YMMV / Elmo Saves Christmas

• Ass Pull: Lightning's sled being able to go back in time isn't even mentioned until Elmo breaks the snowglobe.
• Awesome Music: "Keep Christmas With You (All Through The Year)" is an inspirational song about how you can have the spirit of giving and other virtues associated with Christmas even when it isn't Christmas.
• Fridge Horror:
  • It's been mentioned that Santa has given the snowglobe before. If Elmo's "Christmas every day" wish was bad, then try not to imagine the wishes its other recipients have made.
  • Suppose that Santa hadn't lent Lightning to Elmo, to jump forward in time. Christmas every day still would have played out, but Elmo wouldn't see the immediate consequences. He would have wished for a pair of rollerblades, thereby using up all of his wishes.
  • Also, imagine how nightmarish future Christmases would have been. After just one year of endless Christmas, people are sulking, tired of it, barely any Christmas spirit remains, only the Count, Bob, and the carolers are making any real effort to have Christmas spirit (with Gina being the only one still smiling and even the Count is growing tired of counting the days), people are decorating with old and dilapidated decorations, all the businesses are closing down, Big Bird is deeply depressed, Grover is running out of things to sell, Santa is retiring (who will take over for him to deliver the toys, the elves?), and very little still looks bright and shiny. This means that in the future, it would have gotten worse:
    • Imagine after two years how miserable everyone would have been (it'd likely have been too miserable even for Oscar to enjoy), likely the carolers (even Gina) would have stopped singing due to losing their voices entirely or at least been on the verge of it, Oscar would have actually felt bad for everyone and bored with all that mounting Christmas trash, Sesame Street would actually have been in a state of decay, Maria and Luis (even Gabi) would have had to move out due to no source of income (or at least depend on government income), people would no longer be giving gifts, everyone would have been so tired of Christmas that they'd curse its existence every day, and the Count would have instead counted complaints rather than Christmases, Grover would have stopped selling things, even Snuffy would be more homesick and miss Big Bird, and there'd have been no more decorations except old deteriorating ones from the previous year(s).
    • After three to five years, there would have been a chocolate and turkey shortage so they'd have had to switch to imitation chocolate and imitation turkey, which wouldn't have been very good. A turkey shortage is disturbing in its own right, since not only would they have had inferior food, they would have caused a species of bird to become endangered, if not extinct.
    • And after more than five years, it would have been about the most dystopian place in existence, people nostalgic and sad for before Christmas was everyday or even a little bit for just one year after it began when there was still residual cheer.
    • After at least ten years, there wouldn't have been much of a Sesame Street left. Let's just say it's good that Lightning is capable of going back in time and Elmo learns from his mistake.
  • If one whole year of Christmas is bad on Sesame Street, imagine what it would be like everywhere else.
  • Then again, not every culture or religion in the world celebrates Christmas, so those countries that are primarily non-Christian would remain mostly unfazed by the entire event. That said, countries adversely affected by a continuous Christmas could become dependent on those unaffected by it for the resources needed to survive, which might strain their economies.
• Harsher in Hindsight:
  • Maria and Luis closing up the Fix-It-Shop becomes this with how their actors eventually left the show (Sonia Manzano retired after Season 45, and Emilio Delgado was laid off by Season 46, the first season since the HBO acquisition), though this is a bit less harsh as both of them have still been involved with Sesame Workshop and have made other live appearances outside of the show, especially in Delgado's case until his death in March 2022.
  • What’s even more sad is that the Fix-It-Shop actually did close down in Season 39 after they were rendered obsolete. At least they got a new Bike Shop and laundromat to replace it.
  • The scene where Sesame Street itself is in ruins, also foreshadows this with the Around The Corner area being discontinued after Season 29 (since this special was released in 1996, two years before the set was removed).
• Inferred Holocaust: In each successive Christmas, Grover has fewer and fewer trees to sell (ultimately resorting to selling a coat rack in the summer and a sign saying, "Christmas trees for sale" on next year's Christmas). During his bits, he makes offhand comments about how the increased demand for Christmas trees is resulting in massive deforestation, with Christmas trees being declared an endangered species by the time the Bad Future shows up (though one wonders just why people feel the need to buy a new Christmas tree every single day, nor why they just don't switch to fake trees, like so many other people have.)
• Nightmare Fuel:
  • At one point we meet the Easter Bunny, who isn’t portrayed by a Muppet, but by Broadway legend Harvey Fierstein wearing a bunny suit. Although the character is genuinely good intentioned, Fierstein's distinctive gravely voice can scare some children watching.
  • The entire Bad Future scene. Seeing your favorite humans and Muppets (including Elmo himself) suffering horribly from the endless Christmas is not a pleasant sight at all, and certainly gives a good point as to why Christmas is better suited for once a year, along with how you shouldn't have too much of a good thing.
• Signature Scene: By far, the most iconic scene of the special is the Bad Future scene.
• Spiritual Successor: Elmo's Christmas Countdown (2007) also has a celebrity narrator (Ben Stiller in Muppet form), a Saving Christmas-type plot, a magical Christmas-related device, and a celebrity Santa (Kevin James).
• Spoiled by the Format: Happens when Elmo "saves Christmas" for the first time, as there's a lot of runtime to go.
• Tear Jerker: The entire Bad Future where it's a year after Elmo made the "Christmas every day" wish. All the businesses have gone bankrupt with no one working, Big Bird can't see Snuffy because he's been on vacation for a year, the carolers have gone hoarse from singing non-stop, Maria gets exasperated over not being able to do anything about the broken toasters piling up at the Fix-It Shop, Grover has nothing left to sell at the Christmas tree lot, and even the Count decides he's had enough of counting Christmases. Gina is the only one who smiles, still enjoying it a little more, although she's also suffering (one of the carolers who had started to go hoarse). At least there is a comic relief moment involving Grover and Mr. Johnson in this future, along with Bert and Ernie being surprised to hear their names coming from a TV playing It's a Wonderful Life.

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