Blogmas Day 3: My Favourite Christmas Movies
Hello! Welcome to Blogmas Day 3! I swear I’ll get into posting these earlier in the day eventually. 🤣 I’m looking forward to watching the Rockefeller tree lighting on TV tonight! That’s when I’m hoping to trim my Christmas tree, so maybe tomorrow I’ll have a photo of my tree to share. Or not, because seriously, NO photography skillz here whatsoever. 😅
But here’s a photo of today’s advent jigsaw puzzle anyway:
My Favourite Christmas Movies
As the title indicates, today I’m going to be discussing my favourite Christmas movies of all time. It took me a good while to narrow these down to a top 10, and that’s mostly because… well, I didn’t. 🤣 I had to narrow it down to 10 true Christmas movies and 10 not-technically-Christmas-but-I-watch-them-at-Christmas movies. What can I say, I love watching movies at Christmas! I’ll link each movie’s title to its Letterboxd page in case you want to find out more. Here we go!
The Not-Technically-Christmas Movies
#10. Holiday Inn (1942)
People don’t talk about this movie much anymore, and I’m guessing it’s because it has a blackface number. In all fairness, though, I think their hearts were in the right place, since it’s used to celebrate Black freedom rather than make fun of Black people. Still, I do understand if that puts someone off from watching this movie.
The movie stars Bing Crosby and Fred Astaire, and it’s a fun musical about a guy who opens an inn that only operates on holidays. He puts on a musical number for each holiday of the year, so it can be an any-time-of-the-year movie, but it starts and ends with Christmas, so that’s always when I watch it. Fun fact: This movie is the origin of the song White Christmas.
#9. Dear God (1996)
This movie starts at Thanksgiving and ends at Christmas, but mostly it’s set in the time in between. It stars Greg Kinnear as a conman who is given one last chance to avoid jail time – hold down an honest job at the post office. While there, he meets a quirky bunch of characters in the dead letter office, and they accidentally start answering “Dear God” letters. It’s hilarious and heartwarming, and I don’t hear enough people talking about it!
#8. Iron Man 3 (2013)
Yes, I’m a Marvel Cinematic Universe girlie! There’s another straight-up Christmas movie in the MCU (The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special), but that didn’t actually make the list. Iron Man 3, on the other hand… I don’t know, I just love this movie, and I sometimes rewatch it just for the Christmas vibes.
If you’re not familiar with Iron Man (played by Robert Downey Jr.), he’s a rich playboy who built himself a metal superhero suit that can fly. In Iron Man 3, he’s dealing with the aftermath of a traumatic event from a previous film. It’s a few days before Christmas when his whole world literally crumbles around him, and he has to rely on the help of a smart little boy to get his suit working again and save his friends. There’s something so Christmas-movie-coded about Iron Man’s interactions with the kid, but it also gets subverted for comedy’s sake, and I absolutely love it. Plus, as a person who’s had a lot of panic attacks myself, I love that we get to see a superhero dealing with them and ultimately overcoming. Despite a few flaws, I think it’s a great movie, and it makes for perfect family Christmas viewing.
#7. Edward Scissorhands (1990)
Johnny Depp. Winona Ryder. A guy with scissors for hands who just wants to be loved. Tim Burton at his finest, let’s be real. This movie is a classic for a reason. Only a small part of it is Christmas-related, but it’s the most memorable part, so I always feel like watching it during the holidays.
#6. Sleepless in Seattle (1993)
Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan were always so cute on screen together (yes, even in Joe vs the Volcano), but in my favourite of their movies, they actually shared very little screen time. This tearjerking rom-com is mostly set between Christmas and Valentine’s Day, but it’s Christmas when the story starts, so that’s the time of year I crave it. Basically, the son of a young widower calls a radio show wanting advice on how to cheer up his father on Christmas, and said widower (Hanks) instantly becomes Seattle’s most eligible bachelor. I love the father/son dynamic in this movie so much. But I especially love Meg Ryan’s hair and outfits. Man, I miss the 90s.
#5. Shop Around the Corner (1940)
Speaking of Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan, did you know that You’ve Got Mail was based on the movie Shop Around the Corner? Well, actually it was based on a play that this movie was also based on, but whatever. I hated the ending of You’ve Got Mail, but I love every second of Shop Around the Corner. And it also has Jimmy Stewart! The two movies are actually very different, but the basic plot of “guy and girl are anonymous pen pals who slowly fall in love, without knowing they’re rivals in real life” is the same. It’s funny and sweet, and the Christmas sequence is very important to the plot, so I love to watch it this time of year.
#4. She Loves Me (2016)
Maybe not technically a movie? This musical was filmed live for one night only during its Broadway run, and I bought a ticket and streamed it live, making it my one and only true Broadway experience. It’s yet another version of the same play that Shop Around the Corner and You’ve Got Mail were based on, but this time with musical numbers! It stars Zachary Levi and Laura Benanti, who are ridiculously charming and hilarious together. It was televised on PBS’s Great Performances for a couple years, but I’ve also rented it from BroadwayHD. I wish it were more accessible than that, because this is a musical I’d watch every Christmas if I could!
#3. Little Women (1994)
With apologies to fans of the 2019 version, the 1994 Little Women is the gold standard, imo. Winona Ryder, Susan Sarandon, Claire Danes, Kirsten Dunst, Christian Bale… everyone was cast so perfectly in their roles, the period vibes were immaculate, and it stayed remarkably true to the book. I was obsessed with it for years, but now I only pull it out every few Christmases. Still, I’m transported every single time to the world of the March sisters, and that’s a fun place to be, even when tragedy strikes. The movie, like the book, begins at Christmas, but it follows the family through every season over several years.
#2. The Bells of St. Mary’s (1945)
There’s only one cute little Christmas scene in this movie, but the fact that it stars Bing Crosby makes it feel more Christmassy than it actually is. Bing plays a priest, Father O’Malley, who is sent to a soon-to-be-condemned Catholic school to try to bring it back to life or close it. Ingrid Bergman plays Sister Benedict, a nun who has her own ideas on how the school should be run. There’s no hint of a romance between the two leads, which I think was groundbreaking for the time, but their friendship chemistry is off the charts. This has been my go-to feel-good-while-also-breaking-my-heart-a-little-bit movie since I was 14. I’ll watch it any time of year, but I especially love it on a cozy December night.
#1. While You Were Sleeping (1995)
You might be thinking, “But this IS a Christmas movie!” and I’m actually going to disagree. It starts with Christmas, but it’s mostly set afterwards, continuing even beyond New Year’s. That’s actually the time when I love to watch it – when Christmas is over but the spirit is still lingering, and it isn’t quite New Year’s yet. To me, that’s the perfect time to watch Sandra Bullock as a woman so lonely that she lets a comatose man’s family believe she’s his fiancee just to have a family to make up for a ruined Christmas with. I love this movie so much!
The Actual Christmas Movies
Phew, okay, that was a lot more work than I expected. 😅 But on to my actual Top 10 Favourite Christmas Movies of All Time!!
#10. It’s a Wonderful Life (1946)
For many people, this is THE Christmas classic. For me, it’s a once-every-few-years event. I love Jimmy Stewart, and I think he was outstanding in this movie about a go-getter guy whose life never really gets going. I’m sure we all know the storyline by now – just as George Bailey is about to throw himself off a bridge, an angel appears and offers him the chance to see what the lives of his friends and family would have been like if he’d never been born. I find that coming to this movie after a few years gives me a fresh perspective on it each time. It’s really exceptional storytelling.
#9. A Christmas Story (1983)
I feel like this is the most quotable Christmas movie of all time, and certainly the one of the most commonly referenced in pop culture. I guess we can all relate to wanting something for Christmas as badly as Ralphie wanted that bb gun. 🤣
#8. The Santa Clause (1994)
I watched this in the theatre with my dad when it first came out, and I instantly knew it would be a classic. Whoever got the idea that 30-year-old Tim Allen would make a perfect Santa Claus was a genius. I didn’t love the sequels, and I even quit watching the Disney+ series partway through, but there’s something truly magical about the original movie. Kids love the North Pole stuff while adults can appreciate Scott’s character development. Overall, it’s the perfect Santa Claus movie for the whole family.
#7. It Happened on 5th Avenue (1947)
I only discovered this movie a few years ago, and I have to wonder why it isn’t talked about more! It’s one of the sweetest found-family movies I’ve ever seen. A hobo and his dog move into an empty mansion on New York’s 5th Avenue for the holiday season, planning to leave it exactly as he found it before the owners return. However, their runaway daughter shows up unexpectedly, and the ensuing chain of events leads to a full house of misfits and mistaken identities. It’s so wholesome and funny and heartwarming, I absolutely love it.
#6. All I Want for Christmas (1991)
Two kids try to get their divorced parents back together over Christmas. That’s the general premise of this movie, but it’s full of so much heart and humour (and spectacular Christmas outfits and decor) that it feels a lot meatier somehow. To me, anyway. And to my mom, who still watches it every single year at least once, even though it was MY childhood favourite. 🤣 Also, Lauren Bacall is magnificent.
#5. Gremlins (1984)
Yes, Gremlins IS a Christmas movie, albeit a darkly comic one. A teenage boy receives an unusual pet from his father as an early Christmas gift, and it turns out there’s a very good reason for that “Don’t feed him after midnight” rule. It’s campy creature horror at its finest, combined to brilliant effect with heartwarming Christmas vibes, and I adore it. Good ol’ Gizmo.
#4. Home Alone (1990) / Home Alone 2: Lost In New York (1992)
If you want a 90s kid to feel old, tell them Home Alone came out 35 years ago. (But don’t, though, it’s mean! 😭) To us, Kevin McAllister will forever be that 8-year-old accidentally left home alone for Christmas. Or, if we’re really open-minded, we might go so far as to allow that he’s now a 9-year-old who accidentally got on the wrong plane and ended up alone in New York for Christmas. Either way, leave us alone about it. 🤣
I’m never sure which of these movies I love more, but suffice it to say, I love them both and could watch either of them a dozen times over Christmas. Thankfully, having cable TV, I pretty much can! These movies are so well beloved and so frequently screened all over the world, I don’t even need to say more, do I? Keep the change, you filthy animal.
#3. The Bishop’s Wife (1947)
My mom and I love (and watch) this movie so much, it’s almost become a secret language in our house. Every single scene has something about it that we can reference in one word and the other person will get it. 🤣 If I say, “David!” does that bring to mind Cary Grant telling little Debbie the story of David and Goliath? No? Then you need to watch this movie a few dozen times, come on!
In all seriousness, this movie is just plain lovely. Cary Grant plays an angel named Dudley who comes to answer the prayers of a bishop (David Niven) who is at his wits’ end. His plan to build a new church is failing, his marriage to gentle and longsuffering Julia (Loretta Young) is crumbling, his Christmas responsibilities are pulling him in too many directions, and he’s a stressed-out shell of himself. It’s a beautiful story about learning to let go of things that aren’t important and to cherish the things that are.
#2. The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992)
Hands-down the best adaptation of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol ever made, past, present, or future. Michael Caine takes his role as Ebenezer Scrooge completely seriously, the Muppets are absolutely perfect as Dickens characters, and you can’t tell me that Dickens wouldn’t find it hilarious and delightful to be portrayed by Gonzo. It’s surprisingly faithful to the book, too, and it’s the only adaptation I’ve seen that blends Dickens’ style of humour in with the melodrama in exactly the way he intended. It’s a masterpiece. If you’ve never watched it, you really need to fix that this year.
#1. White Christmas (1954)
And finally, my favourite Christmas movie of all time. One of my top favourite MOVIES of all time, tbh. I’m a huge Bing Crosby fan, a huge Danny Kaye fan, a huge Rosemary Clooney fan, and a huge fan of white Christmases, so how could I not love and adore this movie? I have to watch it every single Christmas Eve, or it simply is not Christmas to me. Better yet, watching it while wrapping presents or stuffing stockings. Now that’s the vibe I need on Christmas Eve. 🥰
If you’re not familiar, this movie came about thanks to the huge popularity of the song White Christmas during World War II. As I said above, the song originated in Bing Crosby’s movie Holiday Inn in 1942, and it was a massive mega-hit. This movie revolves around the song and also taps into the deep nostalgia that WWII veterans had for it. Basically, Crosby and Kaye’s characters are war buddies who, after the war ends, become a popular song-and-dance double-act. They meet a sister act (Clooney and Vera Ellen) who have booked a gig at a Vermont inn over Christmas, and they join them there only to find that the inn, which is run by their old general, is failing. They decide to put together a concert to draw in a crowd to revive the inn, and their rehearsals and performances turn the movie into a musical.
It’s such a gentle, funny, heartwarming Christmas movie. I love every single thing about it.
Wow, apparently you should never get me talking about my favourite Christmas movies! 🤣 I hope I inspired you to check some of these out, if you haven’t already. Merry Christmas Viewing!