On December 1st, I dig out our treasure box of festive media. Christmas-themed movies were one of my favorite parts of the holiday season as a child (and even still now that I’m the mom), and many of the ones we have are straight out of my childhood. I’ve added quite a few DVDs this year (marked with * in the lists below) — we might need a bigger box come January. Here’s what we’ve managed to watch thus far:
- Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer
- Frosty the Snowman (“Happy Birthday!”)
- A Charlie Brown Christmas
- How the Grinch Stole Christmas!
- Jim Henson’s The Christmas Toy*
- Home Alone*
- Home Alone 2*
- Max & Ruby’s Christmas
- Thomas & Friends Ultimate Christmas
- Gremlins
We grown-ups even managed to squeeze in the vaguely Christmas-themed Die Hard, and the loosely-associated The Shining (hey, it takes place during the winter…)
There are a few more family-favorites to cram in this week:
- Santa Claus is Coming to Town
- Mickey’s Christmas Carol
- A Garfield Christmas (not sure why this costs $110 on Amazon… too bad for anyone who doesn’t have it, I guess!)
- Will Vinton’s Claymation Christmas*
- A Christmas Story (we always save this one for Christmas Eve or Day)
Gunner shredded through the collection of 20-or-so Christmas children’s books in about three sittings. We’ve also been listening to Christmas with the Chipmunks, Fisher-Price Christmas Sing-Along, and my growing database of holiday mp3s, in the car and while decorating and such.
Some people would be driven to the brink of madness by all of this (like my husband). But it’s all very comforting and festive for me, and the kids have been having a great time. Holiday spirit all-around and no “Bah-humbugs” allowed!