Christmas Day at the Videos, Part 2

My favorite episode of The Waltons: "The Best Christmas" was next. I enjoyed the entire series of Waltons, except perhaps the final season, but the first six or seven years were the best.

It's Christmas 1937, and Olivia confides to Grandma, with Elizabeth overhearing, that she wants this holiday to be the best one, as the family may be scattered in future years. So everyone plans for a wonderful Christmas Eve dinner, despite the icy weather. But Grandma and Grandpa are stranded in Charlottesville visiting a sick friend, Ben is trapped at Yancy Tucker's house, Jason and John are helping clear away a tree that has crashed through the church roof, Jim-Bob is late because a friend he's invited for dinner was primping, Erin is still on duty at the switchboard because Fanny Tatum has not returned--and John-Boy, Mary Ellen and Curt, along with Verdie and Harley are busy rescuing Miss Fanny and her niece from their car, which has run off the road into a frozen pond, leaving Olivia and Elizabeth to hold the fort at home. It's a very warm, loving story that ends with a teary reunion on Christmas morning.

The pond rescue scenes are especially good: I know this was probably filmed in August on a hot soundstage, but the snow and ice is so well done that I get the chills just watching John-Boy and Harley wade out into the cold water.

I have a humorous memory of this episode from when it first aired, stemming from Mary Ellen and Curt's treatment of frostbite; they began with applications of cold water, gradually getting warmer--dozens of people apparently wrote to TV Guide, and a representative number were printed in their letters column, screaming that that was not the way to treat frostbite! Some of them were quite upset that The Waltons would "mislead" people into thinking this was correct. It was so stupid--of course we knew in the 1970s that frostbite should not be treated that way, but the show took place in 1937; that's the way frostbite was treated then. Had they used the 70s method of treatment, it would have been anachronistic! Duh!

After this was over, I switched the TV to WPIX to watch the Yule Log while I phoned first James--I was everyone's first call of the day--and then my mother, who was getting ready to go to my cousin's house for Christmas dinner.