Favorite Christmas Movies

Christmas is just around the corner so this is the time of year that I start scanning the TV guide to see which of my old time favorite Christmas programs are coming on. For me the Christmas season doesn't begin until I see A Charlie Brown Christmas. It's the one Peanuts cartoon I watch faithfully every year. Then there is White Christmas. Such a great movie to watch on the weekend, curled up on the sofa with a sandwich and glass of buttermilk. I haven't seen it yet this year but I know it's been on. I'll catch it eventually. Here is a list of my Christmas  movies and favorite scenes.  

White Christmas - For romance nothing beats White Christmas. Rosemary Clooney, Eleanor Parker, Danny Kaye and Bing Crosby singing about snow, snow, snow while on a cozy train ride to Vermont. My favorite scene is where the guys want to put on a show to lift the spirits of the general who is running a struggling inn in Vermont so they contact all the old vets to come to the inn on Christmas Eve. The general is surprised and pleased when he sees his old division in full military uniform and they all salute him and applaud. Wonderful scene. 

Funny Farm – So many funny scenes in this movie. My favorite is when Andy Farmer, played by Chevy Chase, enlists the help of the town to sell his house. He asks them to look and act like people depicted in a Norman Rockwell illustration on the cover of Saturday Evening Post magazines to impress the couple who wants to buy their house. Everyone that performs an act of traditional small town behavior in front of the buyers will earn a $50 bonus. When everyone in town shows up at his house looking like a character from a Norman Rockwell painting he knows he got more then he bargained for. Hilarious.

National Lampoon Christmas Vacation – Chevy Chase again as Clark Griswold. After hours and hours of covering the entire house in Christmas lights Clark attempts to light it up but they won’t turn on. He doesn’t realize like we the audience does, that someone had turned off the switch. Finally someone flips the switch and the lights come on but only for a moment. Clark had used so many lights it caused a power outage throughout the whole city. Christmas for Clark is not trying so much to keep up with the Joneses, but to be the Joneses. No one does classic Christmas like Chevy Chase. 

How the Grinch Stole Christmas (The original cartoon) -  There is something about the sound of Boris Karloff's voice that takes me back to my childhood. Favorite scene is when the Grinch is all ready to be happy that the folks of Whoville are sad because he stole their Christmas presents. In the morning instead of hearing weeping from Whoville, he hears singing and he realizes that Christmas was more to Whoville than just presents. Then he too gets the Christmas spirit, returns all the presents and enjoys Christmas with the town.

A Charlie Brown Christmas – My favorite of the Christmas cartoons. All the characters are great and I still love listening to the music. I’d love to say my favorite scene is when Charlie Brown goes to pick out a Christmas Tree he picks the saddest looking tree on the lot. When he tries to decorate the tree it simply droops down to the ground. He leaves feeling dejected not knowing that the gang gets together and using decorations that Snoopy had on his doghouse along with Linus's security blanket they redecorate the tree and bring it to life. That should be my favorite scene, but truthfully I love the Christmas rehearsal party with Schroeder on the keys and everyone's head bobbing to Linus and Lucy's theme song. You know it’s Christmas when you hear that classic song.

Christmas Story – There are many, many favorites but the ultimate is Ralphie, the dad and a flat tire. So one night while driving home from seeing Santa the old man blows a tire. Ralphie wants to helps his dad change the tire so he excitedly goes to help. His dad gives him the hub cap and tells him to hold it up high to hold the lugnuts. Suddenly as his dad reaches for the cap he accidentally knocks it up in the air. Ralphie seeing all the nuts go flying says what most of us would say. In delicious slow montion he says "Ohhhhh fuddddgge" Only he doesn't say fudge he says, the big one the F_ _ _word. Love love love that scene. I have used Oh fudge on occasion myself. Perfect.  

Frosty the Snowman - Honestly I still get a tear in my eye when Frosty melts from waiting in a greenhouse trying to keep little Karen warm. I know he comes back to life again because, as Santa Claus explained, he’s made of Christmas snow which come back every year. It is oh so sweet when they put the hat on his head, he comes alive again and says Happy Birthday! 

Love Actually - Ok. I love the love stories. Very sweet, all of them and it has Hugh Grant and Colin Firth both at their charming best. My favorite part of the movie though is the soundtrack. So many great songs from Mariah Carey’s All I want for Christmas is You and the Beach Boys God Only Knows.  The soundtrack is really another character in the movie.

Little Women – There are lots of versions of this movie but my favorite is with Wynona Ryder and Christian Bale. It's the movie that will make me forever remember his name.  It’s difficult to say what is my favorite scene because the entire movie is special. Probably my favorite would be when Marmee comes home to find her daughter Beth gravely ill with scarlet fever. Jo dozes off and when she awakes and goes to look in on her sister she finds the housekeeper sitting outside Beth's door. Jo assumes the worse thinking her sister has died and begins to cry. She was wrong of course because Marmee stayed with her daughter all night and nursed her back to health. Very touching moment.

It’s a Wonderful life – There is no sweeter, touching or more uplifting movie for Christmas or any time of the year for that matter than It’s a Wonderful Life. My favorite scene is when George's guardian angel Clarence stops him from killing himself because he believes that everyone would be better off if was never born. Clarence shows George what life would have been like for  his friends and family if he wasn’t there and he realizes what a positive impact he had on their lives. He changes his mind, runs home to see his family and there waiting for him is his family and all of the people from town that he had helped over the years. They were all there to help him because he was there to help them in their time of need. It's a joyous celebration and although he doesn’t see his guardian angel again but sees a book and a note from Clarence that reads “Remember, no man is a failure who has friends”.

What are your favorites for the season?