It's Christmas Movie Time Again

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ChristmasInConnecticut.jpg
I love Christmas.

No seriously.

I love almost everything about Christmas. During this time of year, I succumb to some guilty pleasures...No.  Not the food.  Of course, I do reserve certain recipes for this time of year, but my real guilty pleasures are Christmas movies, Christmas stories, and, yes, even those heart wrenching Hallmark commercials.  I can't help myself.  I just love this time of year.

Last Sunday, I joined my sister's family at the local theatre to watch a Christmas Double Feature from TCM.  We saw A Christmas Carol (1938) and Christmas in Connecticut (1945).  A Christmas Carol is one of my favorite Christmas stories.  I love Scrooge's transformation and how the ghosts of Christmas give him a glimpse into his life and the lives of those he affects through his actions. I've seen every possible version of this story in movie and cartoon form and never tire of it.  Although the 1938 version isn't my favorite, seeing it on the big screen made it an amazing experience.

But I really chose to attend this double feature in order to see Christmas in Connecticut with Barbara Stanwyck.  I first saw this movie during a sick day as a child. One of the local TV stations (we only had three channels back then) showed movies every morning at 9am. While I convalesced from some winter illness, I entered the world of Elizabeth Lane, a reporter who posed as a housewife writing a cooking column. The story takes a horrible twist when Ms. Lane's publisher asks her to host a war hero at her Connecticut farm for Christmas.  The problem?  Elizabeth Lane lives in New York city in an apartment, isn't married, doesn't have children, and can't cook.  The lengths she, and her friends, take to keep her job makes for a hilarious adventure. I've watched this movie every time I could over the years, but it became a new experience on the big screen.  The humor and misadventures gained a level of reality that a TV screen just doesn't create.

Of course, at home, I'm baking and watching all of those corny, made-for-TV Christmas movies along with some big-screen favorites from past years.  Some of my favorites are The Santa Clause, Home Alone, Miracle On 34th Street, While You Were Sleeping, The Family Stone, and, of course, A Christmas Carol.

Do you have Christmas favorites?  What are they?

Comments

Chris Evers said…
Garfield Christmas for me ☺☺☺
December 9, 2014 at 8:57 PM
Henry said…
It's not Christmas until I've watched A Christmas Carol, the made-for-TV version with George C. Scott (the best of the various versions of the story, in my opinion).

And, yeah, I'm a sucker for Christmas movies, too. It must run in the family. I'm enough of a sucker that I supported a Kickstarter campaign for a new Christmas movie called The Christmas Dragon, which was released on DVD within the last couple of weeks. Christmas? Dragons? What's not to love? Amazon has it in stock right now.
December 9, 2014 at 9:02 PM
Barbara V. Evers said…
Chris, I can honestly say I've never seen that Christmas movie. I guess I need to check it out!

Henry, I love the George C. Scott version of A Christmas Carol as well as the Patrick Stewart one, too.
December 10, 2014 at 10:34 AM
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