Staff Picks: Favorite Christmas Movies and Specials

Christina:  National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, How the Grinch Stole Christmas (original), A Christmas Story and a Charlie Brown Christmas. A little less popular, but still good, is ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas (or anything by Rankin Bass). Also, even though it is totally NOT a Christmas movie, it is tradition to watch Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark before lunch. A television station used to play this every Christmas day, and my dad enjoyed watching it. Dad passed away several years ago, but we continue the tradition in his memory each year.

 

Ashley:  Usually we decorate the tree to "A Very Murray Christmas" on Netflix, which sees Bill Murray trying to host a Christmas special, but everything derailing with a giant blizzard in NYC. It's filled with guest stars (at one point he's with both George Clooney and Miley Cyrus) and a quirky sense of humor, and it's definitely not what I expected of a Christmas special as we turned it on that first year to watch it. Obviously, though, it won our hearts, because we've gone back to it year after year. 

This year we deviated from our tradition, though, turning to Disney+, where we landed on "Decorating Disney: Holiday Magic.” Usually, we have differing opinions on the behind the scenes specials giving away the secrets of the Disney Park magic- I find that I prefer not to know, instead bouncing around in complete wonderment, whereas my partner is a big fan of knowing how things work and just how much effort went into things. We both agreed that this one was really neat, though!

 

We split our decorating up into two days thanks to busy schedules- get the tree and lights up one night and get the ornaments on the next night. This 40 minute special was the perfect length for the first half of our decorating, although watching them transform an entire park (or four!) literally overnight made us feel a little silly for our own decorating plan and schedule.

It was so wild to find out that they start when the last guest leaves and each tackle their own areas, having the park completely redecorated- even so far as pulling up gardens, getting the ground ready, and planting entirely new gardens- in one night! It made complete sense, but it was amazing to watch them discuss the various efforts that go into transforming the parks into their winter wonderland versions! While I'm not sure we'll revisit this one, we felt it was definitely worth the watch!

 

Sarah:  Home Alone is the one for me!

 

Tonia: I’m a sucker for children’s classic animated holiday movies:  Rudolph has always been my favorite, along with Charlie Brown Christmas, How the Grinch Stole Christmas, and Frosty the Snowman. I also love the mostly silent cartoon simply titled The Snowman based on the children’s picture book of the same title by Raymond Briggs.

 

 I love It’s a Wonderful Life and one of the black and white Scrooge movies. I even like Mickey’s Christmas Carol!

 

Brenda D:  I like the kids’ stuff:  Rudolph, Frosty, Charlie Brown, etc.  My favorite though is It’s a Wonderful Life. I have to watch it every year.   The other movie I like is The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.  I don’t know if this is considered a Christmas movie, but I enjoy watching it with the history subtitles about C. S. Lewis.  Not sure if it was a separate track on the DVD or you just turn them on, but they are very informative.

Brenda G:  We love Emmett Otter’s Jug-Band Christmas which is a movie with The Muppets, based on the wonderful book by Russell Hoban.

Jeanne: Okay, I’m the only one who likes Grumpy Cat’s Worst Christmas Ever. I think it’s funny.  I love all the ones I grew up watching as well, most of which have already been mentioned, such as Rudolph, How the Grinch Stole Christmas,  and A Charlie Brown Christmas, It’s a Wonderful Life.  I also like White Christmas and Elf, and I watch several versions of A Christmas Carol.

Selena:  I make the kids watch the Andy Griffith Christmas ever year, and any of the old T.V. shows that I can find because what could be more comforting?

 

I also like to watch the movies “It Happened on Fifth Avenue” and “Period of Adjustment” at Christmas. Jim Hutton and Jane Fonda star in “Period of Adjustment.” I think Jim Hutton is a real cutie.