For those of you who indulge in ABC Family’s 25 Days of Christmas, you’re surely familiar with stop motion animation films. The little puppets! Oh, how they usher in the Holiday season like nothing else. Just this past weekend, to gear up for the start of December, my boyfriend and I watched “Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer.” There is nothing like seeing your gigantor of a bf singing along to “Misfit.” Poor boy. He probably relates… 😉

But seriously—the movie is incredible. Hermie the Elf wants to be a Dentist! Santa is a complete butthead! How Bankin and Rass play with classic Christmas stereotypes. It got me in the mood to celebrate Christmas, AND to watch every possible stop motion Christmas special. Since I’ve done the work for you, because I am a kind soul, and a Christmas obsessed chica, here are the must-sees (There are way more Bankin and Rass movies than you think.):

1. “The Year Without a Santa Claus”
2. “Santa Claus is Comin’ to Town”
3. “Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer”

Honorable Mention: “Nestor the Long-Eared Christmas Donkey” (but mainly because the title reminds me of that ridiculously catchy tune- “Dominick the Italian Christmas Donkey.”)