I’m going to make a confession here: I hate Christmas music. I absolutely cannot stand it. If I had my way radio stations wouldn’t be allowed to play Christmas music except for on that one designated station and stores would have to play songs only intermittently instead of sticking some playlist on loop for a month.
My disdain for Christmas music does not spread to Christmas movies, however.
I love Christmas movies.
Seriously, I could watch Christmas movies all year around. When I found out that Iron Man 3 was set during Christmas I was totally into that idea from the get go. Anything Christmas themed in a movie just earns that movie extra points in my book.
Growing up, my favorite movie was Prancer. Hands down, I loved that move more than anything. As I got older the Muppet Christmas Carol probably elbowed out poor Prancer and later still Gremlins took over. But I think that my absolute favorite movie is A Christmas Story. My sisters and I have this Christmas tradition, you see. Every year TBS runs that film on repeat for a good twenty-four hours and every year my sisters and I would wake up well before my parents and we would turn on TBS. No matter what time we woke up we’d watch whatever showing of A Christmas Story that was on no matter when it had started or where it was in the movie. And we had this agreement that we wouldn’t wake up our parents until the movie was over.
Below is a list of my favorite Christmas movies at the moment. They are numbered and the numbers are vaguely representative of how I would rate the movies in comparison to one another. But most of them could shift up or down a few slots. If one of your favorites is missing, I’m sorry!
If you’re looking for something to watch this Christmas you won’t go wrong with any of these!
15. Scrooged
[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C5s-xArZvjo]
14. The Polar Express
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cht63QybtiA]
13. Prancer
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zm69dRGRLiI]
12. The Year Without A Santa Claus
[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dPrbccEdI5o]
11. Christmas with the Kranks
[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fCVQk63oU6w]
10. It’s a Wonderful Life
[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OfUV-F9jFro]
9. Home Alone
[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D3Vs0nW1hOw]
8. Iron Man 3
[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YLorLVa95Xo]
7. A Muppet Christmas Carol
[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dhpu2tq9GG4]
6. The Santa Clause
[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t067u2Jnks0]
5. Elf
[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gW9wRNqQ_P8]
4. Gremlins
[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kgfgiLlW-yw]
3. Die Hard
[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2TQ-pOvI6Xo]
2. Love Actually
[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=peiRtkXMYQ8]
1. A Christmas Story
[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LBe0Bl0wYHU]
Honorable Mention: The Nightmare Before Christmas
Surprised to see this classic Tim Burton film missing from the list? Well, if you knew me in real life it wouldn’t be that much of a surprise. It’s not that I don’t like this movie. It’s just not my favorite movie in the world. I feel the same way about most Tim Burton movies with the exception of Sleepy Hollow and Edward Scissorhands. But I know pretty much everyone else at Nerdophiles loves this film so here it is in the honorable mentions section!
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZuWD-mSUtrU]
Honorable Mention: Frosty the Snowman and Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer
Who didn’t grow up watching Frosty the Snowman and Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer every year? I left these classics off my main list but there’s no way I could leave them out of the honorary mention section because c’mon. These two are staples of the holiday season.
[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=02URfMoDols]
[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RQwc62HVQEs]
Honorable Mention: Full Metal Jacket
All right, so, maybe this isn’t a Christmas film. But hey. Everyone deserves a chance to have “Happy Birthday” sung to them on their birthdays. Even Jesus.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9t4FgmaKOy8]
Honorable Mention: 8 Crazy Nights
Also not technically a Christmas flim but it’s certainly my favorite Hanukkah film ever made. Really, though, we need more Hanukkah films. There are very few holiday related stories that I find as genuinely compelling as the story of the first Hanukkah. Props to Adam Sandler for this movie and his series of Hanukkah songs that sought to make Hanukkah fun for everyone.
[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xl0678yMJC4]
Is your favorite Christmas film missing? Do you think I should have rated a particular movie higher on my list? Have other suggestions for Christmas movies that people should check out?
Let me know in the comments!
English