5 Christmas Movies to Put You Into The Holiday Spirit!

It’s that time of year. Frosty the Snowman was on television the other night and I realized…it really is almost Christmas!

I love Christmas. I love everything about Christmas, especially the Christmas movies. There’s just something about watching an old favorite that brings me back to being a little kid, anxious to find out what my presents were under the tree, ready to play with my visiting cousins…these movies are pure nostalgia for me!

Each year, Hollywood delivers new Christmas themed movies to us, and some of them, like Elf, hit the mark and we embrace them. Others make a lot of money at the box office, and no one ever thinks about them again.

Why? Because there are so many Christmas movies that we associate with the Christmas season that it’s difficult to find a place in our hearts for newbies.

I thought I’d share my favorite Christmas movies with you. They might not be the conventional classics, but hey, I told you I was rebellious.

A Christmas Story – 1983

I have been watching A Christmas Story for as long as I can remember. I was 5 when it came out, and I really can’t remember a single Christmas that I haven’t watched it. A Christmas Story has your basic Christmas movie elements met: cute kids, crazy parents, a little danger, a highly desired Christmas gift, and scandal. I still laugh so hard that I get tears in my eyes when he actually shoots his eye out. Not only is it my very favorite Christmas movies, but it is one of my favorite movies, period.

Scrooged – 1988

I know, this is a bit deranged, but hear me out. First, hello, Bill Murray in the 80’s. I was an 80’s child, I had no choice but to love anything Bill Murray did. Second, a mean, cruel-hearted man learns the error of his ways and becomes a good man, all because of the Ghosts of Christmas. How can that not warm your heart? I cry every time I see this movie…which is every year.

Gremlins – 1984

Yes, I consider this a Christmas movie. It’s actually the perfect Christmas movie, if you really think about it. It appeals to a wide audience; it has romance, comedy, action, horror, suspense and….duh, GIZMO!

Do you want to know a secret? I was about 7 the first time I saw Gremlins. I was old enough to know that things in movies weren’t real and that Gizmo wasn’t real. But I was still young enough to think that there was a teeny, tiny, slight possibility that maybe he did exist. I would pray and pray and pray that he was real and I would somehow end up with one of my own one day. LOL

Elf – 2004

I don’t know quite how it happened, but Elf somehow managed to make a movie about the Christmas Spirit and it wasn’t cheesy, corny or lame. It was awesome.

National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation – 1989

You didn’t think I’d go there, did you? Christmas is never complete without the Griswold family. Out of all of the National Lampoon’s, Christmas Vacation is my very favorite (aside from Van Wilder, because, well, hello, Ryan Reynolds).

What are your favorite Christmas movies?