I've always been an ardent fan of It's a Wonderful Life. Back when I was growing up (in the 80's) no one owned the rights to the movie and so it was playing on any given station during the month of December at almost any given time. One could almost memorize the film in a day just by changing the channels every few hours and catching another showing. And then in the 90's someone bought the rights to the movie and now they show it only twice a year. Hah! I have it on DVD. Buffalo Gals won't ya come home tonight, won't ya come home tonight, won't ya come home toniiiiiight..."

While I consider It's a Wonderful Life to be my favorite Christmas movie, I always make it a point to watch a few other Christmas "Classics".

- Elf - I watch this mainly because someone gave it to me on DVD and watching Will Ferrell throw snowballs as fast as a machine gun tickles my funnybone. Also Bob Newhart and his deadpan comedic delivery style is always fun to watch. Caaaaaaaaaaaaaan!

- A Christmas Story - Peter Billingsley's magnum opus about childhood in the 1940's in suburban Indiana and his adventures on trying to claim his very own Red Ryder BB gun with a "compass in the stock and this thing that tells time". "You'll put an eye out with that thing, kid" is the most well known line in the movie, although the observations on family life, especially about his Dad in particular, are absolutely hilarious. A must watch! My favorite line: "Some men claimed they were Catholics. Others were Baptists. My father was an Oldsmobile man".

- Home Alone - Macauley Culkin's (in)famous 1990 blockbuster about a kid who gets accidentally left behind at Christmas by his family and ends up defending the homestead against a pair of bumbling idiot cat burglars. It's still a pretty funny movie to watch, especially when Daniel Stern whacks Joe Pesci in the chest with a crowbar in a lamebrained attempt to kill a giant tarantula.

- Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer - a timeless classic from the very late 1960's this Rankin-Bass stop motion feature has the story of Rudolph and how he saved Christmas, and a few misfit toys along the way. After a recent viewing I think Santa kind of came across as a jerk, but whatever.

- National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation - This is a must watch, although beware, it has some language in it. Chevy Chase and the gang reprise their roles as the Griswold family of Chicago, and of course patriarch Clark W. Griswold (Chase) has no shortage of Christmastime disasters. I think the film makers based Clark's house lights on my dad...no joke! SQUIRREL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

- Die Hard - A Classic Christmas Tale about a group of terrorists who seize a skyscraper in Los Angeles and hold the occupants of a company Christmas party hostage. Bruce Willis is a NY City policeman who gets trapped inside during the festivities and gives the bad guys (and the chief of police) a really hard time. Alan Rickman's finest work, in my humble opinion. "Now I have a machine gun...Ho Ho Ho". One of the quintessential Great Action Movies that only like 3 people on NWeb have ever seen.

while I enjoy "Home Alone", I honestly like "Home Alone 2" even better it's so funny I watched it once with a friend of mine who laughs at almost anything and her younger siblings were asleep in the other room and so we had to be quiet, but we both laughed way too loudly and and had to put our faces into pillows to try to keep quiet

What? Three whole posts in thread, and nary a mention of A Charlie Brown Christmas? I'm shocked.
My family has a collection of Christmas movies we make a big deal out of digging out every year on Thanksgiving(the official start of the Christmas season for us). It includes the essential classics such as the already mentioned Charlie Brown Christmas, It's A Wonderful Life, White Christmas, Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, and our favorite adaption of a certain Charles Dickens novel, Scrooge(1970, starring Albert Finney). Elf is not part of our collection at this point, but we usually end up borrowing it from the library around this time. I'm ashamed to admit that I have never in my life seen A Christmas Story.

- Die Hard - A Classic Christmas Tale about a group of terrorists who seize a skyscraper in Los Angeles and hold the occupants of a company Christmas party hostage. Bruce Willis is a NY City policeman who gets trapped inside during the festivities and gives the bad guys (and the chief of police) a really hard time. Alan Rickman's finest work, in my humble opinion. "Now I have a machine gun...Ho Ho Ho". One of the quintessential Great Action Movies that only like 3 people on NWeb have ever seen.

Oh, gosh... my dad and sister would love you! I mean, seriously. That is one of their favourite movie series' EVER! Seriously, if you ever moved here, my dad would love it... you could play RISK and watch Die Hard. It might make you his new best friend
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And now, back to the task at hand...

Must-see's in my house, every Christmas
Miracle on 34th Street
It's a Wonderful Life
White Christmas

Ones we love, and would like to see (but don't always get to)
Elf- we haven't had this one as long
The Santa Clause-only have the original
The Bishop's Wife
The Nativity Story
and... I'm blanking on the rest

Childhood Faves
Home Alone (and Home Alone 2: Lost in New York)
The Muppet Christmas Carol- I just got this for St. Nick Night, so I can actually watch it now!!! I used to have to wait for the tv to show it.
Yes, Virginia, There IS a Santa Claus
The Christmas Box- I think I might be the only one in our house that remembers and/or likes this one. (and I might have first known of it in jr high or high school thanks to it coming on tv)
A Charlie Brown Christmas (edited to add, that I typed this before seeing Sparky's post )
Rudolph, Frosty, and the one about Santa

One I don't know as well, but still like
The Polar Express- friends gave it to me one year, but I've only seen it once or twice

Again, I think I forgot some (or, even a lot!) of them. So, I might have to get back to you.

edit:

I'm ashamed to admit that I have never in my life seen A Christmas Story.

Don't be... although parts are funny, you're not missing much.

I also recall the days when It's A Wonderful Life seemed to play constantly during the month of December. My younger brother was (is) a big fan of it and I actually first watched it at his insistence.

I realized how long it's been since I've watched it beginning to end (many, many moons) when I first saw that Honda commercial that spoofs it (the little girl says, "Every time a horn honks, someone gets a Honda." )

Just watched Holiday Inn (which I prefer slightly to its remake, White Christmas) last Friday with friends.

A Charlie Brown Christmas is probably my childhood favorite, though I have memories of Rudolph and Frosty as well. (I agree, SL, that Santa's not a nice guy with Rudolph, basically banning him until that red nose is something he can use. And I find it ironic that the original song (written as an ad campaign for Montgomery Ward) has outlived the company.

A Christmas Story is my brother's favorite Christmas movie - and inspired his own son to ask for a Red Ryder BB gun. Good thing they live out in the country so he can use it.

I've seen some of the other movies mentioned here, like The Christmas Box, The Santa Clause, and Elf. With cable channels running "The 24 days of Christmas" movie marathons, there's no shortage of other, more obscure titles, to choose from. A Dog Named Christmas and The Dog That Saved Christmas come to mind. The latter was especially disappointing, much like Home Alone except with the dog being the one who's home alone.

There are so many versions of A Christmas Carol that it's hard to choose. The 2009 version with Jim Carrey actually was a pretty good adaptation (if you disregard the scenes that seemed to be added just for 3D impact). I also like the 1984 version with George C. Scott as Scrooge and David Warner as Bob Cratchit.

Movies we Watch every year in my house:

"The Nativity Story" is a great movie we watch it on Christmas day:

"White Christmas" is also a must! I Just love it. that's all!

"It's A Wonderful Life" is a must watch! it's great story

"Miracle on 34th Street" is also good

There are so many versions of A Christmas Carol that it's hard to choose. The 2009 version with Jim Carrey actually was a pretty good adaptation (if you disregard the scenes that seemed to be added just for 3D impact). I also like the 1984 version with George C. Scott as Scrooge and David Warner as Bob Cratchit.

I agree. I also like the 1951 "Scrooge" with Alistair Sim; it was my favorite version for a long time but the George C. Scott version is up there with it now. Also liked the 2009 version.

Movies we Watch every year in my house:
"The Nativity Story" is a great movie we watch it on Christmas day:

I really liked that movie when it came out in 2006; it deserved better. Beautiful and simple and I hope more people come to appreciate it as time goes on.

There are a few Touched by an Angel TV specials for Christmas that I have on DVD that are very good as well.

Thanks for reminding me, GlimGlum!

I remember catching the first Touched by an Angel Christmas episode ("Fear Not"), which aired in December 1994, the show's first season. It starred country music star Randy Travis as the older brother of a young man afraid to go out in the dark. As the end, the angels manifest themselves in a small-town church's Christmas pagaent.

The next year they aired a sequel, "The Feather," which centered on the aftermath of the Christmas miracle, and the arrival of a con man eager to cash in on things. It was all right but I didn't like it quite as much as the earlier episode.

Later, they released them as one long episode on VHS (which my brother owns; we watched it last year).

Many shows these days have Christmas themed episodes (such as Eureka, NCIS, and NCIS: LA, all of which I've seen in the past few days). Other popular themes for TV Christmas episodes include takes on It's A Wonderful Life or A Christmas Carol.

My favorite Christmas movies are The Nativity Story, It's A Wonderful Life, Staglag 17, The Christmas Child, and The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. We watch either The Nativity Story or It's A Wonderful Life on Christmas Eve.

We have only watched White Christmas, Holiday Inn, and The Bishop's Wife, so far this year. Really need to watch my favorites!

Miracle on 34th Street is one I haven't seen for a long time, but I would really like to see it again. We had a VHS of it, but it got lost when we move one time.

Does Behind Enemy Lines count as a Christmas movie?

SnowAngel

Oh my goodness, I forgot We're No Angels ! It's one of the best movies ever. It's so funny.

SnowAngel

Though it's after Christmas now, a major US retailer had the 2009 Jim Carrey version of A Christmas Carol on sale for a pretty good price, and I hope to watch it again sometime in the next few days...or I suppose I could wait until next December.

Please note that our Christmas Countdown threads will be closing on Monday, January 9...but never fear! We look forward to having them again next December.

- Die Hard - A Classic Christmas Tale about a group of terrorists who seize a skyscraper in Los Angeles and hold the occupants of a company Christmas party hostage. Bruce Willis is a NY City policeman who gets trapped inside during the festivities and gives the bad guys (and the chief of police) a really hard time. Alan Rickman's finest work, in my humble opinion. "Now I have a machine gun...Ho Ho Ho". One of the quintessential Great Action Movies that only like 3 people on NWeb have ever seen.

No way! I thought I was the only one! I agree, Alan was amazing in that movie, and of course Bruce Willis always delivers.
And I agree with each and every one of the other movies you listed too, especially the Griswolds. Every year at my house we constantly quote that movie, I think I have it memorized but it NEVER gets old. My personal favorite scene is when Eddie's outside in his bathrobe!