Film / Elmo Saves Christmas

Didn't Elmo ever tell you about how he saved Christmas then almost lost it?

Elmo Saves Christmas is a Sesame Street Christmas special, premiering on PBS in 1996. Maya Angelou tells the story of how Elmo saved Christmas to Telly, Baby Bear, and Zoe, after they wish it were Christmas every day.

When Elmo saves Santa from getting stuck in a chimney, he is rewarded with a magic snowglobe that will grant three wishes. Elmo decides to wish it were Christmas Every Day, because What Could Possibly Go Wrong? Santa, chagrined at seeing the magic wasted, sends Elmo on a time-traveling reindeer named Lightning to see how his wish would play out over a year. It goes From Bad to Worse from there. Luckily, this is Sesame Street, so everything works out in the end.

---

Tropes for this special include:

• Accidentally Broke the MacGuffin: When Elmo tries to use his third wish to undo the second, he shakes it so hard the snowglobe slips out of his hands and smashes into dust. Fortunately, Elmo remembers Lightning's time travel powers and uses that to undo the wish instead.
• Adaptational Alternate Ending: This book adaptation changes the whole ending where Elmo actually succeeds in undoing the wish with the snowglobe, instead of the real ending where he accidentally breaks it and Lightning takes him back in time.
  • Some further adaptation deviations include Elmo receiving the magical snow globe right away, seemingly without being given the choice of the pink bear (which still makes a cameo); multiple Moo-Bunnies appearing in Santa's workshop shortly after Elmo's second wish, in contrast to the exhausted elves producing just one by mistake following several months of Christmas every day; and the all-human carolers being replaced with a chorus of Muppets, plus one human (who appears to be Bob).
• An Aesop:
  • Making Christmas happen every day makes the holiday no longer special, but you can keep the Christmas spirit with you through the year.
  • More universally, "too much of a good thing becomes a bad thing".
• The Anti-Grinch: Elmo wishes that it was Christmas every day. Cut to a year later and everyone is broke because they have to buy Christmas presents every day, the Fix-It shop is shut down because they can't be open on Christmas, carolers have lost their voices, Christmas trees are an endangered species, Big Bird is despondent because Snuffy is away for the holiday (forever!), and the Count is tired of counting Christmases. Even Santa himself is a wreck, deciding to close down his workshop and move to Florida. Elmo gets a chance to press the Reset Button, therefore saving Christmas - when he was the one who accidentally ruined it.
• Aside Glance:
  • Santa winks to the audience when he reminds Elmo of his third wish, to undo the second one.
  • Ernie and Bert also do this during the It's a Wonderful Life Shout-Out mentioned below.
• Bad Future: Christmas exactly one year later, with everyone having crossed the Despair Event Horizon. Some examples:
  • In addition to the other businesses, the Fix-It Shop is closed down because it can't be open on Christmas, and Luis and Maria haven't worked at all. "Goodbye, Fix-It Shop" indeed.
  • Big Bird is in tears over missing Snuffy.
  • The Count has become tired of counting, because there have been too many Christmases.
  • The carolers have lost their voices from singing too much.
  • Christmas trees have become an endangered species.
  • People are running out of gift ideas, leading to a priceless scene in which a Muppet mugs Kermit for his microphone during a news report.
• Be Careful What You Wish For: The whole point of the special. "Every day can't be Christmas" indeed.
• Big "SHUT UP!": Maria gives Oscar a polite one ("QUIET, OSCAR!") after the latter encourages Elmo to use his third wish on rollerblades instead of undoing the second wish.
• Big "WHAT?!": The residents of Sesame Street all shout one in unison in the Bad Future when Elmo reveals he wished it was Christmas every day with the snowglobe.
• Break the Cutie: What makes the special somewhat hard to watch is seeing the endless Christmas slowly breaking down our beloved characters, Muppet and human.
  • Big Bird can't see Snuffy because Snuffy went away for Christmas. He leaves a message on Snuffy's answering machine, and writes letters that can't be posted because there's no mail on Christmas. His depression over not being able to see Snuffy gradually increases over the course of the special's runtime and it's pretty heartbreaking.
  • The Count gets tired of counting Christmases and stops counting.
  • Elmo and Lightning get this when they reprise "Every Day Can't Be Christmas".
• Calling the Old Man Out: The elves do this to Santa after finding out he gave the magic snowglobe to Elmo.
• The Cameo: Kermit the Frog gives a Sesame Street News report on Christmas everyday. A random passerby then tries to take his microphone, to give to his kid for Christmas.
• Cassandra Truth:
  • Elmo happily tells Gordon and Carlo about seeing Santa and receiving the magic snowglobe. They don't seem to believe him. Subverted when Elmo confesses about his second wish in the Bad Future; Maria believes him and tells Elmo to wish for Christmas to happen once a year.
  • Elmo doesn't believe Santa at first when Santa sings about how having Christmas every day is a bad idea, especially since if people don't work they "won't make the things we need" and if children can't go to school they won't learn. Santa anticipates this response, and sends Elmo with Lightning to the future, to see the realities of permanent holidays.
• Celebrity Cameo:
  • Maya Angelou is the narrator.
  • Charles Durning (who had previously played Doc Hopper in The Muppet Movie) is Santa Claus (Durning portrayed Santa on four other occasions).
  • Harvey Fierstein is the Easter Bunny (he even gets his own song about trying to pass off Easter eggs as Christmas presents).
  • 14 Karat Soul are the Christmas carolers.
• Chekhov's Gun:
  • The Moo Bunny, a soft toy cross between a cow and a bunny (Santa initially refers to it, rather disparagingly, as a "cabbit") becomes Elmo's new gift after he and Lightning successfully Set Right What Once Went Wrong.
  • The snowglobe also serves as this, although Elmo breaks it before he can use his third wish to undo the second one.
• Chekhov's Gunman: Lightning, the reindeer-in-training who stowed away in Santa's sack. Santa mobilizes him because he's the only reindeer who can fly fast and isn't exhausted. He orders Lightning to fly Elmo into the future, and they then fly back to undo Elmo's second wish.
• Chekhov's Skill: Lightning's ability to travel through time. After Elmo breaks the snowglobe, they go back in time to Christmas Eve so that Elmo never receives the snowglobe.
• Christmas Every Day: Elmo wishes for it to be Christmas every day using a snowglobe. This causes things to go From Bad to Worse.
• Clothing Reflects Personality: Most of the street residents wear darker-colored winter clothes in the Bad Future to reflect how miserable the street has become after one year of nonstop Christmas. Big Bird in particular has swapped out his red mittens and scarf for black ones, representing his sadness at never getting to see Snuffy again.
• Coincidental Broadcast: After Kermit's news report that Christmas will occur again the station rejoins It's a Wonderful Life in progress right on the line where George says "This is a very interesting situation!".
• "Could Have Avoided This!" Plot: Many characters, including Elmo and the elves, point out the following: if Santa had let Elmo choose the Pink Bear instead of telling him about the snowglobe, then Elmo wouldn't have made that wish. Even Santa lampshades it. This is why Elmo goes back in time with Lightning, so that he can choose another present. It's egregious on Santa's part since he's given the snowglobe before, and the elves aren't happy about it.
• Crapsack World: Sesame Street, one of the cheeriest places on perhaps all of television, is in complete ruin after one year of non-stop Christmas.
• Crowd Song: "It's Christmas Again", sung by a majority of Sesame Street residents as they prepare for Christmas at the beginning. Following Elmo's wish for Christmas Every Day, it is reprised each new day with different instrumentation depending on the season. By the time it's actually Christmas one year later, the carolers have sung it so many times that they lost their voices.
• Dark Reprise: The "Every Day Can't Be Christmas" reprise, big time.
  • After one year, the Carolers have lost their voices leading to a dark version of "It's Christmas Again".
  • Heck, the Sesame Street theme itself is given a darker instrumental treatment at one point in the special, being worked into the melancholy score that accompanies Elmo's visit to the street, exactly one year after he's wished for an endless Christmas.
• Darker and Edgier: To a relatively modest degree for a Christmas special, and for the show itself.
• Deconstructed Trope: See Christmas Every Day. Santa did warn Elmo what would happen — adults won't be able to go to work, and kids can't learn at school— but Elmo had to see the Bad Future to realize what was happening. Maria even laments that she's months out of practice of repairing toasters due to spending all their time handling presents and cooking turkey.
  • Big Bird writes letters to Snuffy every day that it is Christmas. He lampshades that no one picks up mail on Christmas, so Snuffy will never get his letters.
• Despair Event Horizon: Sesame Street has fallen into sad ruin after a full year of Christmas celebration. The only character not in despair, obviously, is Oscar. Gina still has some Christmas spirit remaining, but it may be a bit of Stepford Smiler on her part, even then, it's clearly fading away especially by next year's Christmas.
• Deus ex Machina: When Elmo attempts to use the snowglobe to undo his wish, shakes the snowglobe so much, it flies out of his hands and breaks before he can finish making his wish, which means it will be Christmas forever now. All looks lost, until Elmo remembers Lightning's time travel powers and realizes not only he can travel to the future, but to the past as well; so Lightning uses said ability to take Elmo all the way back to the last Christmas Eve before he saved Santa from the chimney so he doesn't get the snowglobe.
• Didn't Think This Through:
  • Santa offering a magical snowglobe as a special favor to certain people on Christmas. The elves mention that he's given it before, with consequences as bad as the "Christmas every day" wish. Given Santa's Oh, Crap! expression when Elmo uses his first wish to summon a glass of water, he regrets giving such power.
  • Likewise, Elmo doesn't think through the consequences of wishing for Christmas every day. This is justified in that he's a child, and he couldn't exactly foresee what Santa tells him: that when people don't work they can't make the things we need and kids can't go to school to learn.
  • Elmo actually tells everyone on Sesame Street what he did, and how the endless Christmases were his fault instead of just using the snowglobe to undo everything. When he breaks it from shaking it too hard in his eagerness to undo the wish, everybody is now mad at him and justifiably so.
• Dramatic Shattering: Done when Elmo tries to use his third and final wish on the magic snowglobe to undo his Christmas Every Day wish. He shakes the snowglobe so hard it flies out of his hands and dramatically smashes into dust on the pavement, and everyone gasps in shock as Elmo cries out "Blitzen, Blitzen, Blitzen!" as a desperate last resort to try and get what's left of the snowglobe to work (as saying "Blitzen!" after shaking it is the key to get wishes granted.)
• "Eureka!" Moment: When the snowglobe breaks and Elmo thinks he lost hope, he remembers Lightning's time-traveling powers and gets him to go back in time to the year before so he doesn't get the snowglobe.
• Extinct in the Future: Downplayed. According to Grover, Christmas trees have become an endangered species after a whole year of non-stop Christmas. Although he then states that they are all gone, as if they are extinct, which could've presumedly mean the Christmas trees would've been functionally extinct.
• Fake Better Alternate Timeline: Elmo wishes for Christmas Every Day. At first, this is fun, but then the carolers lose their voices, Maria and Luis forget how to work due to being off-work for a year, Big Bird is sad that he hasn't seen Snuffy in a year (since Snuffy was away for Christmas), the Count has had enough of counting the days, people get sick of there being nothing on TV but It's a Wonderful Life, and Christmas trees become endangered.
• Foreshadowing:
  • Maya Angelou asks Telly and Zoe if Elmo ever told them about the time he saved Christmas and "almost lost it". As it turns out, due to Timey-Wimey Ball, Elmo travels back in time to when he got the snowglobe to choose another present, thus undoing the Bad Future. Could also be a case of Unreliable Narrator if Angelou made up the story, given she remembers.
  • Santa points out that Christmas every day is a bad idea, because if people don't work, then they "won't make the things we need". With each Christmas, Maria and Luis are upset that they haven't been fixing items for their customers like waffle irons and toasters. Maria even forgets how to make repairs, being months out of practice.
• Framing Device: The story is framed by Maya Angelou telling the events to Zoe, Telly, Baby Bear and some children in her apartment.
• From Bad to Worse: Each successive Christmas. Everyone is happy during the spring, they're dragging their feet in July, and by Christmas the next year, no one has money for presents or decorations.
• The Glomp: Rosita's Christmas gift to Elmo is a big hug.
• Gone to the Future: Defied by Santa; he tells Elmo that he can't go with him and Lightning because he needs to go down chimneys every night. If he vanishes, then Christmas will be even worse.
• "Groundhog Day" Loop: Averted; just because it's Christmas every day doesn't mean that the same day repeats itself.
• The Grinch: Oscar the Grouch is the only Muppet happy in the Bad Future, not just because everyone else’s misery, but also because people are throwing out piles of wrapping paper and garbage from presents. He's the only one to protest when Elmo says he can fix things with the third wish. (Gina is the only member of the human cast who still remains a little happy in the Bad Future, but it's apparent her remaining Christmas spirit is fading away).
• Hope Spot: Elmo's third wish.
• Hurrying Home for the Holidays: Subverted; Snuffy goes to Cincinnati to visit his grandmother for Christmas, but promises Big Bird that he will come back to Sesame Street the day after Christmas. When Elmo wishes for it to be Christmas Every Day, this results in Snuffy being stuck in Cincinnati and unable to return to Sesame Street, which makes Big Bird upset. At the end of the special, after Elmo goes back in time and stops himself from taking the magical snowglobe that granted his wish in the first place, Snuffy reveals to Big Bird that his grandmother decided to visit him for Christmas this year.
• "I Want" Song: "All I Want For Christmas is You" is a song that Big Bird sings when he misses Snuffy, who has been celebrating Christmas with his grandmother in Cincinnati for at least six months, and in this song, Big Bird expresses how he'd much rather have Snuffy come back to play with him than all the new toys he got Christmas after Christmas. It is also not to be confused with the more famous song of the same name sung by Mariah Carey, as it has a different melody.
• Idiot Ball:
  • Santa offering the snowglobe to Elmo, and extolling its benefits when Elmo asks for the Pink Bear. The elves even call out Santa for this when the toy machines start up, as they're packing for vacation.
  • Likewise, Elmo before making his third wish telling everyone that he's going to wish for things to go back to normal, creating a Hope Spot.
• If I Were a Rich Man: When Maya Angelou briefly stops the story to remind Telly, Zoe and the kids listening that Elmo still has two more wishes, they all talk about what they would wish for.
• It's a Wonderful Plot: An odd variant on the usual trope. Instead of Elmo wishing he weren't born, he wishes it were Christmas Every Day and assumes everyone will be happy. He's wrong.
  • Coincidentally, this trope’s trope namer, It's a Wonderful Life, plays on TV in the special itself.
• Jerkass Has a Point:
  • Downplayed, but Elmo and Lightning are forced to concede that Santa was right about the consequences of his wish. Santa uses more Brutal Honesty when telling Elmo off for how he used the snowglobe.
  • Oscar in the summer months is happy about how miserable everyone is on Christmas, and how much trash is piling up. Elmo tells him off, but is forced to eat his words when he and Lightning arrive in the Bad Future and see that everyone is miserable.
• Laser-Guided Karma:
  • Lightning was the one who got Santa stuck in the chimney, which leads to Elmo rescuing Santa and the rest of the plot. Santa thus assigns him to take Elmo to the future to see the consequences of his wish. When Lightning rises to the task and then undoes the Bad Future, Santa promotes him to being a regular member of the team.
  • Santa offered three wishes to Elmo, as a reward for saving him and Christmas. When Elmo wishes for Christmas Every Day, it means that Santa has to deliver presents every night. The elves do point out that if Santa hadn't given the snowglobe in the first place, then they wouldn't be in this mess. Santa is forced to agree. It's also implied that, unlike everyone else, he remembers how that entire year went after Lightning and Elmo undo it, given he delivers the Moo Bunny to Elmo.
• Literal Genie: The snowglobe. It grants Elmo exactly what he asks, thus why Christmas every day has the same routines, sales and shows, regardless of the season.
• Loophole Abuse: When Elmo accidentally breaks the snowglobe right before he wishes everything to go back to normal, it seems all hope is lost, but then Lightning remembers his time-traveling abilities and uses such to take Elmo back to Christmas Eve the year before so he doesn't get the snowglobe.
• Mass "Oh, Crap!":
  • The elves when their toymaking machines start up while they're packing for vacation. They immediately realize that Santa has given the wish snow globe to someone else and call him out for it.
  • Everyone on Sesame Street when Elmo breaks the snowglobe before he can make his third wish.
• Mundane Wish: Elmo's first wish is for a glass of water, all because he's thirsty. If it hadn't been for the Bad Future, he would've spent his third wish on a pair of rollerblades.
• My God, What Have I Done?: Elmo says something like this twice on the last Christmas: once after seeing a desolate Sesame Street, and again after he breaks the snowglobe.
• Never My Fault: Averted. Even though Elmo is the one who wished for it to be Christmas everyday, Santa takes partial responsibility for his part in the whole mess, as he was the one who gave Elmo the snow globe in the first place.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Literally! When Elmo tries to use his third wish to undo the second, he shakes it so much that it flies out of his hands and smashes to the ground into dust. Not to mention the Bad Future happens because of Elmo's wish.
• Noodle Incident: Apparently Santa has offered the snow globe before, and the elves remember.
• No Plans, No Prototype, No Backup: Zig-Zagged. Santa has made multiple snow globes with the same Reality Warper powers, which means there must be blueprints or a fail safe to replicate it. When Elmo makes his foolish wish, however, which leads to the Bad Future, the elves and Santa are unable to make or use another snow globe that could undo it. Fortunately, Elmo manages to undo the wish thanks to Lightning's time traveling.
• Office Golf: Santa is playing golf in his office when the Elves inform him that toy production has begun again to due to it being Christmas again tomorrow.
• The Only One: Santa wants to mobilize a reindeer to go to Sesame Street and find Elmo after the second wish takes place. The elves tell him that all the regular reindeer are exhausted, after traveling the world all night. Santa goes with Lightning, who is fast, and the only reindeer who wasn't working.
• Only One Finds It Fun: Oscar is the only one who loves it being Christmas every day, not just because of everyone else's misery, but also because he is getting tons of garbage in the form of wrapping paper and used Christmas trees. He only began to find it fun in the summer, however, when many were becoming unhappy. In fact, when Elmo announces that he is going to use his last wish to turn everything back to normal, Oscar protests and tells Elmo to use his last wish to get some new roller skates, since that was what Elmo's original plan was. Of the ones who actually had Christmas spirit to begin with, Gina is the only one still smiling and enjoying things at least a little, but even then, she's far less cheerful in the Bad Future one year later and is clearly suffering as she's one of the carolers whose voice went hoarse.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business:
  • The audience knows something is up when Grover and Mr. Johnson agree on something after their comedy bit, namely that they wish that Christmas Every Day would stop and give them both a break.
  • Elmo is horrified when the Count says that he is tired of counting Christmases. As Elmo puts it, the Count loves to count.
  • Bob normally loves singing, but in the Bad Future, he hoarsely says that he and the carolers have lost their voices from doing their holiday job every day.
• Or Was It a Dream?: After Elmo makes his second wish, the overworked elves in the Bad Future make a Moo Bunny doll, a cross between a cow and a bunny. When Elmo returns to Christmas Eve with Lightning, undoing the Christmas every day wish, Santa reveals he has the Moo Bunny and gives it to Elmo. Let the Mind Screw ensue.
• Reed Richards Is Useless: Santa makes Reality Warper snow globes that he only gives to special children and recipients. In this case, he offers it to Elmo for pulling him out of the chimney and "saving Christmas". Somehow the elves and he cannot use another snow globe to undo Elmo's wish, even though they are made before. Not to mention that the snow globe can do anything, like create world peace.
• Reset Button: Which also doubles as a Take a Third Option. After he shakes the snowglobe so much that it flies out of his hands and breaks, all looks lost since the wish can't be undone. Until Elmo and Lighting realize they can go forward and backward in time. They quickly jump on the sled and go back in time to when Elmo saves Santa. This time with Elmo picking the stuffed animal instead of the snowglobe, preventing the wish from occurring.
• Ripple-Proof Memory: After they undo the Bad Future, Lightning and Elmo remember what happened. Santa may remember, given he offers the Moo Bunny to Elmo as a replacement gift.
• Running Gag: As per Sesame Street custom, Grover sells Christmas trees to Mr. Johnson with hilarious results.
• Saving Christmas: Double Subverted; Santa claims that Elmo saved Christmas by rescuing him from the chimney, but Maya Angelou assures Zoe and Telly that it's only the beginning of the story. Elmo has to save Christmas after his second wish, "Christmas every day," makes things hard for the citizens of the Street.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Santa in the Bad Future, deciding to retire to Florida.
• Set Right What Once Went Wrong: After breaking the snowglobe, Elmo & Lightning go back in time to stop him from getting the snowglobe thus erasing the Bad Future.
• Shout-Out: The movie has a brilliant nod to the urban legend that Bert and Ernie were named after the characters from It's a Wonderful Life, which, in the Bad Future, is playing endlessly on every channel. In one scene, the two walk by a TV playing the scene where George confronts his empty home in his own Bad Future. As George exclaims "Bert! Ernie!" the two turn to each other (and the camera) in astonishment.
• Spoiler Title: What does Elmo do in the end, everyone?
• The Stinger: After the credits we hear the line "Every time a bell rings an angel gets its wings" from It's a Wonderful Life playing on TV. The channel then changes to Elmo who wishes the viewer a happy holiday. Afterwards "The End" appears on screen and the TV switches off.
• Suddenly Shouting: Just after Big Bird ends his voice message to Snuffy over the phone, he screams very loudly that Christmas would stop so he can see Snuffy again.
• Take a Third Option:
  • Elmo was going to use his last wish for a pair of roller skates, but instead decides to use it to undo his Christmas Every Day wish, but his magical snow globe breaks it before he can. THEN he realizes Lightning's time traveling powers, discovering Lightning can go forward and backward in time, which he uses to go all the way back to Christmas Eve the year before so he doesn’t get the snowglobe, thus undoing the wish without any wishing.
  • And after the wish was undone, Elmo can choose either the snowglobe or the pink teddy bear; after the Bad Future is undone, Elmo decides to take the teddy bear, but then Santa refers to a Moo Bunny in his sack and Elmo chooses that.
• Tempting Fate: Big Bird is sad that Snuffy is going to his Granny in Cincinnati to spend Christmas. Snuffy, however, reassures Big Bird that it's only for one day; he'll be back on Boxing Day (which is the day after Christmas). This cheers them both up. Thanks to Elmo's wish, Snuffy doesn't come home for a year until Elmo presses the Reset Button.
• Timey-Wimey Ball: You have to wonder how Maya Angelou knows the story when Elmo erased the bad timeline. However, it's possible Elmo told her.
• Truck Driver's Gear Change: "It's Christmas Again" shifts down a fourth beginning with Elmo's verse, then returns to its original key for the final chorus.
• Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Lightning becomes this when he accidentally gets Santa stuck in the chimney, due to stowing away in the sack. If he hadn't done that, then Santa wouldn't have offered the wishing snowglobe in the first place.
• Warning Song: Santa's "Every Day Can't Be Christmas" as he warns Elmo that his wish to have Christmas every day is a bad idea. Even Elmo later sings that song when he has realized Christmas should’ve been only once a year.
• Wasteful Wishing: Once Elmo gets the snowglobe, his first wish is for a glass of water cause he's thirsty. Santa tells him to be careful with his future ones.
• We Interrupt This Program: After Elmo makes his Christmas Every Day wish, he sees the TV in Hooper's Store playing It's a Wonderful Life suddenly be interrupted by a news flash (complete with the classic "Sesame Street News" theme music) with Kermit the Frog reporting that it'll be Christmas again the following day, and people are rushing to buy more presents.
• Wham Line:
  • Luis utters "It's Christmas... forever" after Elmo breaks the snowglobe before making his third wish.
  • And seconds later, Lightning utters the following line which gives Elmo another idea:
    Lightning: All I know how to do is pull a sleigh.
• Wham Shot:
  • Christmas one year later on Sesame Street, showing all the stores boarded up.
  • Elmo accidentally breaking the snowglobe also qualifies.
• Writers Cannot Do Math: When Elmo and Lightning get to see Christmas in spring, and Christmas carolers sing about it being "very warm for May", the Count has only counted 124 Christmases by now, so it would have only been April 27th (or 28th in leap years). Even though Easter usually falls in April (or occasionally March), depending on the year, the creators decided to make writing the song easier on themselves.
  • This book adaptation, however, shows that the Count has counted 96 Christmases to make it more accurate with the Easter date.
  • Also, when Elmo and Lightning travel to Christmas on the 4th of July, Luis says Christmas has been celebrated non-stop for six months. It could be argued that he's not really off, since people are more given to rounding when using larger measures of time, but the date six months before July 4th is January 4th, again depending on the year, so by this point in that particular year (presumably 1997), Christmas would have been going on for six months and ten days, or six months and eleven days if it was a leap year.
    • Or if Maria and Luis meant Christmas has been celebrated non-stop for six months if you were starting with December 25, June 25th, again depending on the year, would be exactly six months after that day.
    • To get an idea of just how ludicrous this may've become, if Maria and Luis only work on weekdays (except for major and federal holidays) like most people, they would've meant they hadn't worked for 6 months but with 128 workdays.
  • Similarly, for science, when Grover mentioned that Christmas trees are an endangered species, he says “all gone, kaput, used them all, bye-bye Christmas Trees, adios Christmas Trees”. This could be an error since endangered species are species that are not completely extinct, but are likely to become extinct in the near future. Extinction of a specific animal or plant species occurs when the species has completely died out. Grover could've meant "Christmas trees were endangered in the summer and fall (not shown), then EXTINCT by December 25". Or he could've thought the Christmas Trees were critically endangered or extinct in the wild.
• What the Hell, Hero?: Played With. Santa does call out Elmo for making such a wish, but acknowledges that it was his fault for giving the snowglobe in the first place, as the elves pointed out to him. Elmo is a child, and he couldn't have foreseen the long-term consequences. It's why Santa makes a personal visit to Sesame Street undercover as a Salvation Army Santa, and when Elmo refuses to believe him lends him Lightning to see his wish play out in a shorter amount of time.
• Whole-Plot Reference: The final Christmas in the Bad Future plays out like It's a Wonderful Life: Elmo sees a bunch of ruined businesses and deteriorating Christmas decorations, with the Count showing him around like Clarence the angel and explaining how miserable all of his friends are. Oscar takes the role of Mr. Potter, reveling the misery. It's even lampshaded when the movie plays as Ernie and Bert are walking past.