40 years of sesame street? can it be?

i remember when sesame street celebrated 35 years.  surely it hasn't been five years already?

i have watched disney movies come and go and come again and then get locked in the vaults.  our family has pretty much been content to let them get locked up tight.  when i heard about the sesame street 40 year dvd set, however, i knew that this was one set of dvds i wanted our family to own.

i was very excited, therefore, to receive sesame street: 40 years of sunny days in the mail.  tate and i were the only ones home when they arrived, and we could hardly wait to see what we could see.  who can beat watching the original "rubber duckie" song sung the way only jim henson as ernie can sing it?

the dvd set comes with 2 dvds that have all the best clips and video from the last 40 years.  i had fun reminiscing as we watched scenes from my early years of sesame street.  many of them were ones i remembered and would try to tell the girls about but seeing the actual video seemed more enjoyable to them then me trying to explain it (go figure!).

tate was able to get his fill of elmo, cookie monster, big bird, bert and ernie.  it was interesting to see the transformation of elmo from an anything monster to the character we know and love today.  we got to see maria and luis get married, big bird's wrecked nest, the introduction of snuffy, telly monster when he was zoned into television and many, many other favorite scenes.  my favorite was bert "doing the pigeon" dance.  bill likes watching ernie teach bert how to catch fish.

the dvd set also includes a book that gives lots of background information about the show.  i learned a great deal of fascinating trivia.  did you know that frank oz started as ernie and jim henson was bert until they realized they made a better comic duo when they switched characters?  i had no idea that bob was a pop superstar in japan known as bobu magulath.

i was also excited to learn about some of the latest additions to the show, including a cgi animation of "abby's flying fairy school" and a claymation dramatization of "bert and ernie's great adventures."

if you have missed hearing the original characters in jim henson's voice and have wanted to share some of your favorite childhood memories of sesame street with your kids, this is definitely a dvd set you won't want to miss.  if your kids wish sesame street was available 24 hours a day, sesame street: 40 years of sunny days will be a smash hit for a christmas gift.

i received a free copy of this dvd set from bhimpact press and genius entertainment.  i have in no other way been compensated for this review and the opinions expressed here are completely my own.  if you order this collection through my link to amazon, amazon has promised to give me a small remuneration.