?It’s 1989, and a killer in a Santa suit is making it really hard to hide my dead husband’s body.  You better watch out as we dig up the first filmed episode of “Tales From the Crypt,” a cozy Christmas nightmare directed by Robert Zemeckis and starring his then-wife and talented screamer, Mary Ellen Trainor, and the kid who gets her hoverboard stolen by Marty McFly.  ****  ? Guests:  Jamie Ray (Fave Five From Fans, Complete Disarray with Jamie Ray)  ****  ? Topics & Tangents:  1. Mike on Fave Five From Fans with my Fave Five Christmas TV Specials (already covered them all here).  2. Fave Five Christmas Horror Movies.  3. The Vault of Horror No. 35, from 1954.  4. “And All Through the House” segment of the 1972 “Tales from the Crypt” movie.  5. HBO Feature Presentation opening, 1983.  6. John Kassir (The Crypt-Keeper) in a commercial for The Legend of Zelda, 1987.  7. Mary Ellen Trainor (Elizabeth) and Lyndsey Whitney Barry (Carrie Ann) in “Back to the Future Part II.”  8. Today’s TV Trope: Tempting Fate.  9. Elizabeth calls the operator because 9-1-1 was only available in about half the U.S. by 1989.  ****  ? Commercial Break:  The Crypt-Keeper’s Ghoulish Guide to the Howlidays on Kids’ WB, 2001.  Holidays After Dark, exploring the strange, unusual, and dark sides of the holidays.  ****  “Tales From the Crypt” and “And All Through the House” © 1989 Tales From the Crypt Venture.  
Theme song by Bronwen’s Ghost.  Full show notes and social links at adventcalendar.house.