A Muppet Family Christmas A Muppet Family Christmas is a TV special that premiered on December 16 , 1987 on ABC . In this one - hour Christmas special , Fozzie Bear surprises his mother Emily on Christmas Eve by bringing the entire Muppet gang to her farm to celebrate the holidays . Doc and his dog Sprocket , who had planned a quiet Christmas , end up joining the Muppets in their holiday activities and preparations . The " Sesame Street " regulars , including Big Bird , Bert , Ernie and others , join the festivities , but to Kermit ' s dismay , the only one missing is Miss Piggy , who has been caught in a snowstorm . ABC re - broadcast the special following year on December 2 , 1988 . It was then re - edited , and aired on NBC as an episode of " The Magical World of Disney " on December 24 , 1989 . Synopsis . The special kicks off with Fozzie , Kermit , and most of the " Muppet Show " gang ( with the pointed exception of Miss Piggy ) driving through a blizzard in a pickup truck , singing " We Need a Little Christmas . " They have decided to spend Christmas at the old farm where Fozzie Bear ' s mother , Ma Bear , lives . And since his mother loves surprises , they have not called to tell her they were coming . Unbeknownst to them , Mrs . Bear is planning to spend Christmas in Malibu , and to make sure her farmhouse stays in one piece while she ' s gone , she has rented it to Doc and his dog Sprocket . Doc is looking forward to having " a nice , quiet Christmas " in the countryside . Immediately following Doc and Sprocket ' s arrival , though , the Muppets themselves show up , all the while slipping on an icy patch at the door ( which is a running gag in this special ) , and Emily is pleasantly surprised with the appearance of her cub and " his weirdo friends , " despite the fact that she now has to cancel her trip to Malibu , and willingly allows them to stay . Doc , on the other hand , is taken aback that he now has so many funny - looking unexpected visitors , and asks Sprocket if they ' re " anything like these Fraggles you keep telling me about . " Then the telephone rings , and Animal answers . It ' s Miss Piggy , who informs Kermit that her arrival will be delayed ( due to a photo session ) . The Swedish Chef shows up at the farmhouse , telling Fozzie he ' s here to cook the Christmas turkey . Gonzo greets the arriving ( and still living ) turkey , who was apparently convinced by the Swedish Chef to come for a nice vacation . Gonzo tries to warn the fowl of the culinary danger , but the latter stubbornly remains self - assured . Kermit and nephew Robin then begin the special ' s second song sequence . Their pleasant singing of " Jingle Bells " is quickly interrupted by the Electric Mayhem performing " Jingle Bell Rock . " Later , Fozzie is outside building a snowman while some of the other Muppets chop down a Christmas tree , when Rowlf shows up ( and slips on the icy patch ) . He engages in a friendly conversation with Sprocket , and sits down to Emily ' s out - of - tune piano and starts playing " Sleigh Ride . " Fozzie starts singing along , during which the Snowman comes to life and starts up a comedy act with the bear . When they get a positive reaction from some woodland creatures watching their act , Fozzie runs inside to try to tell Kermit about his new act with the Snowman , slipping on the icy patch on the way in , but Kermit is called away by another Miss Piggy telephone message . This time , she ' s doing some last - minute Christmas shopping . Elsewhere in the house , the Swedish Chef has been tricked by the Christmas Turkey into believing that Sprocket is an even bigger turkey . Doc corrects the Chef ' s species confusion , and then the Turkey begins hitting on Camilla . Scooter stumbles upon an old home movie of the first Christmas the Muppets ever spent together , so the Muppets sit down to watch it . The old footage shows the Muppet Babies singing " Santa Claus is Coming to Town , " while the fully - grown characters give commentary . At the end , when the baby Animal rips through a gift box in the film , the fully - grown Animal tears through the screen . Gonzo catches sight of the Christmas Turkey flirting with Camilla and picks a fight with him . But then Kermit points to the arrival of the Sesame Street Muppets , who sing a medley of " Here We Come A - Caroling " and " Deck the Halls " ( with the exception of Oscar the Grouch , who naturally refuses to sing along ) . They all come inside , slipping on the icy patch as they do so . During this , the Swedish Chef manages to nab the Turkey , who tries to get out of being cooked by claiming he ' s a different animal altogether , but the Chef isn ' t fooled , and proceeds with the fitting . But the Turkey manages to save himself by pointing out Big Bird , to the astonished Chef ' s delight . A TV weather report from the Newsman announces an impending blizzard , causing Kermit to worry about Piggy . Later , Fozzie and his mom work out the sleeping arrangements for all the guests , and Oscar lets Rizzo the Rat spend the night in his trash can . Then Janice brings out some Christmas cookies she just baked , only for Cookie Monster to gobble them all down . The Sesame Street gang then perform their Christmas pageant , " The Night Before Christmas " , with Ernie as narrator , a disgruntled Bert as Mama , and Grover as the mouse who isn ' t stirring . The curtain behind opens to show the sleigh being pulled by the reindeer , all played by monsters ( including Herry Monster and Elmo ) , with The Two - Headed Monster as St . Nick ( to which Sam replies , " Is " nothing " sacred ? " ) . Miss Piggy calls Kermit one more time to tell him that her limo is stuck in the snowbank , and that she ' s going to take a taxi to the farmhouse . Then , while Piggy gets caught in the wind , Fozzie tries to cheer a fretful Kermit by saying it ' s not that cold , when the Snowman comes inside to warm up . Fozzie brings the Snowman in for the rest of the gang to see , but he ' s dismayed to see Statler and Waldorf ( old friends of Ma Bear who visit every Christmas ) . Fozzie and the Snowman gamely attempt their routine , but Statler and Waldorf ' s heckling interrupts , until finally the Snowman , who ' s starting to melt , heads back outside . The Swedish Chef calls Big Bird into the kitchen and starts to salt him . Big Bird , completely unaware of the Chef ' s culinary intentions , gives him a handful of homemade chocolate - covered birdseed . The Chef is touched by this gift , and more so when Big Bird begins singing " The Christmas Song " ( the Chef joining him ) . The tearful gourmet instead opts to serve shredded wheat and cranberry sauce , which happens to be Big Bird ' s favorite . Meanwhile , Doc , having observed Kermit ' s fears for Miss Piggy , offers to find her and help her get to the farmhouse ; true , he ' s never met her , but he didn ' t know the Muppets until this day and now considers them to be newfound friends . After Doc leaves , Kermit heads down to the cellar to find that his nephew , Robin , has found a hole leading to Fraggle Rock . In the cave , the frogs soon stumble upon the Fraggles and wish them a merry Christmas , and also explain the holiday to them because the Fraggles don ' t really know what it is . What the Fraggles do have , though , is a time when they give each other pebbles and pass them on to other Fraggles . They explain their ritual in a number called " Pass It On . " Before the frogs head back upstairs , Boober gives Robin the pebble , in a show of friendship . Kermit and Robin return just in time to witness Miss Piggy ' s arrival on a dogsled ( driven by Doc , wearing a Mountie - style uniform ) . Piggy sings " Home for the Holidays " as Kermit brings her in and the others join in . Her impressive entrance is undercut by the obligatory slip on the icy patch . With the entire Muppet family now present , they sing a medley of Christmas songs , and everybody ( except Oscar , of course ) gets a chance to sing at least one line , including the Snowman and the forest critters outside . During the medley , the Fraggles come up to watch . Once they finish singing , Fozzie ' s mom puts his stocking up on the mantle ; Fozzie tells her that he ' s a grown bear and doesn ' t need to have his stocking hung anymore , but lets her keep it up anyway . Kermit then presents Miss Piggy with his gift for her - a mink , not a coat but Piggy ' s biggest fan . Robin gives the Fraggle pebble to Grover . Then Doc , as Santa Claus , gives out presents and all the Muppets sing " We Wish You a Merry Christmas , " during which Jim Henson himself appears , watching from the kitchen . The special ends with Kermit returning Miss Piggy ' s affection under the mistletoe before saying " Merry Christmas " to the viewers . Edits . " A Muppet Family Christmas " has been released on video in both 1994 and 1998 and on DVD in 2001 . However , every commercially available version in the United States and Canada has scenes edited out due to music rights problems . When this special originally debuted on television , the full rights to the songs were only secured for television . Because the US song rights are different than for other countries , the PAL video release available in Europe does not contain the music edits the NTSC videos suffer . All video releases derive from the 1989 edit , which contains less incidental music , and puts dissolves between scenes that originally faded to and from black for commercial breaks . ( NBC added their own fades when airing the special . ) The 2001 DVD is a shorter cut of the 1989 edit .