With Christmas only 19 days away, everyone is racing to finish their shopping, finalize plans and wrap presents. I’m a little ahead of the curve there. I’m only waiting on two or three packages in the mail, I know what my Christmas weekend looks like and all the presents I’m giving are wrapped and under the tree. However, I am far from ready for the Christmas season to be over. I still have one major aspect to catch up on: Christmas movies.
This might be surprising for some people to hear. I am far from a movie person. I’d rather watch a TV show than a movie, and I’m more likely to read or watch YouTube before any of that. However, nothing screams “Christmas” more to me than a good holiday film.
My absolute number one favorite Christmas movie is “The Muppet Christmas Carol.” When I was younger, we didn’t have it on VHS or DVD, so the only way to watch it was to find the correct time it was airing. Now that Disney+ is around, I’ve made sure to watch it at least once a year during the holiday season. In fact, it’s the only Christmas movie I’ve watched so far this year, and I’ve already watched it twice.
I don’t know if I can choose just one thing about “The Muppet Christmas Carol” that I love. There is, of course, the litany of songs found in the movie, my favorite being the song of the Marley brothers (which I will sing all year round). I also love how, despite being completely surrounded by muppets, Michael Caine aka Ebenezer Scrooge is a completely straight-faced character. Another great aspect is the plain silliness of everything, despite the darker storyline. Penguins are ice skating in the streets of London, Miss Piggy has lookalike daughters who are just as intense and there’s the wonderful line “no cheeses for us meeces.”
While “The Muppet Christmas Carol” might be my favorite of the Christmas movies, it certainly isn’t the only one I love. Many of my favorite Christmas movies from my childhood are Claymation specials.
The 1964 “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” with classic characters such as Hermey the elf who wanted to be a dentist and Yukon Cornelius in search of his silver and gold is pretty high up on my list of holiday films.
The 1974 film “The Year Without a Santa Claus” includes the amazing Heat/Snow Miser song and some of Santa’s elves trying to pass the reindeer off as dogs, putting socks over the reindeer’s antlers.
Though not Claymation, the animated 1969 “Frosty the Snowman” falls into the same category for me. Between the heat and the evil magician, this movie might have jump started my anxiety due to my concern for the talking snowman.
There are a few Christmas movies held high in pop culture today that hold little to no meaning to me. I’ve heard plenty about “National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation” and “A Christmas Story,” but I’ve never seen either movie. “The Nightmare Before Christmas” is a great movie, but in my head is more Halloween than Christmas. I’ve seen the “Home Alone” and “The Santa Clause” movies, but they’ve always been simply all right to me.
The big upset for many when they hear my Christmas movie rankings is “Elf.” I understand the appeal it has for many people, but the amount of second-hand embarrassment I get from that movie makes it nearly unwatchable. I don’t think I’ve seen the movie since high school, and I’m happy to keep it that way.
Before Christmas arrives, I do hope to finally watch some of the classic Christmas movies I have yet to see. On that list includes “Miracle on 34th Street,” “Babes in Toyland” and “It’s a Wonderful Life.”
With all that being said, I beg that you watch “The Muppet Christmas Carol” before the season comes if you haven’t yet. It truly is the highlight of winter for me each year.