Never fear, your Christmas move list is here! Being our first year of blogging here at LTBM, we simply must give you our favorite Christmas movies. There aren’t a ton to choose from, so to hopefully keep from too many repeats we’ll give you our top three. Here you go!
Logan
3) The Santa Clause: I really like Tim Allen in general, and in this case he does a great job as Santa. Or rather, the guy who accidentally kills Santa and therefore has to become Santa. The movie could have wound up being cliché, but it actually is pretty heartwarming, and very entertaining.
2) Elf: I’ll be the first to admit, I’m not a big Will Ferrell fan. His movies are often raunchy, inappropriate, and often just plain dumb. However, Elf is a different story. This story about a human who grows up as an elf and then has to re-enter the world is utterly hilarious. It’s also an honest look at how we as a culture have twisted Christmas and how it’s lost its magic as a result. Also, Zooey Deschanel is pretty awesome. Just sayin.
1) It’s a Wonderful Life: I tend to like old movies, and this movie is about as good as old movies get. It’s also a fairly hard film to summarize in some respects, but the short version would be that you see a lot of this awesome guy’s life, and when he’s contemplating suicide, a guardian angel comes to show him what everyone else would be like if he was never born. It’s a fantastic Christmas movie, a reminder to focus on what’s really important on the holidays, and a message that sometimes God does more good through us than we ever know.
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Elliott
Although they didn’t make this list, I do like the classics, such as It’s a Wonderful Life, White Christmas, and Miracle on 34th Street. The ones that did are primarily comedy movies, but they all have some good moral applications. Like many Christmas movies, they all focus on the importance of family, which for me is the most important aspect of Christmas. Here are three of my favorites:
3) The Muppet Christmas Carol: Just as Ebenezer Scrooge is given a second chance, Christ has given us all a second chance.
2) Elf: Family is more important than work. Despite making poor choices in the past you can always change and do the right thing.
1) Home Alone: Starting out, we see Kevin doesn’t get along well with his family. He ends up getting left at home, when they leave for vacation. By the time they get back home, He’s successfully defends their home from some burglars and in the process realizes how much he loves his family. So the take away is don’t take your family for granted.
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Eric
3) Home Alone: This movie came out when I was in 3rd grade and I’ve loved it ever since. I just recently figured out that the movie wouldn’t exist if the mother or father would have just called home or the kid gone to the police. I’m glad they didn’t because this film as provided me with adventure, laughter, and warm fuzzies for over two decades! Kevin discovers that he truly loves his family after being left alone. Before being left behind he took them for granted. Sometimes as Christians we take our salvation for granted, and forget what the season is really about.
2) Christmas Vacation: This is definitely a modern classic! I remember watching this almost every Christmas Eve with my family. Countless famous phrases have come from this movie like, “if that thing had nine lives, she just spent them all!” It does a great job of showing the dysfunctional side of time spent with family. They may not always get along, but they love each other in the end.
1) A Christmas Story: Yes, this movie is played for 24 hours straight every year, but do you know why? Because it’s AWESOME!!! This story takes place in Indiana and even though the time period is a little off, it reminds me of Christmas when I was kid; wanting so badly that one present, in this case a Red Ryder BB gun, which your parents, or at least one of them, doesn’t want you to have. Not sure that there is a true Christian parallel in this one. It’s just a great story to be told around Christmas. Besides, who can forget that lamp?!
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Tres
3) The Polar Express: I’m usually a traditional Christmas movie fan. However, The Polar Express has become a favorite of mine. When I first started teaching The Polar Express book by Chris Van Allsburg had recently been published. I read that to my students my first few years of teaching primary elementary grades. I was leery about the 2004 film… But it’s truly amazing! The internal struggle of the boy is believing in something that mentally doesn’t compute to him. It’s about finding the faith to believe. How many people do the same with God? “Give me scientific proof and evidence that God exists.” Yet, so many theories in science can not be proven and true scientists stand by the fact that theories were and still are theory.
2) Scrooge: The musical with Albert Finney. One of those movies I can’t ever remembering missing. I make it a point to watch at least once a year, if not more. I can sing it word for word. It’s truly a magical film for me. Look at the struggle that Scrooge goes through: leaving the world for purity and good. How many of us felt that pull to stay in a worldly environment when we know what’s right? It’s a natural pull. But upon the threat of death, he repents. We have a threat of death as well, a spiritual death if we don’t repent.
1) It’s a Wonderful Life: I watch it every Christmas and often times even when it’s not Christmas. I am so surprised when people tell me that they have never seen the movie and more shocking when they’ve never heard of it. What a classic human story. Frank Capra was daring enough to take on a movie that looks at suicide in a time where suicide was more common but looked at as a silent and covered up embarrassment. The movie gets to the center of the human heart. In times of distress, loss, struggles, and everything crumbling… We often think about quitting. When we mess things up royally for our loved ones when wonder what if we just never existed. George Bailey gets to see the answer to that. He begins to pray. And isn’t that truly our greatest gift? God allows us to lean on him in our most desperate times. He listens to us and Jesus our Savior intercedes for everyone who accepts his sacrifice.
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Gene
3) A Christmas Carol: This was a tough pick for me against Polar Express. In the end I loved Jim Carrey’s elastic display of voices, and the animation is top-notch. This is a very nice rendition on the classic tale of Ebeneezer Scrooge, and I think it best captures the feelings of fear and despair that meeting ghosts would surely bring about. There are lots of elusions to scriptural themes of hope, redemption, etc. and it’s a wonderful story to allow yourself to reflect on.
2) National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation: You can’t go through the gauntlet of great Christmas films without stopping by this hilarious movie. Chevy Chase is at his comedic best in this, and it really embellishes the goofiness of certain family members that you maybe rarely see save for the holidays.
1) A Christmas Story: You’ll shoot your eye out, kid! I don’t know how Christmas is for kids on the east coast or on the west coast, maybe it’s all the same across the country. What I do know is that if you’re wondering what Christmas time is like in the mid-west, watch this movie! What an awesome piece of classic Americana. This is certainly the best Christmas movie ever. I mean, do you see any of the others with an entire television network devoted to playing them non-stop on Christmas day? I didn’t think so! This movie is also a sweet reminder of how close families are and should be this time of year, even if you have to put up with some annoying habits.
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There you have it! What are some of YOUR favorite Christmas movies? Feel free to copy links to blogs of your favorites as well!
