It's the most wonderful time of the year again. Time for decorating trees, putting up lights, drinking eggnog, buying gifts, wrapping gifts, opening gifts and waiting for a jolly old fat man to bring us more gifts... oh, and something about birthdays and a guy named Jesus or something, I don't know. This is also that time of year when the family gathers around and watches Christmas specials on T.V.

Every year, specials like "The Grinch Who Stole Christmas" and "Frosty the Snowman" grace our televisions and bury themselves deep within our psyches. Seriously, many of you know the songs from both of these specials by heart and can probably recall certain pieces of dialog and/or character moments. While many of these specials were made by different companies, one company stands above the rest when it comes to the most holiday specials made.

Rankin/Bass Productions created some of the most memorable Christmas specials to date such as "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer," "Frosty the Snowman," "The Little Drummer Boy," "Santa Claus is Comin' to Town," and "The Year Without a Santa Claus." Most of us remember them fondly and can think of several characters that stay with us, but are they genuinely good shorts or has our nostalgia blinded us in some way.

One of the easiest criticisms to make comes in the form of their animation. While they did have vast ambition with their character design, you can tell that budget constraints hurt them to some degree. For example, a lot of the sets in "Rudolph," such as the North Pole, look relatively plain and the stop-motion is extremely jerky and not smooth at all.

Rankin/Bass made so many specials that many of them lacked the effort and memorability that their earlier work did. If you think I'm lying, tell me what happened in "Rudolph's Shiny New Year" and "The Easter Bunny is Comin' to Town." Many of you probably didn't even know that those films existed.

Rankin/Bass were very hit or miss when it came to the quality of their specials, most likely due to their overwhelming quantity, and even the ones that were great still suffered, to a degree, on the technical side. However, through all of this these specials, the memorable ones anyway, have a great amount of genuine heart and charm poured into them.

We remember characters like Hermey, Yukon Cornelius, and Sam the Snowman because they are just so unique, and filled with fun personalities and odd character quirks. We remember the catchy lyrics and creativity of "The Snow Miser Song" and "The Heat Miser Song." We cherish the messages of these shorts such as being true to yourself from "Rudolph" and how giving can bring happiness to people in "Santa Claus is Comin' to Town."

Even after pointing out those technical flaws, they also contribute a sort of handmade charm to the shorts and make them feel more personal. These specials aren't perfect, but then again, no piece of art is truly perfect. In fact, it's the many little imperfections that give some pieces of art that personal human touch. This is what's truly important and needs to stand out in order to hold up over time, and since we're still watching these specials almost 50 years later, it's safe to say they accomplished this.