One of many in a series of annual Christmas lectures given by Bassam Z. Shakhashiri, a Lebanese chemistry educator who spent most of his career at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. The video of the 1985 lecture begins in the middle of Dr. Shakhashiri's introduction and comes after a 1984 switch to being hosted by the National Academy of Sciences, presumably at one of the organization's locations in Washington, D.C.. The demonstrations this year cover the pH of common kitchen and household products, combustion, the Briggs–Rauscher oscillating reaction, nitric acid and copper, polarizing light filters, and creating polyurethane foam. Special guests include Dr. Frank Press, President of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences and Santa Claus. This video was taken from a DVD, which itself was made from an unknown magnetic tape. Any distortions in the image and sound of the video are inherent in the DVD itself.