.

An old favourite of mine, Muppet family Christmas: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bi9qSKZuvC4

Christmas Eve on Sesame street:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EF4XRQwzls8&t=4s

I still have this on VHS, copied to my computer. I remember watching Santa & the 3 bears with my kids more than 30 years ago!: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NLXyceT_j7M

Christopher the Christmas tree: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s51ne_Pis-I

The pink panther in "a very pink Christmas"  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WDrAKCf6_Sg

The Snowman (with David Bowie intro!): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nGmOiccZFJM

The sequel, The snowman & the snow dog: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ypY03WjDsOA

An awesome Christmas show, with music by Valdy: BlueToes  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XKHp1g4qXSQ

the Smurf's Christmas:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iDYXVPVvcFY&t=17s

Father Christmas: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jc-FI2zGsAs

Frosty the snowman: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7oES_SytsaY

A Garfield Christmas: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TbL-uxd4ZVw

Thomas saves Santa's sleigh: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hkV4L6yfd_g

Santa Claus is coming to town (1969):  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WEUeJcAI4uM

And while this isn't exactly holiday themed, I still think it fits here as being somewhat winter-y. Do you remember watching the Woody Woodpecker show & there was cute 5 minute short in between Woody's episodes, called "Chilly Willy", a little penguin? Well, you can check them out again, here: https://www.chillywillyfan.com/video.php

I have found that some companies make some pretty amazing holiday commercials, so I decided to post some of these as well. John Lewis has a number of delightful ones, starting here in 2013, the bear & the hare: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iCmvz8rDYVU

John Lewis's 2018 advert, starring Elton John:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DShEAPKV0EU

And the 2019 ad with John Lewis & Waitrose featuring Edgar the Dragon: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7xGW_M0O4xI

John Lewis's 2021 Christmas ad, the unexpected guest: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZTttgc0DPA4

M & S (2016) Christmas with love from Mrs. Claus: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V5QPXhStb5I

M & S Christmas  2017 (with Paddington Bear!): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KfaSxIkLslE

And who can ever forget Sainsbury's 2015 Christmas ad, Mog's Christmas calamity: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kuRn2S7iPNU&t=13s

A new one from Posten, the Norwegian postal service "When Santa met Harry"  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nDLumk_rQQw&t=1s

Amazon Christmas ad (2023): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYXfgfKfHig

One of my personal favourites, Lily & the snowman: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZC9vB5AUU2M

It just occurred to me that I should also post here, how to watch TV without cable.

Speaking of saving money, have you ever considered giving up cable? I did & it ain't that bad. If you are in Canada, CBC, CTV, & Global all have shows online that you can watch for free the day after they come out on TV. Links are here:

https://www.globaltv.com/shows/

https://www.ctv.ca/shows/all-shows#/

CTV also has a list of older shows available free online, as well as movies: 

https://www.ctv.ca/throwback

 https://www.ctv.ca/Movies

For CBC, go here: https://gem.cbc.ca/  & create a login account. They will of course, try to sell you a premium membership, you can just ignore it. You'll need to do some digging after that, but they have some interesting shows, including Coroner & Endlings. 

In the US, CBS, & NBC also do this. ABC has something similar, but you have to wait a week after the broadcast date. Fox gives you a free hour, I think. Netflix is still under $10 a month I think, & in the US, Hulu is $7.99 a month & it also has a free trial & optional add-ons for HBO, Showtime & Cinemax (at an extra cost, of course). You can also watch Crackle free online, but it is no longer available in Canada, sorry. 

A really wonderful free streaming site, is PlutoTV:  https://pluto.tv/

Another free online streaming site, is TubiTV:  https://tubitv.com/home

Both PlutoTV & Tubi are wonderful. But alas, the selection of shows is much more limited on Tubi in Canada, just like Netflix is.

Another interesting free site, lots of nature shows & documentaries: www.waterbear.com

The NFB (the Canadian National Film Board) has over 4,000 free films online, here:  https://www.nfb.ca/films/

Plus there's a lot of interesting content available on YouTube.  I even have a channel there: https://www.youtube.com/user/MichaelannDahlman/videos 

I am planning on doing a lot more videos there, including book reviews & other vlogs.

And here's a helpful article, lots of streaming services are offering steep discounts &/or free trials: https://www.tvguide.com/news/streaming-services-for-free-discounts-coronavirus/?fbclid=IwAR0fEld_iePx8_6gJwleVySUWWHZDhgHio8wGnaswM0bngSBb0GbJrEecqA

(This article is over 1 year old, some links may no longer work& some offers may be expired).