Holidays can sometimes be focused on the hustle and bustle of entertaining the in-laws and getting dinner on the table, but we all know that isn’t the reason for the season. If you’re a little low on the holiday spirit this year, settle in with your family and watch one (or two!) of these movies. However bah humbug you may be, these are sure to have you reaching for a glass of eggnog and your trusty hand-knit reindeer sweater faster than you can recite the chorus of Jingle Bells.
Home Alone (1990) 20th Century FoxHOME ALONE
An 8-year-old, played by Macaulay Culkin, is left behind when his family takes a trip to Paris for the holidays and has to defend his home from bumbling burglars.
“This is Christmas. The season of perpetual hope. And I don’t care if I have to get out on your runway and hitchhike. If it costs me everything I own, if I have to sell my soul to the devil himself, I am going to get home to my son.”
ELF
Raised as an elf in the North Pole, Will Farrell travels to New York City in search of his father and his true identity.
“First we’ll make snow angels for two hours, then we’ll go ice skating, then we’ll eat a whole roll of Tollhouse Cookiedough as fast as we can, and then we’ll snuggle.”
THE SANTA CLAUSE
Tim Allen accidentally kills Santa on Christmas Eve and is forced to take his place, making everyone in his life think that he has totally lost his mind.
“Whoa, Dad! You’re flying!”
“It’s okay, I’m used to it. I lived through the ’60s.”
How the Grinch Stole Christmas (1966) MGM TelevisionHOW THE GRINCH STOLE CHRISTMAS
Disguised as Santa Claus, the Christmas cheer-hating Grinch tries to steal Christmas from the Whos of Whoville. With rhymes from Dr. Suess, this clever animation is a reminder of the true meaning of Christmas.
“He puzzled and puzzled till his puzzler was sore. Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn’t before. Maybe Christmas, he thought… doesn’t come from a store. Maybe Christmas, perhaps… means a little bit more!”
SCROOGED
Bill Murray plays a selfish TV executive who is shown the error of his ways when he is haunted by three ghosts in this adaptation of Dickens’ Christmas Carol.
“No, you are a hallucination brought on by alcohol…Russian vodka poisoned by Chernobyl!”
THE MUPPET CHRISTMAS CAROL
Jim Henson’s Muppets portray their version of the classic Dickens’ tale of Ebenezer Scrooge.
“It’s all right, children. Life is made up of meetings and partings. That is the way of it. I am sure that we shall never forget Tiny Tim, or this first parting that there was among us.”
It’s a Wonderful Life (1946) Liberty Films IIIT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE
In this heartwarming Christmas classic, a businessman who is frustrated with his small-town life is shown by an angel what the world would have been like with- out him.
“Where’s that money, you silly stupid old fool? Where’s that money? Do you realize what this means? It means bankruptcy and scandal and prison! That’s what it means! One of us is going to jail…well it’s not gonna be me!”
NATIONAL LAMPOON’S CHRISTMAS VACATION
Chevy Chase and family – with all the mishaps and hilarity you would expect from a National Lampoon’s movie – are a storehouse of all things funny in this side-splitting comedy detailing the troubles preparing for Christmas and dealing with obnoxious family house-guests.
“Is your house on fire, Clark?”
“No, Aunt Bethany, those are the Christmas lights.”
THE POLAR EXPRESS
A young boy who doubts the existence of Santa Claus boards a magical train on Christmas Eve that is bound for the North Pole.
“Seeing is believing, but sometimes the most real things in the world are the things we can’t see.”
A Christmas Story (1983) MGMA CHRISTMAS STORY
Ralphie Parker desperately wants a Daisy Ryder BB Gun for Christmas. Will he get it or will everyone keep telling him that he’s going to shoot his eye out?
“I want an official Red Ryder, carbine action, two-hundred shot range model air rifle!”
“You’ll shoot your eye out, kid.”