Today is Christmas Eve and because I like many of you will be spending Christmas day with friends and family, it means today mark the official end of my 12 Days of Christmas Blog Project. I hope you all enjoyed my posts in the lead up to the holidays and I cannot thank you enough for taking the time to indulge me in my little writing project. Before I take a much needed break until January, I want to leave you all with my thoughts on one of my favorite Christmas Specials of all time. It is a special that I am sure many of you are familiar with, but it is one that never fails to bring a tear to my eye. The special itself is pretty simple, but the execution and emotional weight behind it are profoundly beautiful and I highly recommend that everyone find the time to watch it at least once a year. For my final blog entry of 2018, join me as we take a look at 1996 Nickelodeon Christmas Classic, Arnold’s Christmas.
The Story
It is almost Christmas and Arnold finds himself caught up in his Boarding House’s annual game of Secret Santa. When Arnold draws the downcast and depressed Mr. Hyunh’s name, he soon learns that the reason behind the lonely boarder’s melancholy is that despite Christmas being a time to spend with one’s you love, Mr. Hyunh has not seen the person he loves most in the world, his daughter, in over 20 years. In the past, Mr. Hyunh had lived in South Vietnam with his daughter Mai, but when the Vietnam War broke out, he knew that in order to be safe, he would have to get himself and his daughter out of the country. The US was evacuating refugees out of the country but by the time Mr. Hyunh got to the front with his young daughter, a soldier informed him that they only had enough room on board for one more person. Desperate to give his daughter a better life, Mr. Hyunh gave Mai to the soldier, knowing that they would take care of her and make sure she was safe and had a better life. While Mr. Hyunh intended to find some other way out of the country, it took him 20 years before he was successfully able to immigrate to the US. Having heard Mr. Hyunh’s story, Arnold resolves to make every endeavor in order to reunite Mr. Hyunh and his daughter for Christmas.
Meanwhile, Helga secretly belabors what she could possibly do to get Arnold the best Christmas present ever. At the same time she like everyone else is getting caught up in the Christmas shopping rush and while talking with her best friend Pheobe, Helga reveals that what she wants most this Christmas are a line of signature Snow Boots. They are the hottest ticket item right now and stores have been sold out of them for weeks, but Helga assures herself that somehow, she will get those boots all while figuring out the perfect gift for Arnold.
In order to find Mr. Hyunh’s daughter, Arnold and his best friend Gerald head over to the government records offices to find an archivist who could check for Mai in the city records. Unfortunately when they get their, they are unable to convince, archival records manager, Mr. Bailey to help them with their search. Mr. Bailey says that he has too many things to do before Christmas and cannot help the pair find their missing person. Not one to easily give up, Arnold agrees to do all of Mr. Bailey’s Christmas Shopping in exchange for him locating Mai. Arnold and Gerald rush out and collect everything on Mr. Bailey’s list except for finding a pair of the same rare snow boots that Helga was pining for. Despite the fact that they got everything else, and the entire city was sold out of the boots, Mr. Bailey refuses to locate Mai.
In the midst of Arnold and Gerald’s mad shopping rush, Helga continues to pursue the perfect gift for Arnold. By happenstance, she happens to come upon Mr. Bailey’s Christmas Shopping list that Arnold and Gerald had accidentally dropped after being turned away from the information office. Finally understanding what Arnold wants most for Christmas, to reunite Mr. Hyunh with his daughter and seeing that in order to do so, he needed a pair of the sold out snow boots, Helga heads home dejected, knowing that there is nothing she can do to make Arnold’s Christmas wish come true without the boots. Upon arriving home, Helga’s mom sees her downcast look and in an effort to cheer her up, tells her to open one of her presents. Helga unwraps the present only to reveal that her mom had actually managed to get a hold of the snow boots that everyone was coveting. Helga is absolutely amazed and when she asks her mom how she got them, she tells her that she waited in line for 18 hours because she knew how much she wanted them. Helga enthusiastically thanks he mom before rushing outside to try them on. In the midst of her joy, she knocks over Mr. Bailey’s list and then suddenly realizes she now has the means to grant Arnold’s deepest Christmas wish, but agonizes over the decision, knowing it will cost her something that she deeply wanted and that her mom spent so much time and effort getting her.
Eventually making her decision, Helga rushes over to government offices and catches Mr. Bailey just as he is about to head home. Helga stops him and offers him the snow boots in exchange for his help in finding Mai. At this point, Mr. Bailey is tired and tells Helga to forget about it because he’s expected at home right now. Helga responds by making a heartfelt plea that Christmas is not about the gifts or about getting what you want, it is about showing people that you really care about them and putting their desires above your own. She finishes by saying that either they can work all night to locate Mr. Hyunh’s daughter, or he can leave, but in doing so forever damage Arnold’s belief in the goodness of people and crush his belief in miracles. Mr. Bailey turns toward Helga before the scene cuts to Christmas day.
It is Christmas day and while everyone else is busy exchanging presents, Arnold just sits depressed watching a once again forlorn Mr. Hyunh. It comes to everyone’s attention that Mr. Hyunh did not get his Secret Santa present but he tells them that it is okay and he does not need a gift. Arnold gets up to tell Mr. Hyunh what he tried to do only to get interrupted by someone at the door. Arnold’s grandpa, Phil, opens the door only to find a young woman looking for Mr. Hyunh. Phil lets her in and the woman addressing Mr. Hyunh asks for her father. Mr. Hyunh turns around only to be greeted by Mai, the daughter he had not seen in over 20 years. The two happily embrace one another and finally start to catch up with each other. Meanwhile, Arnold muses to Gerald about how such a miracle could have possibly happened. Gerald tells him not to question it because a “miracle is a miracle,” and that maybe Arnold has a Christmas angel looking out for him. The special ends with a cut to Helga standing outside the boarding house wishing Arnold a Merry Christmas.
The Interpretation
This is quite possibly the most emotional episode of Hey Arnold in the entire series. For me, it does a near perfect job of capturing so many aspects of what make Christmas special. One of the biggest themes that always resonates with me whenever I watch this special is that at its heart, Christmas is about treating others as more valuable than yourself.
Arnold and Gerald sacrifice their time and energy all for the sake of giving Mr. Hyunh the only gift he really wants. They spend hours running around to different stores on the busiest shopping day of the year. By doing this, Arnold was essentially saying that he valued Mr. Hyunh and his happiness more than he valued his own.
Gerald to his credit also sacrificed his Christmas Eve in order to help his best friend. Gerald was under no obligation to help Arnold do all that shopping, but he did it anyways because he saw helping a friend as of higher value than spending his free time doing anything else.
Helga’s mom waited in line for 18 hours because she loved her daughter that much. This is even more impressive if you know the context of the show because Helga’s mom is depicted as having a serious drinking problem. Even though Helga’s mom is not perfect by any stretch of the imagination, she still loved her daughter enough to sacrifice her time for Helga’s happiness.
Finally, we have Helga who willingly gave up the snow boots that her mom had sacrificed for in order give Arnold and Mr. Hyunh a special Christmas. The story set up perfectly how much Helga wanted those boots, so when she gives them away, you understand how painful it was for her to do it. Helga only could have done what she did, if she counted the happiness of both Arnold and Mr. Hyunh as a greater joy than anything the boots could truly provide.
The Message
This is probably going to sound cliched or forced to some of you, but this is just the type of person I am. The real reason why I am so touched by the theme of sacrificial giving present in Arnold’s Christmas is because when I look at all of these characters actively choosing to make costly sacrifices for the sake of others, I am pointed back to what I believe to be the true heart of Christmas. As a Christian, Christmas to me is a day to celebrate the day when God gave the world his Son as a precious and costly gift. God did not just sacrifice His time, His energy, or His effort, He gave the most costly thing imaginable, His Son, so that he could give Himself to the world. Tomorrow, I will celebrate the day that God chose to value having a relationship with me, more than the life of his Son.
You do not have to see Arnold’s Christmas in the same way as I do. I am happy if this special just leaves you with the sense that it really is better to give than to receive. The question I would ask is that if you really do resonate with the idea that Christmas is about treating others better than you treat yourself, why do you actually resonate with that idea? It is certainly easier to consider oneself and one’s own desires before the needs of others. For me, I believe I am really only able to give and sacrifice for the sake of others’ joy and happiness, because I know what it means for someone to sacrifice something precious for me. No matter what, I hope that Arnold’s Christmas always reminds you to value and treasure the ones you love, because you will only find real joy in understanding what it means give for the sake of those who are precious to you. Merry Christmas everyone and Happy Holidays! I’ll see you all again in 2019!