I was sick a few days before Christmas and it forced me to take some extra time off after a very busy November and December. Happy to be back blogging and looking forward to 2020, so let’s wrap up the holidays with a post about Christmas movies.
This isn’t necessarily a list of the best Christmas movies. There are other classics that are usually on an all-time best list that aren’t here. This is a list of my 10 favorites.
- The Nightmare Before Christmas — Perfect for Christmas or Halloween. So nearly flawless I had to put this at the top of the list.
- The Muppet Christmas Carol — There are many great adaptations of A Christmas Carol, and last year we watched pretty much all of them. I wish there was room to include a couple of the animated versions, like Richard Williams' A Christmas Carol and Mickey’s Christmas Carol.
- A Charlie Brown Christmas — “That’s what Christmas is all about, Charlie Brown.”
- Klaus — Beautifully animated. Brand new, but now that I’ve seen it twice I know it will hold its own against the best. There’s a great interview with director Sergio Pablos on The Bancroft Brothers Animation Podcast.
- Elf — We probably rewatch this more than anything else. Can’t say enough good things about the variety of movies Jon Favreau has worked on (not to mention The Mandalorian).
- Meet Me in St. Louis — I’ll admit, I didn’t want to love this at first, years ago, but now that I’ve seen it dozens of times it’s a favorite, and I think the best of the older classics.
- National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation — One of our traditions is to cut a tree down at the Elgin Christmas tree farm, and there’s a little of Clark Griswold in the endeavor.
- Die Hard — Definitely a Christmas movie.
- A Christmas Story — “You’ll shoot your eye out.”
- Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer — Check out this YouTube video about some of the editing problems with the recent TV version.
If I could only watch these 10 movies every year I’d be happy. But there are others we enjoy that deserve honorable mentions: Edward Scissorhands, Love Actually, It’s a Wonderful Life, Home Alone, The Grinch (2018), Jingle All The Way, and Christmas with the Kranks. And a special shoutout for the soundtrack of The Polar Express.
Happy Holidays! ❄️
