Day 28: Now let’s talk Christmas movies!

But before we do that, keep those Christmas song suggestions coming! I’ve already wasted several hours lost in the music section of Amazon.com, where you can listen to snippets of almost every song on every album they sell. I started with your suggestions and then jumped from site to site listening to different artists covering the same songs, trying to find just the right version of every song. It would have been nice to do that on iTunes, but they don’t have the listening feature on very many songs.

Does anyone else like “The Coventry Carol” by Alison Moyet? Does anyone else know who Alison Moyet is? What’s really weird is that “Upstairs at Eric’s” was pretty much required listening at my first college, only EVERYONE called the band “Yaz”, not “Yazoo” which was the actual name. And now I have “Don’t Go” firmly stuck in my head.

I wish I had a lot more than ten dollars to spend, that’s for sure. I almost ditched the entire Christmas music plan to buy THIS. I promised, way back when I was doing Thursday American Idol Recaps, that I would buy any album Chris Daughty released. But it will have to wait, for ’tis the season first.

And NOW, let’s turn our attention to Christmas movies. I LOVE THEM, as you might have already guessed. My kids and I have a core group of DVDs that are on rotation from Thanksgiving to at least New Year’s, we take turns picking from their favorites and mine. We like the classics: Charlie Brown Christmas, How the Grinch Stole Christmas, Rudolph, Frosty, The Year Without a Santa Claus. I still love to watch Elmo Saves Christmas, and now with Kaitlyn in full Elmo-addiction, I’m guessing she’ll love it too. We have it on VHS though, so I have to get it on DVD first. WE also love a Veggie Tales movie called The Toy that Saved Christmas. You can get it at Blockbuster in a 2-disc set along with The Star of Christmas, which is also good. Another movie I love to watch at Christmas is an old Arnold Schwarzenegger movie called Jingle All The Way. It’s not the greatest movie ever, but the co-stars are Sinbad, Rita Wilson, little Jake Lloyd before he was in “Phantom Menace”, and Phil Hartman. It’s interesting to watch Ah-nuld do physical comedy, and it has a happy ending. And of course, we love to watch A Christmas Story, preferably a dozen times back-to-back during the TNT marathon every year!
Our newest Christmas movie favorite is Elf. On the DVD commentary, Jon Favreau says he purposely designed the movie to look like a holiday classic, and to me it already is. We also listen to the soundtrack in the car almost every day. We watch both The Santa Clause, and The Santa Clause 2. I don’t own Christmas with the Kranks, but I’ve seen it and I liked it, and I think Tim Allen is becoming the Christmas movie guy.

Other movies that aren’t specifically Christmas movies but that I like to watch this time of year are You’ve Got Mail, and Home Alone 2: Lost in New York. Both movies show New York at Christmas time, which to me seems like it would be the most exciting place on earth during Christmas. All those lights, and the store display windows, and the huge tree at Rockefeller Center-I would be in heaven.

So, now we come to the audience-participation section of this post. I want to know what your must-watch movies are for the holidays. With Blockbuster Online I get a ridiculous number of rentals every month, so tell me what Christmas movies are worth renting. Even if it’s not a traditional holiday movie, what flicks mean Christmas to you?

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14 Responses to “Day 28: Now let’s talk Christmas movies!”

1. wendy says:

   November 28, 2006 at 4:05 pm

   White Christmas and National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation.
2. theotherbear says:

   November 28, 2006 at 4:53 pm

   I had never seen any Christmas movie till last year when I watched Bad Santa. I’m not quite sure that was the sort of movie you had in mind though.
3. Suebob says:

   November 28, 2006 at 4:54 pm

   A Christmas Story pretty much covers it for me as far as movies go.

   Songs – the Dickies, I think, have this ripping punk version of “Silent Night” that I love very much. And the Pogues “Fairytale of New York” is so very merry…

   It was christmas eve babe
   In the drunk tank
   An old man said to me, wont see another one
   And then he sang a song
   The rare old mountain dew
   I turned my face away
   And dreamed about you

   Something is terribly wrong with me, I know.
4. Janssen says:

   November 28, 2006 at 5:56 pm

   Oh man, you’ve done two posts in a row that I can’t resist. My favorite Christmas movie of all time is “Miracle on 34th Street” done in 1994 with Elizabeth Perkins and Mara Wilson. It is so absolutely wonderful. I want to see it right now, come to think of it.
5. table4five says:

   November 28, 2006 at 7:03 pm

   Otherbear-Have you seen “Badder Santa”, the unrated version? It sends my husband into hysterics, he thinks it’s so damn funny!

   By the way, I forgot to mention, I have NEVER seen “It’s A Wonderful Life” all the way through. I don’t know how that’s possible.
6. alison says:

   November 28, 2006 at 7:35 pm

   I agree with Wendy—Christmas Vacation is hysterical. I die laughing every single time.
7. javajabber says:

   November 28, 2006 at 8:29 pm

   There’s a new Christmas movie out for kids, it’s great … The Christmas That Almost Didn’t Happen

   The only place I’ve seen it sold is at Wal-mart. $9.88

   Here’s a link with the description. It has so many actors in it (well their voices anyway, it’s animated) it’s easier to send you to where it is …

   http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=5345073

   My favorite all-time Christmas movie is Miracle on 34th Street … the original. But Elf is a close second.
8. dana says:

   November 28, 2006 at 9:51 pm

   WE just watched the Charlie Brown Christmas tonight. It brought back lots of memories for me!
9. RWA says:

   November 28, 2006 at 11:08 pm

   WTBS in the past few years has done 24 hours of “A Christmas Story” back to back to back. My brother turns it on and watches it all day.

   I LOVE “Christmas Vacation.” I think you would too.

   I also LOVE “Badder Santa, but I agree with the person who said that doesn’t quite fit in with your other selections.
10. Arabella says:

    November 29, 2006 at 9:08 am

    I totally concur regarding National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation. It’s a must-see.
11. Her Bad Mother says:

    November 29, 2006 at 12:55 pm

    A Christmas Story. Best Xmas movie EVER.

    Oh, and Bad Santa, but not for kids.
12. Miss says:

    November 29, 2006 at 3:11 pm

    Yes, yes, yes! It HAS to be Christmas Vacation. Obviously I am not alone in this. Every Christmas Eve, it wouldn’t be Christmas without that movie!! Definetly take a look, hopefully you wont be sorry!
13. theotherbear says:

    November 29, 2006 at 5:23 pm

    Hmm, Badder Santa? I have to track this down.
14. XNet says:

    November 16, 2008 at 2:13 pm

    The Nightmare Before Christmas FTW! Everytime I watch that movie I discover something new. Gotta check out Bad(der) Santa after all those comments;-)