I like Christmas time for lots of reasons but I have to admit that the movie factor is a big one. There are a few great holiday movies and some that I don’t especially care for, but I’ll give you my favorites here:
In no particular order, I give you
Kim’s Holiday Movie Guide
Elf
If you haven’t seen this (Jenn, did you guys see this yet?), this should be the year. I’m not a huge ‘kid movie’ fan, but this one was legitmately laughable.
National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation
This one was just on TBS the other night. I watched it alone, while Jud studied, which is good because I attempted to quote every other line and for some reason other people find that annoying.
The Family Stone
Technically, I haven’t watched this one at Christmas yet and immediately after watching the movie I curled into a pitiful ball of tears and moaned, “I hate that movie” for about twenty minutes. Then, a day or two later, I found myself saying that I loved the movie. And I do. It’s a little predictable and all that, but I liked how everything started out on the surface and not especially meaningful but moved there in the end. I think you’ll like it too.
Dr. Seuss – How the Grinch Stole Christmas
Christmas Eve 1994 was the year that my family actually left the Christmas Eve service while it was still going on in order to watch this cartoon on the Armed Forces Network (unlike here in the States, it was only running once and if you miss it, you miss it for the year). Our favorite character is the dog, probably because he still reminds us of Pogo.
White Christmas
Yeah, it’s a little cheesy, but there’s something about that scene where they are wearing all of those beautiful Christmas costumes that makes me think about my childhood and feel warm inside.
Better Off Dead
Officially, it’s not a Christmas movie, but they do celebrate Christmas and that’s the important part. Have you seen this one? It’s a very 80s teen movie, except it’s unbelievably funny. And the scene with the reindeer costume is sort of priceless. That said, please do not ever purchase this for our child, or I might have to whip you up something that has raisins in it. ‘You like raisins!’
I enjoyed your list Kim. A movie I always belly laugh at is “A Christmas Story”. Remember the little boy who gets his tongue stuck to the pole?
Nichole
“better off dead” is a classic, though I hadn’t really thought of it as a Christmas movie. A few of our favorites, besides “a Christmas story” already mentioned, are “Annabelle’s wish”– another kid movie but makes me cry every time, and “Scrooged”, we’ve found ourselves laughing at that one as a yearly tradition.