Christmas 1987
the late-decade canon starts — the Muppets and Garfield on December TV, Run-DMC in the songbook, and the charity-album era peaks.
The short answer
Christmas 1987 delivered three canon entries: A Muppet Family Christmas (the December 1987 crossover special weaving the Muppets, Sesame Street, and Fraggle Rock into one Christmas story), Garfield's Christmas special, and Run-DMC's Christmas in Hollis — the hip-hop Christmas standard. A Very Special Christmas, the Special Olympics benefit album, was released that year with its era-spanning roster. The late-decade Christmas canon — the one rerun and streamed today — starts here.
The specials of 1987
A Muppet Family Christmas (December 1987) is the quiet masterpiece of the era's Christmas TV: the full Muppet universe converging on a farmhouse Christmas, written with the warmth the theatrical films chased. Garfield's Christmas special (same month) carried the animated tier's charm. Alongside the Claymation Christmas Celebration (1987, California Raisins included), 1987 gave December television its strongest single-year lineup of the decade — the block that now runs as pure nostalgia programming.
The music: Hollis and the charity era
Run-DMC's Christmas in Hollis (1987) — from the A Very Special Christmas album — brought hip-hop into the Christmas canon permanently: the Queens-neighborhood nostalgia track became the genre's perennial. A Very Special Christmas itself (1987, Special Olympics benefit) assembled the era's rock and pop roster and became the template for every holiday compilation with a cause since. Combined with the 1984 pair, the modern Christmas-song catalog was essentially complete by this Christmas — everything since has been covers and additions to a 1984-87 foundation.
The toys and the mood
The NES at full domination — the 1987 game library is the machine's legendary tier; everything else in the aisle competed with it now. The plush empires consolidated; the action lines ran their late-period ambition. Culturally: the late-decade confidence, the boom years' peak, and the aesthetic fully crystallized — the bright-and-glassy look the retro revival reproduces. Two years before the decade's Christmas-film finale (Vacation, 1989), 1987 is the moment the decade's Christmas culture stopped being current and started becoming classic.
FAQ
What made A Muppet Family Christmas special?
The 1987 crossover: Muppets, Sesame Street, and Fraggle Rock characters in one Christmas story — never repeated at that scale.
When did hip-hop get a Christmas standard?
1987 — Run-DMC's Christmas in Hollis, released via the A Very Special Christmas album.
What was A Very Special Christmas?
The 1987 Special Olympics benefit compilation — an era-spanning roster, the template for holiday charity compilations since.