Favorite Christmas Movies

Our book club, the Litwits, met at Tricia's house this month.

Instead of reading a book and discussing it, we took the month off and got together to watch a classic Christmas movie.

Tricia has the perfect set up for a movie night in her basement!

Lora and Barry are our classic movie experts.

They chose for us, and settled on "The Bishop's Wife" with Cary Grant and David Niven.

Most of us had not seen this film, and it was a real treat.

Any scene the two male leads had together just cracked me up.  What great actors.

Watching this holiday favorite, and reading Chris's post of her favorite holiday movies, got me thinking about my own.

Do you know Chris at Just a Girl?  If you don't, then run over and follow her.  I think we are destined to be best friends.  We have a lot in common, including our movies.

So, in no particular order are

My Favorite Christmas Movies

(12/8/11 - because my list is always subject to change)

Home Alone

 The original is just a classic.  How cute Macaulay Culkin was back in the day! 

It stands the test of time.  In fact, I want to watch it sometime soon with the boys and David. 

I didn't realize John Hughes made this movie.  No wonder I liked it so much.

The Charlie Brown Christmas Special

Love it!  Have many, many of the lines memorized. 

I could watch this every year, even though it's been a couple of years since I've seen it. 

Note to self - TiVo this since our old VHS copy is kaput.

It's a Wonderful Life

Remember when Columbia House Video was popular? 

I signed up in college and this was one of the first free movies I got. 

It's certainly not feel-good all the way through, but I just love it, especially the first half hour or so as George and Mary are going to the dance.

*interesting note, young George Bailey in this movie is also in "The Bishop's Wife".  We all saw him and couldn't believe it!*

The Family Stone

Confession - I saw this in the theater and didn't care for it. 

I watched it again about 6 months ago and really loved it. 

Not sure what happened the first time, but this movie really grew on me. 

Have you seen it? 

I love, love movies with ensemble casts like this one. 

Claire Danes played the only normal character in the whole movie, and that's awesome.

Elf

I love, love, love "Elf".  This is an absolutely hilarious movie.  "I like smiling. Smiling's the best!"

I dare you to watch this movie and not crack a smile.

We haven't taken our portable DVD player on a Christmas trip in a long while.

I'm thinking about taking it this year and just this DVD.

And making my family watch it over and over.

Love Actually

Potentially my favorite movie of all time.

As I said, I love ensemble movies, and seem to watch more British-made films than American.

Confession - I like the "clean" version better than the one with "that" couple in it.

I can't let the boys see the original.  If you've seen it, you know what I'm talking about.

My favorite storyline is the stepdad (Liam Neeson) and the little boy (Thomas Sanger).

Of course, Colin Firth declaring his love in Portuguese ain't bad either.

And two other favorites, but not really what you might think of as Christmas movies.

Die Hard

What a great movie. 

Bruce Willis is at his best, and Alan Rickman is one of my favorite actors of all time (see "Love Actually" above).  Love this movie.  Classic.

Finally...

The Early Harry Potter Movies

Not Christmas-themed movies, but the early ones have great Christmas scenes. 

My friend Lisa said a few years ago they always remind her of a great Christmas movie, and the holiday school break is a great time to curl up with the family and have an HP marathon. 

So now I think of them as holiday movies as well!

So those are my favorite holiday/Christmas movies.

I know I'm leaving out classics like "White Christmas" and family classics like "Rudolph" and "Frosty".   It's harder to make a list than I thought!

What are your favorite holiday movies?