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 Things: Christmas Movies

Pam:  I enjoy “National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation.” My husband and I saw it in the theater when it first came out and it’s now a family tradition to watch it on Christmas Eve.  Part of the reason is that my husband WAS Clark Griswold, just ask anybody.

I also like “A Christmas Story.”  I have a replica of the lamp at my house.
 
Brenda:  “Christmas Vacation” for me, too!  But I also love “It’s A Wonderful Life.” It’s just part of Christmas.
 

Judy:  “Christmas Vacation," because it always makes me laugh.”

Jeanne:  I don’t have a real favorite, but there are several I like, including “A Nightmare Before Christmas.”  I just saw “We’re No Angels” with Humphrey Bogart, Aldo Rey, Peter Ustinov, and Leo G. Carroll which is about three escaped prisoners who are trying to get aboard a ship away from Devil’s Island just before Christmas.  They decide to hide out in a shop owned by a sweet but hapless (and somewhat clueless) family and the prisoners take an interest in dealing out a bit of justice.  It’s never too saccharine and I found it pretty funny.  I like Humphrey Bogart, and he seems to be enjoying himself in this movie.  He didn’t do many comedies and sometimes seemed ill at ease in the ones he did, but he appeared to be having a good time in this one.

Laura:  I guess my first choice would be “Christmas Vacation,” but I also like “Elf.”  “A Christmas Story” is good, too.

Laurie:  My favorite Christmas movie is “Christmas in Connecticut,” the 1945 version. It stars Barbara Stanwyck as a newspaper columnist who writes about living on a farm with her husband and baby, and who provides very popular recipes.  In reality, she’s a single girl who lives in New York and she gets the recipes from a chef friend.  Trouble starts when her publisher wants to bring guests to her farmhouse.  It’s a wonderful romantic comedy with a great cast, including Dennis Morgan and Sydney Greenstreet. My daughter loves it now because her husband’s in the Navy and Dennis Morgan plays a sailor.

Selena: Oh, there are so many good ones!  It’s hard to choose, especially when it comes to old movies.  One of my favorites is The Shop Around the Corner with Margaret Sullavan and Jimmy Stewart.  It takes place in a store where Jimmy is the head clerk and Margaret is a new shop girl.  They hate each other, they think, but they’ve each been writing back and forth to a mystery person who seems just perfect.  It’s so romantic and it’s set at Christmas.  It was remade as a musical with Judy Garland and later as You’ve Got Mail—if you watch that movie, you’ll see that Meg Ryan’s store is named “The Shop Around the Corner.”  I also like The Bishop’s Wife with Cary Grant, Loretta Young, and David Niven.  Oh, and I can't leave out  Bachlelor Mother. I love it with Ginger Rogers and David Niven. I also like the remake with Debbie Renyolds and Eddie Fisher but it makes me sad to think she was pregnant with Carrie at the time and they seem so happy and then what happened later. But Bachelor Mother is one of the ones that i can watch anytime of the year and love.

Ashley: Okay, you may not think it’s a Christmas movie but my favorite is “Die Hard.”  It’s not a happy Christmas movie, but it does take place at Christmas!  I also love “The Nightmare Before Christmas.”

Christie H.:  I like “It’s a Wonderful Life.”  I like sappy stuff, and I like Jimmy Stewart.  I also like the Jim Carrey “Christmas Carol.”


Janice: My favorite is "White Christmas" It has it all!  Great entertainers like Bing Crosby, Danny Kaye, Rosemary Clooney, and Vera-Ellen, wonderful music, classic songs, romance, and Christmas.