Product Review

This is an excellent compilation of four History Channel/A&E programs dealing with Christmas, all wrapped into one DVD. 1. "Christmas Unwrapped" is a delightful history of the holiday from pagan times to the present, along with the origins of several Christmas customs. 2. "It's a Wonderful Time to be Weird" is a holiday offering from the popular series WEIRD U.S. where the odd and unusual are documented from coast-to-coast. It's a Wacky Wonderland of Christmas. 3. "Santa Claus" (available as an individual DVD) is from the BIOGRAPHY series and traces the roots of Father Christmas through the centuries. 4. "Christmas Tech" is a holiday episode of the series MODERN MARVELS that explores the high-tech aspect of the celebration, such as the annual Rockefeller Center Christmas tree and Macy's festive store windows. Getting these four programs for less than the price of either one of the previous individual releases, is 2008 holiday bargain. I'd recommend enjoying each program individually, rather than sitting through a Christmas overdose of 200 minutes. However, as a big fan of all things Christmas, I found the four flowed quite nicely all in a row. These are rarely found in stores, so have Amazon put this DVD in Santa's sleigh this holiday season.