Cue Up The Holiday Movies

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What is the one thing we all love and enjoy about the holiday season? Why, the traditions - of course!  Whether it's going to my Nanny's house on Christmas Eve, attending a religious service, enjoying The Mobile Ballet's annual performance of "The Nutcracker" or exchanging gifts with best friends over wine and good food (sounds fun, who wants to join me?) - traditions made the holidays even more enjoyable for me. 


One tradition the DH and I have: watching our favorite holiday movies. This generally starts about two weeks prior to Christmas, and we'll watch a movie every few nights until we have seen them all. One exception: we always stay up after midnight Christmas Eve and start Christmas morning by watching "A Christmas Story". You know, "you'll shoot your eye out"! 

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Another favorite is "It's a Wonderful Life". This one, we try to watch with my parents every year. My Father is fully convinced that his life was similar to George Bailey's - he had big dreams and wanted to leave town and home. Life had a way of readjusting his path, and as a result, he is an extremely successful businessman, but more importantly - a wonderful husband to my Mother and the best Father Amy and I could have hoped for. It truly is a wonderful life. 

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If you haven't seen "The Holiday", make it your mission to change that this holiday season and stat! An all star cast that includes Cameron Diaz, Jude Law, Kate Winslet and Jack Black - this movie is responsible for making me feel madly in lust with Jude Law (and I wasn't a huge fan before seeing it either). Hilarious in parts, sad in others, but leaves you feeling like you just made a bunch of new friends. It's a "must see". 

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Don't laugh - but my "inner child" still loves "Home Alone" and "Home Alone 2: Lost In New York". Truth be known, I love the New York version most. When I see Macaulay Culkin roaming the streets of NYC, I'm actually a little jealous. And the scene where he's on top of the South Tower always makes me a little sad (this tells you we have the DVD version, all scenes of the Twin Towers were removed from television broadcasts after 9/11 out of respect for the victims and their families). Have I ever shared with you guys - one of my dreams is to wake up on Christmas morning in New York? Ideally, I would stay at The Plaza or somewhere very close to Central Park. Of course it would be snowing when I woke up and there would be presents. Lots of presents. Embrace your "inner child" this holiday season and enjoy the first two Home Alone movies, I wouldn't bother with the third though...

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Because we have no children, and are pulled in a hundred different directions over the holidays, the DH and I can easily identify with Reese Witherspoon and Vince Vaughn's characters in "Four Christmases". Every year, we threaten to run away from home for the holiday (see post about NYC above - but somewhere tropical would do just as well). In all likelihood, what happens to Reese and Vince is probably what would happen if we also ran away. Hilarious...

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Another oldie but goodie, "Miracle on 34th Street" is admittedly not the DH's favorite, but I can usually talk him into watching. This movie always renews my faith in humanity, reminds me to dream and gives me a warm feeling for the holiday season. I didn't get to watch it last year, so my memories of this one are a little faded. I'm looking forward to seeing it again! 

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Imagine this - Sarah Jessica Parker is a fairly conservative (dare we say, she is portrayed in a Republican-like manner?) in one of my newer favorite holiday movies, "The Family Stone". When her fiancee' (Dermot Mulroney) takes her home to Connecticut to meet his family over the holidays, she is not very well received by the "liberal and rambunctious" crew. SJP is a true star in this film (especially since we all know she is NOT a Republican, ha!). Other cast members include Diane Keaton, Craig T. Nelson, Luke Wilson, Claire Danes, Rachel McAdams, etc. Won't say too much about how it ends in case you haven't seen it, but this film is definitely worth a few hours of your time. 

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The holiday movie list just isn't complete without mentioning "Christmas Vacation". The Griswolds, holiday lights, light sockets, bonus checks, a drunk brother in law on your property in an RV. It's all here, and it's hilarious. One of our all time favorites. If this doesn't make you laugh for almost two hours, I'm not sure anything will! (See image at top of post for the movie). Chevy Chase makes me laugh by just looking AT him during this film, he doesn't even have to utter a word. 


I think it's time to get the popcorn ready - what about you? Can't wait for DH to get home so we can cue up the holiday movies! 


What is your favorite holiday movie? Do you have a viewing tradition similiar to us watching "It's A Wonderful Life" with my parents? I'd love to hear about yours!