Rudolph, Frosty The Snowman, and more holiday programming return to WHIO-TV

The world’s most beloved snowman is brought to life by a discarded top hat—what happens when a greedy magician wants his hat back? Curl up with the kids and enjoy the original holiday classic loved by families since 1969.

Robbie the Reindeer, son of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, arrives at the North Pole to follow in his father’s footsteps as navigator of Santa’s sleigh team, but will another jealous reindeer get in his way? Watch Saturday, November 24 at 8pm.

Then at 9pm, in The Story of Santa Claus, Ed Asner, Tim Curry and Betty White lend their voices to this 1996 animated special. Nicholas Claus is a toymaker who wants to give every child in the world a gift for Christmas. The elves of the North Pole work to grant his impossible wish by building an enormous workshop.

Rudolph is kicked out of the reindeer games because of his red, shiny nose. But with the help of his friends, Hermey and Yukon Cornelius, he finds that his “different” nose is really a very special gift that can help Santa guide his sleigh and save Christmas. A favorite for generations, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer was first released in 1964, this Rankin/Bass classic has become an annual TV tradition.

The holiday season is about to get a lot funnier with back to back episodes of the iconic “I Love Lucy” sitcom in full color. The episodes have been seamlessly combined into one special. “The Christmas Episode” finds the Ricardos and Mertzes decorating Lucy and Ricky’s Christmas tree and reminiscing about how their lives have changed since the arrival of their son, Little Ricky.

In “The Fashion Show,” Lucy’s lifelong dream of appearing in a motion picture seems to have come true when Ricky arranges for her to play a showgirl in a new musical. Unfortunately, the enormous feathered headdress she is expected to wear as she descends a staircase proves to be too cumbersome. The episode was not only an immediate favorite of viewers, but of Lucille Ball herself. And the episode includes a few of her real-life personal friends too: Mrs. Gordon MacRae, Mrs. William Holden, Mrs. Van Heflin, Mrs. Forrest Tucker and Don Loper himself.

The 21st annual 'A Home For The Holidays' will be broadcast Sunday, Dec. 22 at 9pm on WHIO-TV Channel 7. Tony Award winner Idina Menzel performs songs from her new album, Christmas: A Season of Love, and introduces uplifting stories about adoption from foster care. Award-winning artists Adam Lambert, NE-YO and Kelly Rowland also perform.

For the last two decades, the award-winning special has shined a light on the thousands of American children in foster care and has inspired tens of thousands of adoptions, moving these kids into loving “forever families.”

The heart of the special is a series of documentary stories that profile some of the resilient children who have been shuttled from foster home to foster home and were ultimately adopted. These powerful stories highlight the good and the bad, from the grim realities of foster care to the life-changing effects of a loving family. Rounding out these stories are musical performances by top recording artists there to show their support for an audience made up of adoptive parents, social workers and former foster children.

Currently, there are more than 400,000 children in foster care in the U.S. who are hoping for a “forever home.” Foster children lead a difficult life. Only half graduate from high school, three percent graduate college and 25 percent end up homeless. As this special illustrates, given a home and a chance, these children can thrive and go on to lead exemplary, even extraordinary, lives. Many have started happy families of their own.