The Twilight Zone- “Night of the Meek” (1960)

“A word to the wise, to all the children of the twentieth century, whether their concern be pediatrics or geriatrics, whether they crawl on hands and knees and wear diapers or walk with a cane and comb their beards. There’s a wondrous magic to Christmas and there’s a special power reserved for little people. In short, there’s nothing mightier than the meek.”

Art Carney plays a department store Santa Claus named Henry Corwin who gets fired for being drunk on the job (though not before delivering an eloquent speech about the commercialization of Christmas). He finds a magical bag which will produce anyone’s heart’s desire. Henry spends the rest of the episode giving out gifts to homeless people and children, bringing holiday cheer to those who need it. This classic Christmas story, written by Rod Serling (who, at the end of the episode, delivers that wonderful monologue quoted above), follows the familiar Twilight Zone arc of redemption through some supernatural means. It’s not one of the series’s highs, but it is a gripping and emotional holiday episode, one that should be thought of as one of TV’s finest Christmas moments.