I never thought I'd be telling anyone this, but I have a terrible terrible secret. Although I consider myself a loving husband, father and just plain regular Joe, I can't stay in the closet any longer. Here goes...

I watch the Powerpuff Girls.

Whew! You know what? I feel better! It's like a giant weight has been lifted off of my shoulders!

Yep, once we got Direct TV and Cartoon Network, I found myself watching Blossom, Buttercup and Bubbles fighting crime with their "ultra super powers" fairly regularly.

So I was intrigued when I discovered 'Twas the Fight Before Christmas and thought I'd give it a shot.

The plot centers around little red-haired girl (no, not that one) Princess Morbucks' Christmas wish for the only thing money has been unable to buy her - membership in the Powerpuff Girls.

After receiving a truckload of coal instead, Princess decides her only chance to is to break into Santa's workshop (in a wonderful Mission Impossible sort of way) and switch the nice and naughty lists around to her advantage.

Of course the girls save the day, Princess is added to Santa's permanent naughty plaque (to quote Santa, "Dum, dum dummmmmmmmmm!") and everyone gets to enjoy Christmas thanks to the Powerpuff Girls.

There's a lot of really nice jokes (especially with the Morbucks' chauffer, butler and nanny) and the funny looks, goofy repetition and hilarious uncomfortable silences that are McCracken and crew's cartoon calling card.

There's even a nod to that most beloved of Christmas movies, A Christmas Story, when Buttercup is told she'll "shoot her eye out!"

The simple yet deceptively clever art and character design continues to serve the series well (I especially enjoyed the t-shirt clad Santa with the giant hairy belly button) and the writing continues to shine, although at times it felt like they were stretching to fill the 44 minutes. I'd bet a little prudent editing and this would have been a killer 22 minutes.

All in all a pretty decent offering, and certainly better than the slew of commercial Christmas cartoon crap that's out there. But in the end I think a little less 'Twas the Fight Before Christmas would have been a lot more.

Mark Anderson is a professional cartoonist whose family and business cartoons appear in publications nationwide.