Movies for Christmas

The day after Thanksgiving is traditionally a time for dragging out holiday decorations and gorging on Tums to relieve the pain from too much turkey and pumpkin pie. It is also the day television networks, such as Lifetime and Hallmark, start showing Christmas movies around the clock. From that day on, there is no shortage of sappy, merry movies featuring your favorite stars from popular 1980s and early 1990s television shows.

From January second to the day before Thanksgiving, I am a rather cynical person. I listen to melancholy women singing about unrequited love. I choose to watch procedural dramas over light romantic comedy. My shelves are stocked with literary fiction, not the latest craze in ‘chick lit.’ But the moment the tree is assembled and the lights are strung from the roof I become a cheery, festive, sappy-movie loving woman. I play eight different versions of Joy to the World and drink coffee called Merry Mint Mocha. I search the TV guide on my DVR for any and all holiday themed movies and television specials.

No matter how many Christmas songs I listen to, though, I still retain a bit of my serious self. When I finally have a moment to watch one of the many movies I’ve taped, I can only get through the first five minutes. I can’t tolerate the inane dialogue or the obviously fake snow over perfectly green grass. The hours of recorded material on my DVR end up being deleted before Christmas day.

I always go back to the same holiday movies, taking on a few new additions each year. Below is a list of my favorite Christmas movies. Some of these you probably watch every year, some you may deplore with a fiery passion. You will find a couple that fall into the sappy, Lifetime category. They are, in my opinion, the more tolerable of that variety. From someone who is really only a cheerful, Christmas carol-singing fool for a few weeks out of the year, here are the movies that inevitable get and keep my in the Christmas spirit.

1. Elf (2003)

Will Ferrell is known for raunchy, adult humor. He seems an odd fit for a Christmas movie, but that is what makes Elf so entertaining for children and adults. Kids can watch this movie without their beliefs about Santa and sleigh rides being crushed. Although Elf does have a message about Christmas spirit, there is enough intelligent and silly humor to keep adults laughing.