By Jenni Beaver–Anyone who knows me knows that I am a Christmas fanatic. I love the tree, the lights, and the feeling that comes with the holiday season. I also love the movies! Here are my top five Christmas movies that I think you should watch this season.
Number Five – It Happened on Fifth Avenue
A homeless man, a rich heiress, a few misunderstood houseguests, and one empty mansion. It’s a recipe for the perfect Christmas classic.
While the film is one of my favorites, it’s definitely not as well-known as some of the other movies on my list. It’s the story of a homeless man who moves into a vacant mansion on Fifth Avenue every Christmas. The season rolls around, the family leaves, and he brings his dog into their holiday home. This year he gets some unexpected houseguests, and the season doesn’t turn out exactly how any of them expected.
You’ll laugh, cry, and by the end you may have a brand new outlook on what the holidays are all about.
Number Four – Christmas with the Kranks
Tim Allen and Jamie Lee Curtis. Need I say more?
Luther and Nora Krank live on a street of Christmas fanatics. Frosty the Snowmen on every rooftop. Lights on every house. Perfect Christmas trees lighting up every window. It’s a suburban winter wonderland. But when the Krank’s daughter, Blair, joins the Peace Corp and leaves home for Christmas, Luther concocts a plan to skip Christmas. As they’re packing for their luxury beach vacation, Blair calls to announce that she’s coming home in time for the big Christmas Eve bash.
From tanning salon shenanigans to run-away hickory honey ham, this movie will have you laughing from start to finish.
Number Three – White Christmas
Bing Crosby and Danny Kaye play alongside Vera-Ellen and Rosemary Clooney in this Christmas musical. Between the ‘Sister’ number and the marvelous snow in Vermont, what’s not to love?
This 1954 film is done in color with full-out musical numbers and a little love for the romance-lovers and a lot of laughter for the whole family. If you’re a fan of the classics, White Christmas is definitely a movie that should be on your watch list. There are moments of lag when the dancing seems to go on for ages, but it’s nothing Mr. Bones can’t make up for.
Every year I have to pop White Christmas into the DVD player, grab a mug of hot cocoa and enjoy. For me this is definitely a December movie, and a week-of-Christmas specialty.
Number Two – Christmas in Connecticut
Barbary Stanwyck sparkles in this zany black-and-white. Elizabeth Lane is a successful food columnist who writes about her experiences of living in a Connecticut cabin with her husband and newborn baby. But as she writes about her honey-glazed ham and stuffing, she is really looking out of her New York City apartment window. No husband. No child. Did I mention she can’t actually cook? So, when her boss decides to spend Christmas at the homestead, Elizabeth struggles to find a cabin, a husband, and a baby. Find out what happens when hilarity and chaos ensue.
If you’re a fan of black-and-white Christmas classics, this is a must-watch. This is another December movie, and one for the whole family.
Number One – Elf
“Buddy the Elf, what’s your favorite color?”
This movie hits number one on my list, because it’ll make you laugh until you can’t breathe.
Elf is more than just a Christmas movie (I’ve already watched it this season!). Santa visits an orphanage and comes back to the North Pole with an unexpected surprise. A baby. The child, Buddy, is raised by Papa Elf, but when he finally realizes he’s not an elf, Buddy sets out on an adventure to meet his dad. In the process he changes a lot of lives, falls in love, and even saves Christmas.
Need a good laugh? Let Buddy take you past the sea of swirly twirly gumdrops, through the seven layers of the candy cane forest, and walk through the Lincoln Tunnel. It will be an adventure you never forget.
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