We\'re coming up on that time of year again. That\'s right, the holiday season is right around the corner and the market is about to be flooded with every kind of Christmas-themed product imaginable. And the Happy Tree Friends cartoon series is no exception. For those of you in the dark, the Happy Tree Friends is one of the most ridiculous cartoons out there, and is most definitely not for young children. Every short episode is little more than the cute cuddly creatures getting killed, burned, maimed, cut open, fried, mashed, or essentially any other entertaining way get screwed up along with plenty of blood and gore to boot.

Happy Tree Friends: Winter Break is a compilation of 6 \"full-length\" episodes which tend to be around three or four minutes long, plus five shorts shown between episodes, these being only about 30 seconds long. While this only provides about half an hour of actual viewing time, you would be hard pressed to find one of those minutes in which someone isn\'t losing a body part or three. All of the episodes and shorts easily live up to the Happy Tree Friends name and always provide a satisfying amount of red on the screen at the end. The replay value of the DVD also hurts a little due to the very nature of the cartoon. A show based on shock-value is only shocking once. However, sometimes that mean 10-year-old inside us gets in the mood for some unadulterated cartoon violence.

Along with the primary content, there are a few bonus features on the DVD. One of these is an extra-long episode in the form of a Ski Patrol instructional video. Again, this episode is no slouch and provokes a hefty amount of \"Ooh!\"s and \"Ow!\"s. There is also a Carols section of the bonus features. Surprisingly, this is nothing more than a few of the Happy Tree Friends singing/humming to the tune of several classic Christmas songs. That\'s right, no death, no blood, nothing but a few boring minutes of their high-pitched goofy voices making music. There is also a section called Happy Tree Vee which contains three \"neat\" effects for your TV screen: \"Pretty Colors\", aka those colored bars you see when the cable goes out; \"Snow Daze\", or black-and-white static; and my personal favorite, the \"Yule Log\" which gives you an animated fire on your TV. I\'ve always wanted a roaring video-fire, now I have one.

While it is pretty short, Happy Tree Friends: Winter Break is an entertaining way to kill some time or even for a little stress relief after a tough day. Hardcore Happy Tree Friends fans will want to pick this one up, even if a number of the episodes are already available on other DVDs. And since it\'s tough to argue with the $9.99 price tag, even those who aren\'t huge followers of the series may want to pick this one up for themselves, or as a fun low-priced Christmas present for someone who is.