Tuned to Tradition

None of the shows draws as well as they did a decade ago, but that's more a reflection of the proliferation of channels, especially cable options, than the popularity of the programs. "Everything is relative," says ABC scheduling chief Jeff Bader, who points out that most of these programs not only win their time slots, they do far better than the regular shows they are replacing for the night. They fill a niche -- programs that bring adults and kids together -- in the same way as such popular shows as "Dancing With the Stars" and "American Idol."

"There's a resonance to them," Bader says. "It's very, very hard to do new Christmas specials now."

But will the timeless quality of the programs stretch into yet another generation? Robert Thompson, a professor of pop culture at Syracuse University, expects it will.

"It's not just the act of watching them, it's the ritual of having them on, when they are on," Thompson says. "The energy is coming much more from the parents than from the kids. However, by the time those kids get to be 20, and they've left the halcyon days of youth . . . when they have mortgages, and jobs . . . I think they're going to pull the same nostalgia thing on their kids. Very few things in popular culture make those kind of generational jumps."

A grandfather now, Shy-Quon Ely of Southeast Washington fondly remembers watching all the holiday specials with his five children.

"We always knew it was Christmas season when 'Rudolph,' 'Charlie Brown,' things like that came on," he says. "We would plan for it. We'd go get cookies and chips and milk and pop . . ."

His voice catches: "Oh, you're making me reminisce."

Ely's children have moved away, but one of his daughters and her two young girls have been visiting him this week. Alas, they return home today, so he won't be able to share in their youthful enthusiasm when "Rudolph" and "Frosty" air tomorrow night.

Chances are, though, he'll be watching anyway. Nostalgia can do that to you.