Classic Christmas Movie Favorites

Now that the Christmas season is upon, I thought I would take a look back and share our "must-see/must-have" Christmas movies!

Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas

And by this one, I mean the original classic animated Chuck Jones version narrated by Boris Karloff and NOT the horrible live action version starring Jim Carrey. Growing up, this was always one of my favorites and I LOVED watching it on TV every year. When I first started buying Christmas movies, this was one of the first ones I got, as it's a must have for any Christmas collection.

A Christmas Story

This is a classic family favorite, as my parents and grandparents can relate to a lot of the trends and time period stuff from the movie, and as kids we just enjoyed the humor and situations the characters got into as Christmastime approaches. For those not familiar with this one, it follows young Ralphie in the last weeks leading up to Christmas and all he wants for Christmas is a shiny Red Ryder BB Gun, despite his parents, teachers and even Santa telling him "You'll shoot your eye out, kid!" Released in the early 80s, it's assumed to take place sometime during the 1940s. If you like good ol' fashioned Christmas comedies, be sure to check this one, as it's a great film for all ages! Each year TBS airs "24 hours of A Christmas Story" starting during Christmas Eve evening and lasting well into Christmas day - hubby and I always try to see how many times we can catch it, as really, it never gets old for us!

National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation

I first saw this one when I was little at my grandparent's house and we watched it as a family. While there is some adult humor in it (it is rated PG13), some of the situations Clark Griswold and family get into are pretty hilarious even for a little kid! Family patron Clark wants to have a perfect Griswold family Christmas in their Chicago suburb home, however his parents and his in-laws don't seem to get along too well and his wife's crazy cousin Eddie randomly shows up adding to the funny. Clark is also anxiously awaiting a nice Christmas bonus from work to fund a pool he already put a down payment on. The Griswold family Christmas antics are also annoying the yuppie next door neighbors. While some National Lampoon films over the years have gotten quite dumb, this is definitely a classic one and a great addition to the "Vacation" series ( while it's the 3rd one in the series, it works well as a stand alone film). This one stars Chevy Chase, Beverly D'Angelo, Randy Quaid, a young Juliette Lewis, Doris Roberts, Brian Doyle-Murray and Julia Louis-Dreyfus.

Elf

I remember skipping this one in theaters when it first came out as it looked like just another dumb Will Ferrell movie. It wasn't until years later we watched it with my family after Thanksgiving dinner one year and I was surprised at how good it was and what a cute, sweet and funny family Christmas movie it is. We've made a point to catch this one on TV at least once a year and just recent picked up the DVD for $3.99 at a Black Friday sale. This one stars Will Ferrell as Buddy, a human who as an orphaned baby climbed into Santa's sack one Christmas Eve and was raised among the elves, thinking himself to be one. Over the years though, Buddy grew to be bigger than all the others and after 30 years, Papa Elf tells him the truth about his origins which prompts Buddy to leave the North Pole and search for his biological father in New York City. Hilarity ensues as Buddy tries to adapt to life among everyday people and help get his father off of Santa's "naughty list" and spread holiday cheer with everyone he meets.

The Christmas Toy

This was another one I LOVED when I was really little. Created in the mid-80s by Jim Hensen and company, this one (which is believed to have inspired the Toy Story series) combines real people with classic Hensen puppets and shows us what our toys are doing when we're not around. Taking place on Christmas Eve, Rugby the tiger, who was the "new, favorite toy" last Christmas, realizes and struggles to accept that his child playmate Jaime will be getting new toys in the morning, including one that replace him as the new favorite. Remembering how he felt when Jaime opened his box a year prior, Rugby decides he will relive it again, by sneaking downstairs and into the box of the shiny new toy (a galactic space Queen doll called Meteora). All the other toys in the playroom though try to stop him as it's just too risky - if any of the humans see a toy alive, that toy will become frozen and never "awake" again, a fate all the toys are terrified of.

The Original Christmas Classics box set

I mentioned this one last week when it arrived in the mail, but it's worth mentioning again as it has some must-have classics, including the claymation "Santa Claus is Coming to Town," "The Little Drummer Boy," and "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" as well as the animated classic "Frosty the Snowman." Growing up they used to show these 4 on TV all the time at Christmas and I LOVED watching them as a kid - Frosty was always my favorite of these.

Other Christmas DVDs we own are Pee-Wee's Christmas Special and this Buster and Chauncey's Silent Night DVD my aunt and cousin got us for Christmas one year. Both are a bit silly, and given to us as gifts (Pee-Wee was from my dad), but they're still Christmas movies nonetheless.

What Christmas movies do you own or watch at Christmastime?