My family is very very comedic. We sit down and love to watch A Christmas Story, National Lampoons: Christmas Vacation, How The Grinch Stole Christmas. My personal favorite to watch is the first "The Santa Claus' starring Tim Allen. Sometimes my mom and I will stay up late to watch 'White Christmas' and that'll be it.

Great thread! I love Christmas movies. Most of the movies in the list below are ones I grew up with, but some I discovered during Christmases more recent.

How the Grinch Stole Christmas! (The 1966 TV Special)
A Charlie Brown Christmas
It's Christmas Time Again, Charlie Brown
Miracle on 34th Street (1994 version)
A Christmas Story
It's a Wonderful Life
Frosty the Snowman
Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer
Santa Clause is Coming to Town
... and all the other great TV specials that I can't remember right now.
Elf (of course!)
White Christmas (With Bing Crosby and Rosemary Clooney... classic film)
Meet Me In St. Louis
Shop Around the Corner
A Christmas Carol
The Most Wonderful Time of the Year
The Santa Clause

I'm sure there's more that I've forgotten at the moment. Christmas movies are special, because they have feelings and emotions attached to them that remind me of Christmas. Many of them are fun, and being someone who loves quoting movies, I can attest that there are many great quotes that I've taken from Christmas movies (especially Elf, A Christmas Story, Miracle on 34th Street, It's a Wonderful Life, etc.)

Lots of them also have great songs, too. Judy Garland's mournful performance of "Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas" in Meet Me In St. Louis can nearly bring tears to my eyes, and Zooey Deschanel sings some great songs in Elf like "Santa Clause is Coming to Town" and "Baby, It's Cold Outside". And Of course, I can't forget to mention White Christmas which is filled with great songs, including the one it gets it's name from.

"It's A Wonderful Life" is the first thing that came to my head! I love that movie!

every year, we watch Elf every time its on, charlie brown whenever we can get the old VCR to work (we need to get the DVD, but the old tape has so many memories woven into the tape:) ) and of course A Christmas Story all day on Christmas eve

My family didn't celebrate Christmas from the time when I was just a newborn until two (almost three) years ago, so we haven't had much experience with Christmas movies, like, at all. Over the past two Christmases, in an attempt to catch up, we have seen Home Alone (1), A Charlie Brown Christmas, Miracle on 34th Street, It's a Wonderful Life, White Christmas, and A Christmas Carol (not sure which one, but it was cool). Out of those, the only ones I really cared for were the last three, my favourite being It's a Wonderful Life.

Ah, Christmas movies! I have a special spot in my heart for the Christmas films I've grown up with, and even some of the ones that have come later, but I still like. (Including one or two I actually saw in the summer for the first time, and hope to watch them again at their more proper time this Christmas.) My favourites include:

It's a Wonderful Life
Charlie Brown's Christmas
The Shop Around the Corner
The Christmas Card
White Christmas
Holiday Inn

Annnnd I think that's it. I've seen A Christmas Carol once, (one of the many versions), but for some reason it didn't really strike me as anything absolutely wonderful. Maybe because I was somewhat creeped (is that even a word?) out by Scrooge's visitors. Who knows.

We have a Christmas Eve tradition (which we started three or four years ago) of watching Charlie Brown's Christmas and then It's A Wonderful Life on that particular day. I also have it on very reliable information that there just might be another movie we'll add to that list of ones we watch every December 24th, but I don't think I ought to say for sure.

The one and only Christmas movie which gets watched every single year in our house this time of year is A Muppet Christmas Carol. We have watched it more times than I can remember, and we can literally quote the entire movie. If you haven't seen it, you really should! It's got Michael Caine as Scrooge, Kermit the Frog as Bob Cratchit, Miss Piggy as Mrs. Cratchit, and it's narrated by Gonzo and Rizzo the Rat ("A blue furry Charles Dickens who hangs out with a rat??" "Absolutely!") need I say more? It's also got some great music! It Feels Like Christmas (by the ghost of Christmas Present) and Bless Us All (by Tiny Tim and the rest of his family) are the best!

Of course, there is also the classic It's a Wonderful Life. It's not our family's favorite movie, but we usually end up watching it at some point anyways just because.

Oh, and the Santa Clause movies with Tim Allen. The first one is the best.

--- flambeau

My three Christmas favorites are

It's a Wonderful Life--I love, love, love, LOVE this movie. SO MUCH!! George Bailey reminds me so much of my dad, and more recently, myself even which is probably part of the reason I like it so much. And I've seen it every year since I was about 10, so it really feels weird if I don't see it

A Child's Christmas in Wales--ditto about seeing it every year since forever! The script/lines in this are probably the best ever in a movie, just hearing a line or two brings me right into it. It's based off a short story or something, which would explain why I suppose! We watch this every year on New Years Eve. The Uncles never fail to amuse us, nor Mr Daniels who looks like a spaniel, and just hearing the song "All Through the Night" puts me right to sleep

A Christmas Story--this is a newer favorite. My Dad discovered it a few years ago and now it's one of our favorites. "You'll shoot your eye out!" is just classic, along with the "blinded by soap posioning" scene, and the infamous "leg-lamp". Sooo many funny bits! My Dad simply goes insane while watching this, shouting out all the lines as they're said, and adding sound effects and laughing hysterically. XD (which is nearly more amusing then the film itself!)

The one and only Christmas movie which gets watched every single year in our house this time of year is A Muppet Christmas Carol. We have watched it more times than I can remember, and we can literally quote the entire movie. If you haven't seen it, you really should! It's got Michael Caine as Scrooge, Kermit the Frog as Bob Cratchit, Miss Piggy as Mrs. Cratchit, and it's narrated by Gonzo and Rizzo the Rat ("A blue furry Charles Dickens who hangs out with a rat??" "Absolutely!") need I say more? It's also got some great music! It Feels Like Christmas (by the ghost of Christmas Present) and Bless Us All (by Tiny Tim and the rest of his family) are the best!

^Pretty much agree with all the above. I don't know if it's the only movie we always watch every year, or if we can quote the entire thing, but it's definitely the family's most favorite, and probably the most memorable one i've grown up with. I really like those two songs you mentioned, flambeau, but i have to add Scrooge (from the beginning) and The Love is Gone.

The only other Christmas classic i really like is A Charlie Brown Christmas. I've seen bits and pieces of A Christmas Story and never cared for it. We own It's a Wonderful Life and probably see at least some of it around this time of year, but while i like it, it isn't a favorite.

We used to watch The Little Drummer Boy, but i think our VHS of that is pretty worn down, if not thrown out. It wasn't too bad, from what i remember.

I've seen a couple different versions of A Christmas Carol, but i don't know if - apart from the Muppet one - i've ever seen one more than once. I saw a pretty good one, i think the one with Alastair Sims, and one that took place in modern times; not sure purists would like it, but i found it interesting, at least.

Twas the night before Christmas is one we watch every year. Oh, How the Grinch Stole Christmas, and the Santa Clause 1, 2, and 3

Nice opening post, Kate. Love the art gallery.

So many choices, so little posting space... I'll just comment on a few of the choices.

A Child's Christmas in Wales is one I've only been relatively recently introduced to, by (appropriately) NarniaWebber Cymru. It's so full of nostalgia, and even if my childhood experiences don't line up much with those in this movie, I can appreciate the thought of reminiscing about years past as I get older and older. Denholm Elliott has the perfect, melodic voice for the reading of Thomas' poem. "All Through the Night" is such a pretty song.

It's A Wonderful Life - my brother introduced me to this one, I think, back in the 80s when it seemed to be on all the time. More nostalgia, and actually it makes me think about my parents' trials in growing up in the Depression and WWII. The middle seems to drag though, but the ending is nice...but where did this idea that angels 'earn their wings' come from?

I've seen a number of versions of A Christmas Carol, including last year's Disney version with Jim Carrey as Scrooge. I also like the Alistair Sim (1951) and George C. Scott (1984) versions. A bit of trivia is that these versions often include a visit from the reformed Scrooge to the Cratchit family on Christmas morning...a change I like, but it's not in the original story.

A Charlie Brown Christmas is a favorite if only because it includes such a nice reading of the original Christmas story from Luke.

Similarly, the animated Grinch is nice because it's narrated by Boris Karloff. Hard to beat that. And it includes the nice line at the end, when the Grinch realizes that Christmas 'doesn't come from a store...maybe it means just a little bit more.'

I prefer Holiday Inn to the later remake White Christmas - though I think a few of the other holiday songs seem a bit forced, to fit with the theme of the movie.

Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer is probably the first Christmas movie/special I remember seeing, perhaps even back in 1964 when it was first released. It has nostalgia value but I don't watch it much these days.

A Christmas Story is another one my brother introduced us to, and we watch it, usually each Christmas, at their house. "You'll shoot your eye out!"

I've seen many of the others listed so far. In recent years there seem to have been a lot of made-for-TV movies that begin airing Thanksgiving weekend on the Hallmark Channel and its cousins, like The Christmas Box and A Dog Named Christmas (which I believe premiered last year). As I recall there have also been some modern-era remakes of Wonderful Life, including one in which Clarence was much younger...

The ultimate Christmas movie to me is undoubtedly It's a Wonderful Life. I remember back in the 80's when one could turn on their TV and find it playing somewhere during the month of December. Hee-haw!!

I never was super fond of Miracle on 34th Street, although the Grinch, Frosty the Snowman, and Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer were staples of my childhood. As time goes on I have to admit to liking Home Alone, Elf, and best of all Christmas Vacation with Chevy Chase. Never did I think my dad's Christmas lighting antics would be caught with such spectacle as they were when Clark Griswold plugs in his lights and blows out a transformer at the power station. Cousin Eddie makes the movie.

I've also taken a real liking to A Christmas Story since TNT shows it every year for a solid 24 hours. "You'll shoot an eye out with that!".

Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer is one of my favorite Christmas movies. I LOVE Yukon Cornelius, and the little elf who want to be a dentist whose name I forget is absolutely hilarious. And how Santa has to put on weight at Christmastime! Ah, good memories!

The Santa Clause will always be one of my favorite Christmas movies. Of course, different cartoons I watched as a little girl...
I actually saw It's a Wonderful Life for the first time last year! I wasn't allowed to watch it when I was a kid... Of course, I loved the movie.

~Riella