We have a tradition in December of spending many evenings (and some lazy afternoons) watching Christmas movies. A couple weeks ago, we sat down and brainstormed all our favorite and “wanna watch” Christmas movies. Here’s what is on my list:
(Oh also – I would call this list very aspirational. It’s more like the menu so we remember what’s out there.)
Classic Films. As in TMC old.
– Meet Me in St. Louis
– It’s a Wonderful Life
– White Christmas
– Charlie Brown Christmas
– A Christmas Carol (pick a version.)
Classic Films. As in from our younger days.
– Elf
– Home Alone
– Polar Express
– Muppet Christmas Carol
Movies the Husband says aren’t Christmas Movies, but which I disagree
– Little Women (I like the 1996 version, but the 2019 one was very good too.)
– While You Were Sleeping
– The Holiday
-Bridget Jone’s Diary.
okay, maybe this category is mostly Christmas as an excuse to watch rom-coms.
The More Recent Stuff That We Loved
– 8 Bit Christmas (we watched this last year and we like it even better than the original Christmas Story)
– Spirited (We actually just watched this last weekend)
– Frozen (We saw this at the symphony already this year already so maybe not for home viewing this year)
– The Little Prince (Rachel Portman’s opera version. I worked on this opera twice and it’s one of my favorite operas. Here’s an excerpt from a music video that was made of the opera. Fun fact – we have a version of the rose costume in the video. The Opera where I work every so often has a costume sale where they get sell costumes they won’t use anymore, and they had an extra rose costume, so I bought it for my oldest kid.)
– Any Hallmark Christmas movie. I like ones where the hero and heroine like each other from the beginning so we don’t waste too much time being enemies and can just get to the romantic bits and holiday fun parts.
Not Child Friendly (aka, watch when kids are in bed)
-Die Hard
-Love Actually
-National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation (I haven’t seen this, but the Husband assures me the kids aren’t ready for this yet.)
-Joyeaux Noel (Not child friendly because it isn’t in English. It’s about a Christmas Day truce during WWI. I worked on a great opera based on this movie.)
-Twas the Fight Before Christmas (Documentary about a man whose Christmas light display gets out of hand…)
Films we haven’t seen yet, but which are on all the Christmas Movie Lists
– The Santa Clause
– The Shop around the Corner/ You’ve Got Mail (I love the musical She Loves Me which has the same story)
– Nightmare before Christmas (Yes… I really have yet to see this movie)
– The Man Who Invented Christmas (Dan Stevens as Charles Dickens!)
– Gremlins (I haven’t seen this, but the Husband has)
– The Preacher’s Wife/ The Bishop’s Wife
– Bad Santa (this might be a “after the kids are in bed” one)
– Noelle (Looks cute – Anna Kendrick as Santa’s daughter, itching for a chance to prove herself)
-Last Christmas (Henry Golding! Enough said.)
-Jingle Jangle: A Christmas Journey (It’s billed as a musical fantasy. I’m all about musical Christmas movies.)
-Arthur Christmas (Animated movie – looks really cute.)
-Christmas in Connecticut (1945 Barbara Stanwyck movie.)
2022 Movies that Look Fun!
-Hip Hop Nutcracker
-The Royal Nanny (Hallmark – Royal and Nanny usually piques my interest.)
-Christmas With You (Freddie Prinze Jr is now playing the hot dad. Of course.)
– Santa Camp (Documentary)
– Christmas at the Golden Dragon and A Big Fat Family Christmas (Christmas movies centered on stories of Asian families/characters. Wow. Yay for representation. My brother once made a comment about how Crazy Rich Asians was a very mediocre move (he’s wrong), but I said to him, “I feel like Asian people deserve to be in bad cliched rom coms as much as white people do.” Wish fulfilled.)
– A Christmas Spark (OMG!!!! Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman reunion – this one features Jane Seymour and Joe Lando as a widow ans the town’s hottest dad. Must watch!!!!)
-Violent Night (Santa as a bad ass crime fighting hero. This one actually looks a bit violent for me, but I looooove the premise.)
What else should I put on my list????
I HATED Christmas in Connecticut. Someone told me it was their favourite Christmas movie, but I remember disliking it from start to finish.
I’ve heard great things about Jingle Jangle, but haven’t watched it yet.
Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman – my family watched this show every Saturday night; that is a blast from the past.
We love most of the Home Alone (4+5 are terrible) movies. The Santa Clause is a big favourite. The 2019 (?) animated Grinch.
That’s so funny – it was the Husband who recommended Christmas in Connecticut, so I’m interested to see if I like it or not.
I looooooved Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman. I feel like there isn’t as much “family friendly” tv being made these days – stuff that is unabashedly sentimental and, for lack of a better word, wholesome.
I am so ill-prepared for this question. I can’t remember the last full-length movie I watched. *heavy sigh* I’m sure my husband will want to watch Die Hard or Christmas Vacation or something. *heavier sigh* I want to be a person who enjoys watching movies, but I just always wish I were reading or sleeping or something. LOL.
I admit that I don’t always stay awake for movies when we watch them at home. And it is very likely that one or two of these movies I will put on in the background while I work this month. Movies do seem like a big time investment.
There are so many Christmas movies I haven’t seen! We watch Polar Express every year on the 23rd (long story how that ended up being a tradition) and we always watch Charlie Brown at some point. I’ve seen It’s a Wonderful Life a million times, but will probably watch it again at some point. Love Actually is one that I’ve always wanted to see- maybe this will be the year!
I love Love Actually, but realize that there are some hugely problematic aspects of it. But oh that cast!