Santa Claus's reindeer Donner's wife gives birth to a fawn named Rudolph, but the two are shocked to discover that Rudolph's unusually red nose is capable of glowing. When Santa Claus visits their cave to meet the fawn and sees the glowing nose, he warns Mr. & Mrs. Donner that Rudolph won't be able to pull the sleigh if he continues to carry this trait for the rest of his life. Consequently, Donner tries to conceal Rudolph's nose at first with mud and later a small round cap.
The story starts in a forest called Holiday Woods with seven trees containing doors leading to towns representing various holidays: Valentine's Day, St. Patrick's Day, Easter, Thanksgiving, Christmas, Halloween and the Fourth of July. Halloween Town is a fantasy world filled with citizens such as deformed monsters, ghosts, ghouls, goblins, vampires, werewolves and witches. Jack Skellington, a skeleton known as The Pumpkin King, leads them in organizing the annual Halloween holiday. However, in a monologue, Jack reveals he has grown weary of the same routine year after year, and wants something more. Wandering dejectedly in the woods, he stumbles across the seven holiday doors and accidentally opens a portal to Christmas Town, whose residents are charged with organizing the annual Christmas holiday. Impressed by the bright and cheery feeling and style of Christmas, Jack presents his findings and his understanding of Christmas, to the Halloween Town residents. However, they fail to grasp his meaning and compare everything to their ideas of Halloween, although there is one Christmas character they can relate to: the fearsome lobster-like king of Christmas Town who flies at night, named "Sandy Claws". Meanwhile, Jack who barely understands Christmas himself, obsessively tries to study the holiday but fails to grasp any further meaning of it. He ultimately decides that since he cannot understand it, he should improve it, and announces that the citizens of Halloween Town will take over Christmas this year.
Nine-year-old Ralphie Parker wants only one thing for Christmas: a Red Ryder Carbine Action 200-shot Range Model air rifle with a compass in the stock and "this thing which tells time", a sundial. Ralphie's desire is rejected by his mother, his teacher Miss Shields, and even a department store Santa Claus, all giving him the same warning: "You'll shoot your eye out".
Kris Kringle (Edmund Gwenn) is indignant to find that the person (Percy Helton) assigned to play Santa in the annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade is intoxicated. When he complains to event director Doris Walker (Maureen O'Hara), she persuades Kris to take his place. He does such a fine job that he is hired as the Santa for Macy's flagship New York City store in Macy's Herald Square.
Mailman Special Delivery "S.D." Kluger (voiced by Fred Astaire) is introduced after a newsreel prologue, telling the viewer how children around the world are preparing for the arrival of Santa Claus. His snowmobile/mail truck breaks down, so he tells the story of Santa Claus, answering all of the children's letters they wrote to Santa.
Santa Claus wakes up with a cold on Christmas Eve. He is told by his doctor–who thinks that nobody cares about Christmas any more–that he should make some changes to his routine. Santa decides to take a holiday instead of delivering gifts, and leaves it to the elves, Jingle and Jangle, to find proof that people still believe in Santa Claus.
Pierre a stuffy, self-righteous volunteer at a telephone helpline for depressed people and his well-meaning but naïve co-worker Thérèse, are stuck with the Christmas Eve shift in the Paris office, much to their displeasure.
In general, the plot of the special loosely follows that of the original song, with extensive elaboration to expand the special to a half-hour time slot.
On the evening of December 24, in a small village of Savoy buried under snow, Gaspard Cornusse, a maker of globes, is preparing to play each year the role of Santa Claus, while his daughter Catherine is sewing doll dresses while dreaming of a prince charming. Meanwhile the return to his castle of the mysterious Baron Roland is the subject of many a conversation…
Jack Frost is awakened from the depths of a frozen pond with amnesia. Upon discovering no one can see or hear him however, he wanders off alone. Three hundred years later Jack, as the spirit of Winter, enjoys delivering snow days to school kids, but resents that they do not believe in him and still cannot see him. At the North Pole, the Man in the Moon warns Nicholas St. North (Santa Claus) that Pitch Black, the Boogeyman, is threatening the children of the world with his nightmares. He calls E. Aster Bunnymund (the Easter Bunny), the Sandman/Sandy, and Tooth, the Toothfairy, to arms. They are then told that Jack Frost has been selected to be a new Guardian. Jack is unimpressed by this position, as he feels wronged for not being believed in, but North convinces him to aid them in facing Pitch.
Huey, Dewey and Louie wake up one Christmas morning and open their presents, even though they are supposed to wait first for Aunt Daisy, Uncle Scrooge and Aunt Gertie to arrive. After the boys take their new sleds from their Uncle Donald (not reading the included gift card) they go sledding and have Christmas dinner. While Donald, Daisy, Uncle Scrooge and Aunt Gertie sing carols, the boys play with their new toys. Later, it is time for the boys to go to bed and having enjoyed the day immensely, the boys then wish that it would be Christmas every day. Their wish is granted and at first the three are joyful. After a few days, however, they begin to get sick of Christmas and soon realize that every day will be exactly the same as the day when they first made their wish. They then decide to change the course of action of the next day by playing tricks and pranks, including swapping the cooked turkey with a live one for the dinner table. The day turns out to be a bad Christmas for everyone, especially Donald. After this, the boys finally read the gift card that was given to them which they had previously disregarded. The card is from Donald and Daisy, it wishes them love and explains that Christmas is not just about presents, it is about being with family. The boys instantly become guilty for their pranks and decide to make amends by making the next day the best Christmas ever. At the end of the next day, the boys finally realize the true meaning of Christmas and the time loop comes to an end, leading into the day after Christmas.
One Christmas Eve, during a stop at an orphanage, a baby boy named William, captivated by the sight of a teddy bear, crawls into Santa Claus's (Ed Asner) sack of gifts while he is delivering toys. Santa Claus unknowingly takes the boy back to the North Pole, and when discovered, is renamed Buddy because one the elves notices he is wearing "Little Buddy" brand diapers. Papa Elf (Bob Newhart) volunteers to raise him.
On Christmas Eve, hundreds of Christmas elves helm the command centre of Santa Claus's mile-wide, ultra–high-tech sleigh-esque craft, the S-1. The current Santa: Malcolm and the Christmas elves deliver presents to every child in the world using advanced equipment and military precision. These complex operations are micromanaged by Malcolm's oldest son Steve and his obsequious elfin assistant Peter (among thousands of more elves) at mission control underneath the North Pole, while Steve's clumsy and panophobic younger brother Arthur answers the letters to Santa. During a delivery operation, when a child wakes up and almost sees Malcolm, a Christmas elf back in the S-1 inadvertently presses a button, causing a present to fall off a conveyor and go unnoticed.
Le père Noël et ses lutins se préparent pour le voyage de distribution des cadeaux de la nuit de Noël. Tandis que le père Noël finit de lire son abondant courrier, les lutins nettoient son traîneau, confectionnent les jouets. Ils travaillent en sifflant. Avant le départ tous remplissent la « hotte », des cadeaux marchant eux-mêmes vers l'immense sac.