Countdown to Christmas: Nestor, the Long-Eared Christmas Donkey (1977)

By the late 70's, Rankin-Bass was looking for original ideas in order to continue producing Christmas specials for the networks. ABC took a flier on Nestor, the Long-Eared Christmas Donkey, based on a song co-written by Gene Autry. Singer Roger Miller ("King of the Road", "England Swings", etc.) is the narrator.

Edit, 11/25/23: Had to change the video. Warner Archive offers this sampler:



Nestor will, I think, be in rotation on ABC Family over the next three weeks. Sorry to say, I've never seen the complete story, so I can't give it a rating.