Christmas Creep: My Favorite Holiday Movies

The rush to the next holiday is on and now that Halloween has come and gone it is all about Christmas.

The TV commercial blitz has begun, some have already started decorating and before you know it you’ll be singing along to Christmas music on the radio.  It’s also time for Christmas movies and let me be the first (but not the last) to give you my all-time top ten holiday films.

This is always a difficult task because there are movies like “Die Hard” and “Gremlins” that make many of these lists but let’s keep them out for now.

1. Miracle on 34^th Street- The original of course (1947) starring Edmund Gwenn as Kris Kringle and featuring a young Natalie Wood.
2. Elf- Will Ferrell is great as “Buddy” and so is James Caan as his biological father.  I love this movie.
3. Love Actually- I’m a sap for movies like this and I admit this one is more like a Hallmark movie and hard to compare with classics. But again it’s my list and I’m keeping it.  Starring Hugh Grant and a bunch of Brits.
4. It’s A Wonderful Life- You simply can’t have a list of holiday movies without this 1946 classic starring Jimmy Stewart. Many rate this the best of all time and it just might be.
5. A Christmas Story- I can’t believe Ralphie’s quest for the Red Rider BB Gun is 34 years old but it is. “You’ll shoot your eye out” is one of the great lines from any Christmas movie.
6. White Christmas- It has a lot of flaws and “Holiday Inn” might be better but I fall for this 1954 gem all the time with Bing Crosby, Danny Kaye, Rosemary Clooney and Vera-Ellen.
7. National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation- How do you compare this with the standards? You don’t but how can you not love poor Clark Griswold who simply wants to have the best lights display in the neighborhood.
8. Home Alone- No holiday season is complete without watching this one from start to finish. It’s when Macaulay Culkin was cute and really brilliant as poor Kevin McCallister.
9. The Santa Clause- Tim Allen is terrific as the replacement when Santa falls off the roof.
10. Could not make a decision so let’s call it a tie between The Holiday, The Bishop’s Wife, Scrooged, The Polar Express, The Family Stone and Bad Santa which is bad and very funny.

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