Holiday Viewing Pleasure

OK, this one was made for me, as the topic this week is:

10 Favorite Holiday Shows - hooray!

1.  "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" (Rankin-Bass).  Anyone who has ever spent 2 seconds in my company at Christmastime, or visited our house then, knows that I am obsessed with in love with this show and the Rudolph character!  And when the doll on the Island of Misfit Toys says ,"I don't have any dreams left" while wiping away a tear because she things Santa has forgotton them, I cry.  Every.Single.Time.

2.  "It's a Wonderful Life."  Oh George Bailey and family, I can practically recite your movie.  And the part where he sees what would have happened to Mary had they not met, and he sees that - GASP! - she would have been a Librarian just kills me every time. Anyway, this one is a family favorite, which has also spawned a gin-spilling family tradition.  Hee haw, indeed!

3.  "The Story of Christmas."  This is shown on our local PBS every year, and was originally made in (I think) the early 1960s by the Bell Telephone Company.  The introduction showing the phone company employees at work in and of itself makes this worth watching.  Starring the Mabel Beaton Marionettes (!?), there are two stories here: "The Night Before Christmas," and "The Nativity."  We only watch the first one, as the second does not have the killer* aspect of the first.

4. "A Charlie Brown Christmas."  When Charlie Brown's tree falls over, making him think he's ruined things, and when Linus quotes the nativity story, my heart fills with Christmas happiness.

5.  "How the Grinch Stole Christmas."  Not being brought up on Dr. Seuss (my parents gave me adult books even as a child), I didn't really appreciate this as a kid.  But as an adult, I love it!  And always feel sorry for his poor dog, forced to wear those reindeer antlers.

6.  "National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation."  Oh my God.  Clark Griswold and family do not live an existence that different from a family Christmas in my family.  *Love* Uncle Eddie and Aunt Katherine.  And Snot the dog.  And all of it.  "That's the gift that keeps on givin', Clark."  Priceless.

7.  "Creature Comforts Christmas."  I just came across this one a couple of years ago, from the people who brought us Wallace and Gromit.  It is different animals commenting on Christmas things, using voices of people who had been interviewed on street.  Hilarious.

8.  "The Christmas Story."  Also like my family, and really evocative of childhood Christmas for me.

9.  "White Christmas."  'Nuff said.  (Though I cannot stand Danny Kaye in anything. My love for this movie outweighs my incredible dislike of him.)

10.  "Miracle on 34th Street."  Because Santa does exist.  (Plus, it makes me feel perfectly OK when people can't find something at Rosie's, and I know they have it at Loop, to send people there.)

and even though there are only supposed to be ten, I have to include:

11. "Beyond Tomorrow."  Best horrible Christmas movie EVER!  This one is an oldie (1936 or so), and centers around three gentlemen friends who decide to have a contest to see if anyone will return their wallets, thrown out onto the street on Christmas Eve.  Well, someone does.  But the story goes on from there, and gives a new meaning to the term killer movie.  A real classic in our house.

There.  Needless to say, I have many faves, but these are the ten - er, eleven - that immediately came to mind, and made me happy to list here. 

*Killer movie = a movie that is so bad/corny/old-fashioned, etc. that it kills you every time you watch it!