Olivia: Merry Christmas, Olivia DVD Review ~ Available on DVD Today!

Can you believe the holidays are just around the corner?! I love this time of year and so do my kids. We've already started watching some Christmas movies, including the most recent, Olivia: Merry Christmas.

In her first Holiday release ever, the joyful and feisty Olivia stars in several holiday adventures as she spreads Christmas cheer during a beach party, dreams of being a Santa who returns lost toys and more winter fun! She helps demonstrate how fun the power of thinking can be and encourages an active imagination for children who watch it.

From the Press Release:
Based on acclaimed author/illustrator Ian Falconer's award-winning titles, Olivia follows a 6¾-year-old dynamo who believes she can do anything and sees every day as an opportunity to try new things. Her vivid imagination takes her on grand adventures, both real and fantasy, and like all children, her antics occasionally result in endearing misadventures. Olivia’s confidence and positive nature inspires kids everywhere to think boldly and follow their dreams.

Although Olivia’s adventures in her imagination are bigger than life, the challenges in her day-to-day life are preschool size. Olivia’s unique ways of dealing with these challenges provide moments of fun and drama. She demonstrates how kids can use their imagination to work out what’s happening in their own world. Kids can relate to Olivia because she experiences the same daily trials and triumphs as they do. Every day is a “Big Day” for Olivia; her exuberance is contagious as she takes viewers along for the ride!

I was very excited when I learned we were going to have the opportunity to review this DVD. Kaelyn has always enjoyed reading the Olivia books, so I knew she'd be tickled to watch Olivia on DVD. I was right! It's something she has asked to watch over and over again.

This DVD includes several episodes, including:

Olivia Claus / Olivia and The Family Photo

Olivia Claus-It’s almost Christmas, and Olivia and Ian can’t wait for Santa to come. But there’s one thing that Santa can’t bring – Olivia’s lost toy, her beloved monkey Mathilda. Olivia imagines herself to be a Santa Claus who returns lost toys. On Christmas morning Olivia finds new gifts under the tree and Mathilda right under her nose.

Olivia and The Family Photo-Mother is determined to take the perfect family Christmas photo – in the middle of the summer. With the help of a snow machine, Olivia takes it upon herself to bring a little Christmas spirit to the photograph, and to Francine’s backyard beach party next door.

Olivia's Ice Spectacular / Olivia's Snow Day

Olivia's Ice Spectacular-Olivia can’t wait to see skating star Sonja Spencer perform in “Cinderella on Ice.” She’s sure she’ll be the lucky audience member chosen to skate with Sonja, and begins practicing on the skating rink she makes in her own backyard. When the show is canceled, Olivia decides the show must go on and she and her friends stage their own ice spectacular.

Olivia's Snow Day-It’s a snow day and school’s closed. Olivia takes to the snow-covered streets with Julian as her cameraman, to report on all the snow day happenings. The biggest story of the day turns out to be an alleged sighting of the legendary abominable snowman. Can it be true? Olivia tracks down the real story.

Olivia Makes a Wedding Gift / Olivia Makes Magic

Olivia Makes a Wedding Gift-Olivia’s favorite art teacher, Miss Davis, is getting married, and Olivia wants to find her the perfect wedding present. But despite all of her fundraising efforts, she only has enough for a very small gift. With help from her classmates, Olivia creates a very special card for Miss Davis to go along with the gift.

Olivia Makes Magic-After seeing Grandma perform an impromptu magic show, Olivia begins practicing her own magic tricks. She doesn’t have much success, until she manages to make herself “disappear” for Ian and Julian. They can’t figure out how she’s done it, but Ian doesn’t care. He just wants his big sister back!

Olivia and the Babies / Olivia's Good Luck

Olivia and the Babies-After noticing all the great compliments Mother receives on account of adorable baby William, Olivia finds herself some babies of her own: her cat Edwin and her dog Perry. Being a mom is tougher than it seems, but when Mother asks Olivia to watch William for a minute, her new skills come in handy.

Olivia's Good Luck-Olivia is determined to sell more Young Pioneers cookies than anybody else in her troupe – especially Francine. It turns out to be harder than she thought it would be, but with a little perseverance and ingenuity, Olivia manages to do her personal best.

Kaelyn really enjoys them all, but her favorite is Olivia Claus where Olivia imagines she is Santa Claus and returns lost toys after losing her monkey Mathilda toy. It really got her excited for Christmas! I thought Olivia's Snow Day was really cute. Watching Olivia sit at the kitchen table listening to the radio just waiting for her school to be closed due to snow brought back memories of my childhood and the mornings my brothers and I would do the same thing! I really like that all the episodes are pretty fast paced and keep a child's attention very easily. Kaelyn has no problem sitting through the episodes and is glued the whole time!

We don't have any other Olivia DVD's in our DVD collection and I'm very happy to have this one. It's been a great addition to the movies Kaelyn watches. If you have a little one that loves Olivia too, this would definitely be a good movie to add to your collection!

Street Date: Oct. 5, 2010
DVD SRP: $16.99
DVD Running Time: Approximately 95 Minutes

**The product for this review was provided at no cost. All opinions found here are my own and were not influenced in any way**