Who Remembers Nestor: The Long-Eared Christmas Donkey?
You know Dasher and Dancer and Prancer and Vixen
Comet and Cupid and Donner and Blitzen
But do you recall
The most famous Christmas Donkey of all?
Nestor, of course, is the obvious answer, well at least to me and my family. While most kids in the late 1970s — early 1980s were waiting for their annual showing of Rudolph, Frosty, or maybe, the Peanuts gang, I patiently waited every year for Nestor, The Long-Eared Christmas Donkey. Sadly, for a younger me, by about 1984 or 1985 it was seemingly taken out of the holiday rotation. This was during an era when there were only three networks, so there was little chance of watching it elsewhere. From that point forward, Christmas television shows were a major disappointment as I desperately waited each holiday season for a seemingly lost show. Then in the late 1990s, it was worked back into the ABC Family Christmas Showings (now Freeform’s “25 Days of Christmas”), although slightly edited, and usually around 10 am, while I would have been in school or at work. Eventually, I was gifted a VCR tape and later a DVD to ensure I would never miss it again.
The story was a 1977 stop-motion, Rankin/Bass Production. The same people who brought you Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and Santa Claus Is Comin’ to Town among other holiday classics. Nestor, itself, was based on a 1975 song by Gene Autry. In the 1970s and '80s, Rankin/Bass was creating some of the very popular stop-motion and animated features available that are still watched. They also happen to be responsible for the animated versions of The Hobbit and The Return of The King, but as much as I love Tolkien’s Lord of The Rings, nothing compares to the joy and nostalgia that Nestor brings me each Christmas season.
The story is rather dark, as no Generation X story should be anything less. Nestor, the aforementioned donkey, was born with a physical handicap (the aforementioned long ears that hang to the ground) probably somewhere in middle or northern Europe. Perhaps, Germania or Gallia? Nestor was tormented and ostracized by all the other young farm animals, because of his ears. Nestor’s owner, Olaf, hated Nestor so much that he even stopped feeding Nestor his daily rations, forcing Nestor’s loving mother to give the poor donkey a portion of her food. Still, she had nothing but encouragement for Nestor, who by this time, was ready to break under the relentless bullying of his peers emotionally.
Some Roman soldiers came to Olaf’s residence to collect the yearly taxes for Emperor Tiberius sometime around the Winter Solstice. Olaf was short of his tax burden, so they decided to take some farm animals as payment. One of the young animals ripped from its mother was poor, little Nestor. Of course, Nestor was unable to hide his ears from the centurions. The enraged centurions chastised Olaf for the perceived slight in trying to pass Nestor off as a ‘normal’ donkey. They then proceeded to take even more chattel as punishment.
Olaf, in a fit of rage and a definite moment of felony animal abuse, grabbed Nestor by his ears, and proceeded to throw him through a wooden door into a raging, winter blizzard. Nestor would have surely succumbed to his injuries and starvation, however, Nestor’s mother did what any mother would do and fled the safety and warmth of the barn to protect little Nestor. She wrapped her body around his and kept him warm until the vicious storm subsided. Unfortunately, her life was sacrificed in the process of shielding Nestor from the elements.
In the wake of the tragedy, Nestor gained a guardian cherub, named Tilly, who told Nestor that God needed him in Israel for an important job. Apparently, cherubs are angels for animals. He arrived, possibly in late November, and came across Joseph and a very pregnant Mary in the city of Nazareth. Nestor, by this time, had been captured back into servitude. The humans, needing to travel to Bethlehem for the census of Quirinius, were desperate for a pack animal to carry Mary. They lacked money, but the cherub used some God-magic to make the stable owner give them Nestor for free.
Amazingly, on the way to Bethlehem, there was a sandstorm that blinded Mary and Joseph. Luckily, Nestor was there to save the day as this was why he was chosen! Nestor heard a choir of angels singing in the distance with his super-sized ears and knew which direction to head despite the blinding conditions. Mary and Joseph arrived safely, gave birth, and the rest you can read in the Gospel of Luke. Why did God not just take away the sandstorm instead of tormenting Nestor? Well, God works in mysterious ways.
Despite the sarcasm above, Nestor truly is a great story and an entertaining show. It tells the story of overcoming obstacles and adversity, eventually leading to accomplishment and personal realization that you are just as valuable as anyone else. The popularity in the public consciousness might not be there, but the story should resonate with anyone who has ever felt like an outcast. I recommend taking time to search for it, and if that fails, then purchasing it online. I even have an Amazon link. After all, if Heat Miser and Snow Miser (2 more Rankin/Bass creations) can become cultural icons, then surely Nestor, The Long-eared Christmas Donkey can find a spot in the public’s and your heart.
