🎄 🦌 🎁 ⛄ 👼 Top 25 Holiday Movies to get you through the season+MORE

🎄 🦌 🎁 ⛄ 👼

(In no particular order, except that It’s a Wonderful Life is at the top, because if you are going to watch just one Christmas movie, this one has it all: angels getting their wings, tons of snow, life lessons, Jimmy Stewart, and maybe most importantly, a gym floor that opens up to reveal a swimming pool.)

It’s a Wonderful Life (1946): Reasons to watch, stated above.

A Charlie Brown Christmas (1965): The best score by Vince Guaraldi and the Peanuts dancing to it, which is always entertaining.

The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992): Miss Piggy shines as Mrs. Crachet. Plus Gonzo and Rizzo do a top notch job at narrating the story.

Gremlins (1984): This movie features Phoebe Cates who has Hallmark level sad back story, and a great kitchen scene involving a Gremlin getting microwaved.

Babes in Toyland (1986): Keanu Reeves’ only Christmas Movie, but I hope that I’m wrong, it would be a Christmas miracle if there were more. He does wear a Santa hat in Sweet November…

L.A. Confidential (1997): The scene where Russel Crowe pulls an entire Santa and Reindeer set off of someones roof by yanking on the Christmas lights might be my favorite Christmas scene, ever.

Die Hard (1988): “Yippee-ki-yay, motherfucker.” And the greatest use of an Air Duct in a film to date. (Fight me.)

How the Grinch Stole Christmas! (1966): Fun Fact: This is narrated by Frankenstein himself.

The Family Man (2000): Nicolas Cage as Scrooge, sorta.

Edward Scissorhands (1990): Winona Ryder as a redhead! And the most beautiful pastel colored houses this side of Easter.

Miracle on 34th St (1947): This film has the real Santa Claus.

Elf (2003): As much as Will Ferrel might be remembered for the Cow Bell, a lot of people I talk to cite this as -their favorite Christmas movie-.

A Nightmare Before Christmas (1993): Disneyland turns the Haunted Mansion into a Jack Skellington Wonderland at Christmas Time. WORTH IT! Also Danny Elfman is kinda hot.

Love Actually (2003): Anything with Mr. Darcy in it is A+ to me.

Home Alone (1990): The Pizza Underground I

Home Alone II (1992): The Pizza Underground II

The Bishop’s Wife (1947)/ The Preacher’s Wife (1996): Cary Grant/Whitney Houston, Win/Win.

Christmas at Pee Wee’s Playhouse (1988): This Christmas special has cameos by: Cher, KD Lang, Little Richard, Grace Jones, Zsa Zsa Gabor, and Whoopi. Run, don’t walk to get your mittened hands on it.

Diner (1982): This one is NEVER(?) on the Christmas lists, but it happens at Christmas time, and ends on NYE.

CATS (1988)/CATS (2019): ?/?

Scrooged (1988): BILL MURRAY AS SCROOGE!!!!!

Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer (1964): My favorite part is the elf who aspires to be a dentist, and the snowman is very ‘chill’, probably because of Burl Ives’ smoky voice.

Bridget Jones’s Diary (2001): "I choose Vodka. And Chaka Khan." ALSO, Mr. Darcy, for the win, again.

The Family Stone (2005): SJP in all her glory, plus, sigh, Luke Wilson playing the stoner/Berkeley boy of my Eggnog doused dreams.

National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation (1989): The Tazmanian Devil mug that features prominently in this movie currently has a high bid of $152 on eBay rn.

and...

A Christmas Story (1983) I don’t like watching this movie, because it makes me anxious, as does The Terminator’s Jingle All the Way (1996). But, I can’t let the fact that they planted the irrational fear that my tongue stuck would get stuck to a frozen pole if I got anywhere near one, or the use of a scary/FAKE Santa Claus, stop this movie from being on the list.

Wishlist of films I’d like to watch this season:

A Smoky Mountain Christmas (1986): Because Dolly.

It Happened on Fifth Avenue (1947): Old timey NYC, yes please.

A Christmas Carol (1951)

AND

Some you may not have thought of as X-MAS movies but are:

Less Than Zero (1987) This movie has a great soundtrack, and also, an excellent Christmas Party scene. Oh and Andrew McCarthy and Robert Downey Jr. and for all those that liked Steff in Pretty in Pink…James Spader is in it too.

Only You (1992) Begins on Christmas Eve!! It’s Weekend at Bernie’s meets Christmas.

While You Were Sleeping (1995) Bill Pullman? Sandra Bullock? Sign me up.

Sleepless in Seattle (1993) Begins on Christmas, ends on Valentine’s day. There you have it.

Batman Returns (1992) Danny DeVito on eating raw fish for the film: “Well, in the middle of the action, I would squeeze a mixture of mouthwash and spirulina into my mouth — but that was because I needed to ooze this green, kind of black thickish liquid out of the corners.” He’s my hero.

You’ve Got Mail (1998): SEE: Jimmy Stewart in The Shop Around the Corner (1940) which also happens to be a Christmas movie.

Lethal Weapon (1987): Mel Gibson’s bum.

AND

A couple to spice things up from my friend @taffysinclair69:

The Apartment (1960): "Be a mensch, a human being." Ah, words to live by.

Black Christmas (1974): Read:HORROR

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Movies and Mistletoe (Hallmark’s title, not mine)

Genre: HOLIDAY/ROMANCE

I signed up for Hallmark Movies Now, Hallmark’s streaming service, thinking that I’d be able to watch Andrew McCarthy in both The National Tree (2009) and Christmas Dance (2012). But, after I’d already signed up for the free 7 day trial, I learned that they don’t have all of the movies in their catalog available for streaming…yet.

So, I made Eggnog from broken eggs…and made a Watchlist. I think some of these are on Amazon Prime for free and on Netflix…

I was skeptical. I knew they would all be cheesy, and I knew they would be romantic…and I didn’t want to like any of the stories. But, surprise, surprise, I’M COMPLETELY ADDICTED. And all this without any help from booze in the Eggnog.

Thank the Christmas Angels for Hallmark and their predictable plot lines, their comfortably attractive actors, and the fact that you know that the main characters will end up together by the end. Finally, something that I can count on this year.

I find myself doing a high pitched squeal every time the actors kiss…I mean every time, even if it’s the 1st, 4th or 5th time in the movie. That is how good Hallmark is. Bless them.

If you have the Christmas Blues, do yourself a favor, and watch these movies. By the end you’ll be unable to resist the urge to put up a Christmas Tree. So, get going!

For a good time go ahead and watch:

Finding Father Christmas (2016), Engaging Father Christmas (2017), & Marrying Father Christmas (2018) 5/5: If you can swallow the initial soap operatic amount of sad back story, these three are wildly satisfying, in that you get 3 times the usual amount of warm and fuzzy kisses in horse drawn carriages.

Trading Christmas (2001) 5/5: This one stars Faith Ford, who is known best for her role as Corky Sherwood in Murphy Brown and Gil Bellows, AKA the cute guy that learns to read then gets murdered in the Shawshank Redemption (1994). They have…chemistry. Also, another Canadian actor, Tom Cavanagh, who is Ranger Smith in Yogi Bear(2010), plays a neurotic writer pretty endearingly. I had to do some sleuthing to figure all this out, so you are welcome, and now you can just sit back and enjoy the velvet bags of Christmas cheer as they are dumped out onto you.

Annie Clause is Coming to Town (2011) 4/5: I’d say the top reason to watch this to see Vivica A. Fox ruling everyone else in the movie. Also, it’s set in LA and negs the crap out of Hollywood in a heartwarming sort of way.

Dear Santa (2011) 4/5: This one involves a letter to Santa, snow plows, and a whiff of Sleepless in Seattle.

The Spirit of Christmas (2015) 5/5: You can expect to find a hot ghost, and this applicable quote: “Between the economy and influenza, I’m surprised anyone is venturing out at all.”

xxo happy holidays and Festivus 👼

Maeve