There are a few things that my family does every Christmas season regardless of how hectic or behind we are feeling. 1) We bake. We bake like we are trying to feed a small country. Usually producing a ridiculous amount of cookies and fudge. Telling ourselves that we have probably worked off enough calories in the creation of said delectables to consume a fair amount of them. Over the years this day of baking has been deemed "Cookie Day". Stay tuned for photos and summary of this years Cookie Day festivities. 2) We shop. Now this one is tricky because holiday shopping should presumably be completed alone in order to be done efficiently, but alas we do not do it alone and because of this my mother is ALWAYS the last one I have to buy for... 3) I shop with my dad. Only once each year do I shop with my dad. Our shopping trip is usually on Christmas eve or the day before. He hates to shop, I've told him every year for as long as I can remember that if he would shop a week or two earlier he wouldn't hate it so much, but I'm pretty sure he likes to despise the mall so I know I'm totally out of luck. Luckily, the only person we have to shop for by that time is, as I already mentioned, my mother. 4) We see Santa. An expensive and kind of silly tradition in my mind. 5 minutes with the man in red reveals a $37 charge on my debit card... 5) We watch movies. Most of the wonderful christmas movies we watch are ones that we don't actually have to watch, we listen to them as we visit or wrap packages or bake. There have been a few newer movies to have a rapid assent up the holiday movie favorites list but usually the new ones fall short when compared to the real favorites.
Some of my all time favorites, in no particular order:
The Family Man (with the fabulous Mr. Cage)
White Christmas (because it always reminds me of my Grandma)
While you were sleeping (vintage Sandra Bullock is always great)
Love Actually (What's christmas without a bunch of brits?)
Little Women (the newer one with my favorite batman, Christian Bale)
Charlie Brown Christmas (duh)
The Royal Tanenbaums (Not exactly a christmas movie, but tannenbaum means fir tree, and they use the song from the charlie brown christmas, so I call it a gimme.)
The Grinch (Call me a sell out, but I still like the Jim Carey version better than the old animated classic)
Holiday Inn (Again because it reminds me of my Grandma)
A Muppet Christmas Carol (Love love love me some muppets)
Elf (instant classic)
It's a wonderful life (Because it's great. And my mom loves it.)
Did I miss any? Which ones are at the top of your list?
http://movies.ign.com/articles/670/670493p2.html
Not a movie, but "The Best Christmas Pagent Ever" is my favorite Christmas book of all time!
ReplyDeleteAll good picks, I love Just Friends. I watched Holiday Inn for the first time ever last week and had a hard time with Lincoln's birthday celebration. I know black-face wasn't offensive back then, but that doesn't make it okay now.
ReplyDeleteHoly cow, I don't even remember that part! I wonder if my Grandma's copy is some bootlegged recorded from tv, edited for tv, version that we've always watched? weird. That's one that I don't actually own. If I'm going to watch an old one, White Christmas always wins out.
ReplyDeleteOh it's there. Bing Crosby, his leading lady and the ENTIRE band in black-face. My jaw literally dropped when I saw it. White Christmas is the best movie of all time. I have to watch it every year, otherwise it doesn't feel like Christmas.
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