Redundant and unnecessary.

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

Easily the biggest piece of Right wing non sense propaganda I ever saw.

Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.

It's a nice special which teaches Christmas is about giving not getting. I recommend this underrated special for people who like Rankin Bass and also for those who like Religious specialsLucas is an orphaned shepherd boy who looses his eyesight during a lighting storm. The boy is discovered by some nuns who help him and care for him at their convent. Mother Teresa (one of the nuns) encourages the local priest to allow Lucas to stay at the convent and the priest agrees until the boy is back on his feet.Lucas makes friends with the other children in the village and shows off his pet sheep flock and his dog Waggles, He decides to give his sheep and Waggles to Mother Teresa as a present for Christmas. However some mean boys decide to play a cruel prank and steal his sheep and hide them in a shed. However the sheep break free and run into the wolf infested forest nearby. With the help of the boys and Lucas they corral the sheep and rescue all of them. Later on They perform the First Christmas for the village and it starts to snow. Lucas wants his friend whose name is Lousia to explain what snow is. She of course explains snow is wet and cold and two drops of snow flakes fall on this eyes. Lucas gains his vision gets to experience snow, and the priest and the nuns decide to allow Lucas to stay at the convent.As I stated this is an underrated special, It never airs on television anymore and I like it. I also like Angela Lansbury's rendition of White Christmas. It's religious but a nice touch for the holidays10/10

This is the kind of show that you'll never see made again - something that is about Christianity and has a good moral for the children it's geared towards. Today it would be protested and replaced with Danny Phantom's Holiday Special or some crap like that. My seven year old boy loved it and counts it amongst his favorites. All the Rankin/Bass Christmas specials are enjoyable for young and old alike. This is probably one of the lesser known and harder to find ones. I love the claymation style they use - it would be great to see something new in this vein. Maybe one day they will release all the specials on one DVD - If you have small kids - catch it if you can.

I just recently saw this special again and it made me realize what a heart warming story it is.Oh yes little Lucas is blinded in a thunderstorm and is taken in by an Abbey of nuns, one of which as voiced by Angela Landsbury. I loved how Lucas had to deal with his disability while still being a shepherd, worryng about whether or not he gets to stay at the Abbey, finding the right gift for Angela's nun character, befriending a girl named Louisa, finding his lost sheep, and being in the Christmas pageant, where two miracles happen. What a story!I loved too how they incorporated not only the typical Christian Christmas story, but also Jesus' Parable of the Lost Sheep from Luke 15:3-7 into the plot-line of his story, which makes it especially special.If you can find it (and ABC Family often broadcasts this special during their 25 Days of Christmas every December) I think this is one special to watch.

This movie has all the feel good aspects of other Christmas classics but not the fantasy. A person could almost believe it is a story that could have really taken place. This is a good piece of work by Angela Lansbury. It is often over looked when compared with other Christmas classics but more than worth watching.