Snow
Carols
Mistletoe
A huge spread of food
Being surrounded by friends and relatives
Those are all ingredients for a wonderful Christmas celebration, but there’s one more thing that makes the season complete for me: Christmas movies. It just doesn’t seem like Christmas unless I watch a few holiday flicks.
What movies put the “Holly Jolly” in my Christmas season? Here’s a list of a few along with some quotes, because. . .well, there’s really no reason to include the quotes, except that I think they’re fun.
The Classics
Miracle on 34th Street—I’m talking about the 1947 version here. I love Elizabeth Perkins, but really, you can’t improve on the original.
“I believe… I believe… It’s silly, but I believe.”
It’s a Wonderful Life
“Strange, isn’t it? Each man’s life touches so many other lives. When he isn’t around he leaves an awful hole, doesn’t he?”
The Chick-flick Entries
I’d never noticed how many romantic comedies are set at Christmas. I’d never noticed how many have the word “sleep” in their title, for that matter.
Sleepless in Seattle
“That’s your problem! You don’t want to be in love. You want to be in love in a movie.”
While you were Sleeping
“Thirty-eight dollars for a Christmas tree and they don’t deliver? You order ten dollars worth of chow mein from Mr. Wong they bring it to your door.”
The Holiday
“You’re supposed to be the leading lady in your own life, for God’s sake!”
Bridget Jones’s Diary
“It is a truth universally acknowledged that when one part of your life starts going okay, another falls spectacularly to pieces.”
I can see this list is in danger of get too chick-flicky, so here’s a few Christmas movies with less romance and more action and/or laughs.
Action and/or laughs
DieHard
“All right, listen up guys. ‘Twas the night before Christmas, and all through the house, not a creature was stirring, except for the four *@&%$!# coming in the rear in standard two-by-two cover formation.”
National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation
“Can I refill your eggnog for you? Get you something to eat? Drive you out to the middle of nowhere and leave you for dead?”
A Charlie Brown Christmas
“Look, Charlie, let’s face it. We all know that Christmas is a big commercial racket. It’s run by a big eastern syndicate, you know.”
There’s a sampling of holiday movies to accompany your presents, turkey, and football. What movies would you add to the list? What’s your all-time favorite? And what Christmas movie would you rather choke down two helpings of sandpapery turkey than watch?
-
I’m Mr. Heat Mizer, I’m Mr. Sun. I’m Mr. Heat Blitzer, I’m Mr. Hundred-and-one. Friends call me Heat Mizer, whatever I tough, starts to melt in my clutch….I’m too much. Da Da, dadadada.
That will forever be my favorite Christmas show–Year Without A Santa Claus.
by Laura
on December 19th, 2007 at 6:50 am
-
Heat BLISTER…ay yi yi.
by Laura
on December 19th, 2007 at 6:51 am
-
Hey Laura, I missed that one somehow. Sounds fun. I’ll have to add it to my list.
by Sara
on December 19th, 2007 at 8:18 am
-
National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation
“Can I refill your eggnog for you? Get you something to eat? Drive you out to the middle of nowhere and leave you for dead?”
My favorite! This plays every year while I put up the tree. Next comes “The Santa Claus.” Then “Jingle all the Way”, then debuting this year was “Elf”
We have 3 trees and other decorations. It’s an all day event on the Friday after Thanksgiving.
Then the outside of the house is a two day extravaganza with the “Griswold Family Christmas and 250,000 twinkling Italian lights. For that, I use my iPod to get me through.
-
‘Holiday Inn’. The one with Bing Crosby and Fred Astaire and Marjorie what’s-her-name. (Reynolds?) It just doesn’t get any better than Bing singing ‘White Christmas’. The racial stereotypes are a little hard to swallow, but overall, I’m a sucker for the oldies and goodies.
‘Elf’. I will go to any lengths to avoid watching ‘Elf’. This year I went to Tasha’s birthday party, not that that was a hardship. DH and the boys watched ‘Elf’ while I was there, thanks to my foresight in suggesting it. 
On Sunday, on ION, ‘Hogfather’ is on. I haven’t seen it, but I’ve read the book, and the movie/mini-series is supposed to stick pretty close to Pratchett’s vision, and I can’t wait!
by JennieB
on December 19th, 2007 at 8:38 am
-
Goodness, Will. Three trees and a two-days to decorate the outside of your house? The mind boggles, but I’m sure it looks spectacular!
NL Christmas Vacation does capture the strain of in-laws. I saw a card yesterday that had a retro fifties look to it where everyone was smiling and looked perfect. The caption read, “Fortunately, she remembered to take her Prozac before going home for the holidays.” 
by Sara
on December 19th, 2007 at 9:00 am
-
It’s been years since I saw Holiday Inn. I don’t remember anything except Bing singing.
I’m not a big fan of Elf either, Judy. My other least favorite holiday movie is How the Grinch Stole Christmas, the new version. Just too..I don’t know…weird, I guess.
by Sara
on December 19th, 2007 at 9:04 am
-
We watched The Ref for the first time the other day, and it’s a hoot. Definitely a must-watch for us at x-mas now.
How the Grinch Stole Christmas - Max the dog steals the show, IMO.
White Christmas - The whole end scene with the ex-soldiers singing to their former general gets me every time.
ABC made a couple awesome movies that I fell in love with last year. Single Santa Seeks Mrs. Claus and its sequel Meet the Santas - starring Steve Gutenberg and Crystal Bernard. So sweet and cute and romantic.
And I couldn’t go without mentioning the made-for-TV version of Annie, which I love so much more than the film version. =oD
-
It’s A Wonderful Life is still my favorite, sap that I am.
Things I won’t watch, even with a gun to my head? That godawful Rudolph animated special where Burl Ives as a snowman pulls a banjo out of his ass.
I don’t know if that counts as a movie, but someone had to mention it.
Oh, and the remake of Miracle on 34th Street. I won’t do it and you can’t make me.
-
LOVE The Year Without a Santa Claus.
The Grinch is probably my favorite, though. The original, not that Thing That Shall Not Be Mentioned.
And I know this probably means I have no soul, but I’ve never been able to sit all the way through It’s A Wonderful Life. Maybe I should really give it a try this year.
A Christmas Story is another good one. I love the bit where Ralphie’s writing his brilliant essay. “Rarely had the words flowed from my penny pencil with such feverish fluidity…” I know it’s suffered from being shown unrelentingly on TV, but one benefit of not having cable is not getting bludgeoned in that sort of way.
Completely agree about Miracle on 34th Street, Sara. The new one’s fine, but there’s no way to improve on the original.
Haven’t seen The Holiday, but it sounds perfect for me this year!
-
OMG, I can’t believe I forgot about A Christmas Story! Thanks, Tasha.
-
I have to totally agree with David on this.
And attempting to remake the Grinch–does no one know what HUBRIS means anymore?
A sappy Christmas movie I like (but haven’t seen in a long time)is Steve Martin’s “Planes, Trains, and Automobiles”
by Cynthia
on December 19th, 2007 at 10:39 am
-
I LOVE Planes, Trains & Automobiles, but I can never get it into my head that it’s a holiday movie.
Neal: He says we’re going the wrong way…
Del: Oh, he’s drunk. How would he know where we’re going?
And the rant at the Rental Car Agency (Here in St. Louis, by the way) was priceless. I love the fact tha John Hughes was strong enough to have the production company to keep that scene and take the “R” rating, rather than to delete that scene and go for “PG”
-
My best friend and I have the weird habit of watching Rudolph, the Grinch (original only) and the Charlie Brown Christmas, as a participatory event. We try to ’speak’ the movies as if it was a karakoe thing. We actually love the movies, but after having seen them a thousand times, well, it’s more fun this way.
My new favorite non-traditional Christmas film though, has to be Kiss,Kiss, Bang, Bang. Robert Downey Jr. and Val Kilmer - too cool. And pay attention to the end credits music, there’s a little surprise that made me by a cd as a Christmas present to myself last year.
by Kate Hathway
on December 19th, 2007 at 12:01 pm
-
That should be ‘buy’ a cd, duh!
by Kate Hathway
on December 19th, 2007 at 12:02 pm
-
It’s so good to see that I’m not alone in my opinion of the new Grinch, but then again, GG blog readers have shown themselves to be people with the most discerning taste and sophistication–that must be why we love Planes, Trains and Automobiles. Must also watch that one again soon.
by Sara
on December 19th, 2007 at 2:03 pm
-
The old Rankin-Bass specials are kind of hit or miss. I’m with Laura on the Heat Mizer and can’t refute David. After all, who wants to see Burl Ives pull anything out of his ass?
Christmas Story? Hell yeah. Can’t miss that one.
But y’all are missing the one true horror of the Star Wars Christmas Special. Bea Arthur, Chewbacca and ELO. It’s scarier than the Bing Crosby / David Bowie duet of Little Drummer Boy.
-
The Star Wars Christmas Special. How did I miss that one? Probably not going on my list of new ones to watch.
by Sara
on December 19th, 2007 at 8:14 pm
-
One Magic Christmas.
by Lynn
on December 22nd, 2007 at 6:29 pm
Loading ...