It’s time to light the tree. It’s time to watch A Muppet Family Christmas on YouTube on repeat! Premiering on ABC 29 years ago today — Dec. 16, 1987 — the all-star Muppet mash-up is the only Christmas special you need to watch this, or any other, holiday season. Made three years prior to Jim Henson’s untimely death, the hourlong program brings together beloved characters from all four shows that made up his puppet empire in the ‘80s: The Muppet Show, Sesame Street, Muppet Babies, and Fraggle Rock. It’s worth noting that sightings of A Muppet Family Christmas are also rare: The special’s VHS and DVD releases are long out of print, and the streaming rights haven’t been acquired by any of the major services, like Netflix or Hulu.
