As a kid growing up, Henry Winkler didn't celebrate Christmas.
"No, I celebrated Hanukkah," said the man best known for playing Fonzie on "Happy Days" three decades ago. "Now, my parents escaped Nazi Germany. So there was probably not a shot that I was going to (celebrate Christmas) in my home in New York City."
He's still lighting the candles on the Menorah at his home in Los Angeles, "but we do have a pine garland that goes down the staircase and fills the house with the smell of Christmas."
And the star of the Hallmark Channel movie "The Most Wonderful Time of the Year" has some strong ties to the Christmas holidays.
"A few years ago I was able to do 'The Night Before Christmas' with the L.A. Philharmonic that just about pushed me over the edge because it was the most powerful experience," Winkler said in a conference call with TV critics. "Absolutely."
"You know, here it is. The truth of the matter is we're all alive on this Earth and we are the same. It doesn't matter what we do or where we come from or what our religious beliefs are. At the core of our emotionality you can absolutely identify and empathize with those glorious uplifting emotions that people have about the holidays."
Which is why he jumped at the chance to join the cast of "The Most Wonderful Time of the Year," which premieres Saturday, Dec. 13, at 7 p.m. on Hallmark.
It's the story of a snowbound stranger, a crafty uncle and a precocious boy who remind a workaholic woman what the holiday season is all about. Jennifer (Brooke Burns) is a single mother who has pretty much ignored and forgotten Christmas. Her 6-year-old son, Brian (Connor Levins), isn't exactly a big believer in Santa Claus.
Uncle Ralph (Winkler) is headed to Jennifer's for the holidays, and along the way he befriends a young man, Morgan (Warren Christie) whose plans are disrupted by the weather. So Uncle Ralph brings Morgan along with him ... and sparks begin to fly between Morgan and Jennifer.
Except that Jennifer already has a boyfriend. And she's so obsessed with work that she can't see love and joy right in front of her face. That is, until Uncle Ralph tries to work a little magic.
It's not groundbreaking or earth-shattering, but "The Most Wonderful Time of the Year" is the kind of feel-good holiday programming the entire family can sit down and watch together.
"I think what happens is the movies that we watch about the holidays give you a sense of the way you're supposed to celebrate," said Winkler, who also has a role in "Merry Christmas, Drake & Josh," a new TV movie that debuts at 9 p.m. on Friday, Dec. 5, on Nickelodeon. "Then of course you've got the financial problems that the world is going through at this moment, which will change the way that you can celebrate, the way that you can give during the holidays."
"And then there is just the strain of whatever's going on in your life that's getting in the way of allowing you to relax into the holiday. But if you can somehow put it aside, I think that's one of the great things about this movie, 'The Most Wonderful Time of the Year' — that it very gently allows you to have good holiday time without that stress."
Winkler said it was "a holiday gift for me to participate in it."
"It's a movie that can bring the entire family together," Winkler said. "I had a thoroughly, unbelievably entertaining and wonderful time making this movie and, hopefully, it shows."
E-mail: pierce@desnews.com