The Little Drummer Boy (1968)

Not so much a Christmas special as it is a Holy-Day special (see what I did there), The Little Drummer Boy is yet another stop motion production from the minds of Rankin/Bass (damn do they like Christmas!) I figured that in the midst of all this Santa business, there ought to be at least one Jesus centric special (after all, it IS his birthday) Although I don't know why he keeps trying to interfere with our consumerist pageantry...give it up already! Christmas is about getting presents, getting drunk and making out with your cousin's fiancee. Take that Christianity!

But I digress...

Aaron (drummer boy), hates the world, and everyone in it because one day some bandits raided his farm and killed his parents and burned the farm down, and he's still mad about it! Talk about holding a grudge...let it go man!!!

So he roams the desert with his animal friends, (a camel, a donkey and a lamb) hating on humans, when he's abducted by a greedy no-gooder, whom much like the rock music industry today, is keen on exploiting Aaron and his drumming skills for profit. 

They arrive in Bethlehem, and Aaron performs one song for the townies. When the audience goes bat shit insane and demands more, instead of giving them an encore, he does his best Axl Rose impersonation and tells them all to go to hell and runs back into the desert, where he runs into 3 wise men. They need a camel to jockey their shit to the new born king. Aaron's kidnapper sells him up the river by trading Aaron's camel friend Joshua for a bag of gold, then dumping Aaron in the desert.

Now Aaron is livid, so he follows the 3 wise men, hell bent on revenge, when he comes upon the baby Jesus in a manger, and just like you were told as a child, magic happens whenever Jesus is around! Aaron sees his face, and no longer hates the world. Instead he is filled with love for all mankind.

Seems logical.