Animation · 1990s
Hey Arnold!
Arnold's Christmas
A secret Santa gift that costs nothing and means everything. Have tissues ready.
- American
- Family-safe
- Good for kids
- Animated
- Tearjerker
Content note: Touches on the Vietnam War and a sad family story
Nickelodeon
1996
First shown 11 Dec 1996
- First shown
- 11 December 1996
- Channel
- Nickelodeon
- Runtime
- 25 mins
- Genre
- Animation
Where to watch
Not on the box right now
It's not streaming anywhere in the UK at the moment. Specials often pop back up in December, so check again nearer the big day.
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Arnold is secret Santa to Mr. Hyunh, the quiet man at the boarding house, and a wrapped present just won't do. Mr. Hyunh lost his daughter during the Vietnam War, and Arnold decides the only gift worth giving is finding her. It starts out as a cartoon about a kid and a gift swap, and sneaks up on you somewhere around the second cuppa. This is the Nickelodeon half hour that keeps turning up on lists of the best Christmas episodes, and it earns the box of tissues you'll quietly keep behind the cushion. Short, sweet and sad in the way Christmas telly sometimes is, so put it on when the family can handle a small cry.
Stay on the sofa