Seasons of Giving (film)

Seasons of Giving (also known as Winnie the Pooh: Seasons of Giving) is a 1999 American made-for-video animated musical film which included A Winnie the Pooh Thanksgiving, and two episodes from The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh (Groundpiglet Day and Find Her, Keep Her). It features new songs by The Sherman Brothers.
== Plot ==
Tigger wants to ski, but Winnie the Pooh and Piglet point out that there's no snow. So, they go ask Rabbit what day of the year it is, but after opening his front door and letting the wind blow in, Rabbit's calendar pages (November to February) get torn off and get swept under Rabbit's bed, but he doesn't realize it, and claims that it's February 2, Groundhog Day. In an effort to find out if there are two more weeks of winter or if spring comes tomorrow, they ask Gopher if he sees his shadow. Gopher angrily points out he's a gopher not a groundhog, so they have Piglet pretend to be a groundhog. His hat falls over his eyes, preventing him from seeing. Thinking that winter is over, they all prepare for spring by airing out their houses, planting gardens and spring cleaning. Later that day, it snows. A discouraged Rabbit confronts Piglet for lying to them and tells him that it's all his fault, and goes home to see wind blowing into his house and the calendar pages being blown outside. After putting the lost pages back on the calendar, he realizes that it's not Groundhog Day, it's only November 13. Feeling awful for what he said, Rabbit goes to apologize to Piglet, only to find a note from Piglet saying that he's gone to look for a real groundhog. Rabbit frantically goes looking for Piglet, while Piglet looks for a groundhog. Rabbit tells everyone that it's November 13. So, they decide to get ready for Thanksgiving.
Later, it is Thanksgiving in the Hundred Acre Wood and Winnie the Pooh and his friends bring food for the big dinner. Then, things change when Rabbit informs them that Thanksgiving is a special time of year that should include special items, so Pooh and the gang set off to find those very items.[1][2][3]
A month later, on Christmas Eve, Rabbit tells the story of how he met a baby bluebird named Kessie. Later that summer, Owl teaches her to fly. Rabbit refuses to let her fly, and with that, they go home. In the fall, Kessie looks out the window to see wild ducks flying south for the winter. For days, she tries to fly. Pooh, Tigger, and Piglet have an idea on how to get Kessie South for the winter, a giant slingshot. When Kessie is about to take off, Rabbit arrives and stops him. He yells at Pooh and tells Tigger to let go of the slingshot. Tigger lets go, and Rabbit is hit and falls off the same cliff Kessie had fallen off of that summer. Kessie quickly swoops down, and grabs Rabbit, and brings him back to the top. The next morning, Owl, Pooh, Piglet, and Tigger say goodbye to Kessie as she prepares to fly south. Meanwhile, Rabbit is in his garden feeling sad, and stubs his toe on a potted carrot, that Kessie had planted. He rushes to say goodbye to Kessie but finds he's too late now and Kessie is gone. However, he is happy when Kessie comes back to say goodbye. Back in the present, Rabbit tells Roo that he has not seen Kessie since then. Everyone hurries outside to decorate a tree. Christopher Robin arrives to help decorate. After the tree is done, Rabbit realizes he forgot the most important part, a star to go on top of the tree. Rabbit is really sad but then sees a falling star. Everyone gathers to make a wish, only to realize that it's not a falling star. It is Kessie holding a star, which she puts on the tree. Rabbit and Kessie hug, and Kessie wishes Rabbit a Merry Christmas.
== Voice cast ==
* Jim Cummings as Winnie the Pooh and Tigger
* Paul Winchell as Tigger (Archive Footage), Andrew Collins served as the supervising animator for Tigger.
* Steve Schatzberg as Piglet
* John Fiedler as Piglet (Archive Footage)
* Ken Sansom as Rabbit
* Brady Bluhm as Christopher Robin
* Gregg Berger as Eeyore
* Peter Cullen as Eeyore (Archive Footage)
* Laura Mooney as Kessie (Archive Footage)
* Nikita Hopkins as Roo
* Tress MacNeille as Kanga
* Andre Stojka as Owl
* Michael Gough as Gopher
* Laurie Main as The Narrator
* Tim Hoskins as Christopher Robin (Archive Footage)
== Home video ==
Seasons of Giving was originally released on VHS on November 9, 1999. It was released on DVD on November 4, 2003.
It was reissued again as a 10th anniversary gift set edition on DVD on September 29, 2009 the same day as Muppet Christmas: Letters to Santa DVD. This release included a collectible stocking gift pack.