Christmas Movies

Memories from Meygan

From the shopping to the excessive Christmas music playing, I love everything there is to love about Christmas! There are special Christmas events and traditions my family and I partake in every year. For example, every year my dad watches A Christmas Carol. As a child, I loved the story of Scrooge but after watching it for 20 years+, I began to grow a little tired of the tale! Now that I am grown and married, my Christmas tradition with my father is teasing him for watching The Christmas Carol. My father watching The Christmas Carol wouldn’t be so bad if he actually watched other Christmas movies, but I can count on one hand how many movies my dad has watched in the past 5 years. I will more than likely read the book this year though and maybe I can encourage my dad to do the same just to break up the monotony! 

My go-to Christmas movies would have to be Home Alone (1 or 2 but definitely not 3) and The Grinch! The Grinch is such a classic, and I will watch the cartoon or the one starring Jim Carrey. However, I prefer the cartoon version. Also, I watch The Nightmare before Christmas. Yes, people debate if the movie is a Halloween or a Christmas movie. Well, the movie combines both of my favorite holidays so I watch it around Halloween and Christmas! Growing up, we watched Rudolph and Frosty so I try to find those movies too! However, I have a lot of catching up to do. So far the only Christmas related movie I have watched is Bad Santa!

I love getting into the Christmas spirit because Christmas reminds me more than any other day does just how important it is and how good it feels to be surrounded by loved ones. With that being said, I hope everyone has a Merry Christmas and my wish for you is to never become “too old” for family traditions. They are, after all, some of the most special times of our lives. 

If this stirred up some memories for you, then you may want to check out the library's DVD collection!  We have several versions of  A Christmas Carol.  Actors playing Scrooge include Patrick Stewart, Reginald Owen, and even Jim Carrey! The library also has a copy of Scrooged starring Bill Murray and Scrooge starring Albert Finney.  And of course, the classic novel of A Christmas Carol is available at the Bristol Public Library, including young adult graphic novels and even a Steam Punk edition! A Christmas Carol is available on CD as well.  

Also available at the Bristol Public Library are Home Alone 1, 2, and 3; Tim Burton's The Nightmare before Christmas; Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas (cartoon and Jim Carrey version); and Frosty the Snowman and Frosty Returns. We also have many Christmas CDs including Frosty the Snowman and other Favorites, Now That’s What I Call Christmas, and Ultimate Christmas by the Beach Boys!

Our Favorite Christmas Things: TV

Judy:  One of my favorite Christmas programs is “The Littlest Angel.” It was a Hallmark Hall of Fame production in 1969 and starred Johnny Whitaker from “Family Affair” and Fred Gwynne who was Herman Munster.  The show was based on the book by Charles Tazewell about a little angel boy who is having trouble adjusting to heaven.  He wants to be good and do things the right way, but he’s still very much a little boy. Finally he’s allowed to go back to Earth to get his box of treasures, a collection of odds and ends that he picked up such as a robin’s egg or a pretty stone. I haven’t seen it in awhile, but it’s still a favorite.

Christie:  I’ll pick the same show I picked last year, “A Charlie Brown Christmas.”  It’s a tradition!  It has all the right elements, including that wonderful jazzy music.

Janice H.: My favorite is "The Night the Animals Talked." It's about the legend that on the night Jesus was born, the animals in the stable were given the gift of speech. It hasn't been shown many times, but I certainly remember it.

Jeanne:  I wrote about “Amahl and the Night Visitors” last year, so this year I’ll pick “Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer” which premiered when I was six, probably the perfect age for it to make a big impression. A close second would be “The Little Drummer Boy,” both of which used stop motion animation.I really liked Greer Garson's narration of the latter.  I also like versions of “A Christmas Carol,” especially the one with George C. Scott and the animated Mr. Magoo. A quick check of Wikipedia claims that Magoo was the first animated special made just for television. It’s going to air on NBC on Saturday, December 22 at 8 pm.  This will mark the program’s 50th anniversary. Then there were the old Johnny Cash and June Carter Christmas specials.  There were two I remember especially, one with the Highwaymen (Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, and Kris Kristofferson) in Switzerland which was very funny, and of course I loved the one filmed at the Carter Fold. (Note:  the library has two of these Christmas Specials on DVD.)

Brenda:  My favorite to watch with kids is “Annabelle’s Wish.”  It’s about a little calf named Annabelle who can talk. She becomes friends with Billy, the farmer’s grandson who can’t speak. It’s sweet and the kids really love it. (Note from Rebecca: “To watch with kids?  She just likes to watch it herself!”)

Nicki: Don’t laugh, but in Sweden we all watch Donald Duck. It’s a tradition! On December 24, at 3 pm, they always run a long Donald Duck cartoon and just about everybody watches, because we all grew up watching it at the same time every year. (Note: For more information, read the special post on Nicki’s Swedish Christmas traditions!)

Ashley:  I love “How the Grinch Stole Christmas,” but the animated version not the live action movie.  I love the book, too.