The special was first broadcast on Friday, December 8, 1978, at 8 PM ET on CBS, pre-empting Wonder Woman that week, starring Leslie Uggams.
The special features only three of the Sesame Street Muppets: Oscar the Grouch, Big Bird, and Barkley the dog.
The special features many plot elements that are very loosely tied together, the most important being Oscar as the "Ebenezer Scrooge" on Sesame Street, as a minor takeoff on Charles Dickens' 1843 novella A Christmas Carol.
They include Leslie Uggams thinking lemonade was hot chocolate, singer Anne Murray and a magic eggnog container, Oscar adopting a kitten with a broken leg, and Ethel Merman calling Imogene Coca an idiot.
The producers paid CTW for the use of the set, some of the adult characters, Big Bird and Oscar the Grouch, with everything else, including the script and the Barkley costume, provided by Banner staffers.