Favorite Christmas Movies

At the behest of good friend Joey Gro, here’s my list of favorite Christmas movies. My sole criteria for this list is a movie that makes me feel Christmas. And from this list, you’ll see there are quite a few ways to feel Christmas:

5. Meet Me in St. Louis
If you lak-a-me lak I lak-a-you, and we lak-a-both the same…

I grew up on old musicals the way my friends grew up on Star Wars and John Hughes, and I’m still a sucker for them. And this is my super-guilty-pleasure musical choice. I think it’s physically impossible not to sing along to “Clang-clang-clang went the trolley!" Even though it’s not a Christmas movie per se, Judy Garland singing “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” to Tootie is more than enough to place it in the holiday movie category. It’s heartwrenching, but in that sweet holiday kind of heartwrenching.

4. Elf
I just like to smile, smiling's my favorite.

This movie is pure sweetness, and I can’t remember the last time I laughed so hard at a movie that I would also recommend to my friend’s seven-year-old daughter.

3. National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation
Where do you think you're going? Nobody's leaving. Nobody's walking out on this fun, old-fashioned family Christmas. No, no. We're all in this together. This is a full-blown, four-alarm holiday emergency here. We're gonna press on, and we're gonna have the hap, hap, happiest Christmas since Bing Crosby tap-danced with Danny f’ing Kaye.

I’m sure that 99% of us don’t have the functional families capable of pulling off big happy holidays together, and this is the movie for us. I love that point when you know that the holiday is wrecked and bound for disaster, but you’re determined to push on anyway. God Bless the Griswolds. And Cousin Eddie is the best cinematic character ever (solid proof I'll never be a film snob). The scene when he wears the green dickie under the thin white sweater puts me in hysterics every time.

2. Christmas Story
Scut Farkus! What a rotten name! There he stood, between us and the alley. Scut Farkus staring out at us with his yellow eyes. He had yellow eyes! So, help me, God! Yellow eyes!

Once we leave childhood, it’s nearly impossible to remember how it really felt to be a kid. Christmas movies love to attempt to conjure those old feelings, but only A Christmas Story succeeds. While other movies focus on the magic of our younger days, this movie also reminds us of the sheer agony of them as well. The scene of Ralphie fantasizing about turning in the A+++++ paper only to wake up to classroom embarrassment makes me wince every time. I was that kind of dork.

1. It’s a Wonderful Life
No man is a failure who has friends.

Most sentimental movies involve turning off some part of your brain to buy it all. Not this one. Every time, I feel George Bailey’s desperation turn into gratitude. Every time, my usual rampant cynicism is gone when they sing “Auld Lang Syne” and the end credits begin. Best Christmas movie ever. Hands down.