Every time a bell rings...

As previously stated, Christmas is one of my favorite times of the year. Partly because there are so many wonderful movies about the magic of Christmas. It seems that the most exciting things in movies always happen right at Christmas. Even though I've never experienced actual magic during the holidays, I believe in it and like to watch it happen to other, fictional people.

For instance, there's "It's A Wonderful Life," where George Bailey, beaten down by years of responsibility and what he thinks of as mediocrity, realizes on Christmas Eve how special his life is, and the impact he's had on his family, friends and everyone in his town.

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Then there's "White Christmas," one of my favorites because of all the singing and dancing. I love the relationship between Bing Crosby and Danny Kaye. Their pairing is brilliant and hilarious. Yet again, some of that Christmas magic happens between Bing and Rosemary Clooney (hello, George's aunt). Add in Vera-Ellen's incredible dancing, who could help but love this movie?? (I'm looking at you, Mother.)

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Let's take a sharp left turn and talk about "Christmas Vacation," shall we? We all know these National Lampoon films are fantastic, but "Christmas Vacation" is perhaps more illustrative of most of our Christmases with family. The in-fighting, the crazy relatives, crowded homes with not nearly enough places to sleep, putting up the lights and the tree, and finding activities to do (ie sledding). I doubt anyone has ever had a Christmas quite as bad as the Griswold's, but a culmination of every bad family Christmas would probably look something like this film. The laughs it provides are nearly as great as its cringe-worthy moments. If you haven't seen this film...do you live under a rock or something?!

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Going back to another classic, I love A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. So of course, I love the film too. I'm talking about the 1984 TV version of the film, which seemed to me to be the best one. The modern versions (like with Bill Murray and especially that animated one with Jim Carrey where Scrooge flies, I mean, really?) don't really do it for me. Another wonderful story about the true meaning of Christmas, and the importance of being joyful and helping others.

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Now on to perhaps my favorite Christmas movie: "Love Actually." It's not only because it is set in London, for which we all know I have a soft spot, but also because it is so beautifully written. The plots intertwine, the relationships are complicated, hearts are worn on sleeves ("just because it's Christmas"), and it works out wonderfully for those whom we want it to work out. As I said before, the Christmas magic in this film is simply too good to be true, but that doesn't make it any less entertaining. (Side note: London really is that enchanting at Christmas time.)

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I'll round out this oh-so-merry list with a recent film that everyone can agree on: "Elf". Okay, we all love Will Ferrell. But he takes it to a whole new level with Buddy, the naive but charming elf from the North Pole. I'm sure I don't have to explain this movie to you because you've no doubt seen it about 17 times already, but I will say that I'm not opposed to watching it every night from now until Christmas. Plus, it gives us some fantastic lines that are applicable all year round:
"I just like to smile, smiling's my favorite."
"You sit on a throne of lies!"
"First we'll make snow angels for a 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."

Oh, did I mention I love Will Ferrell?

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What are some of your favorite holiday movies??