It's Christmas Movie Time!

There aren't a lot of things I can discuss on this blog with a great deal of authority.  Most days what I lack in authority and knowledge I make up for in enthusiasm... bounding, manic enthusiasm.

This is what my enthusiasm looks like in human form.

I can't tell you how to take perfect gallery-worthy photos, teach your baby to speak Thai, bake macarons with perfect frilly feet, or Vidal Sassoon your hair into a party-perfect up do, but I can tell you a few things about movies... Christmas movies to be more specific.

I watch Christmas movies all year round.  Honestly.  It's disgusting.

When I was a kid (or, like, a month ago), in the middle of the summer I would put up a string of Christmas lights, close all of the blinds, crank up the A/C, curl up in a chair with some cozy socks and a mug of coffee or cocoa and I would watch Christmas movies and pretend like it was Christmas time.

I wish I were joking.  I really did this, like, regularly.  I was and am OBSESSED with Christmas.

So we all know the obvious Christmas movies... Miracle on 34th Street, It's a Wonderful Life, How the Grinch Stole Christmas, etc.  I thought I would focus on some of my favorite lesser known Christmas movies.

1. Mixed Nuts

This is bar none one of my all time favorite Christmas movies.  It combines two of my favorite things: Christmas and zany, caper films where all of the action takes place in one day or night (a specialty of the 1980s a la Blind Date, After Hours and Adventures in Babysitting).  It stars Steve Martin as the director of a failing suicide hotline charity who is about to be evicted.  Throw in Adam Sandler, Juliette Lewis, and Liev Schrieber as a drag queen named Kris and hilarity ensues.  Seriously, lovelovelove this movie.

2. Meet Me in St. Louis

This Judy Garland movie isn't strictly a Christmas movie since it follows the Smith Family of Saint Louis through an entire year broken up into chapters based on the four seasons, but the real heart of the movie are the scenes set during Christmas during which Judy Garland sings 'Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas'. It is beautiful. What I love best about it is that during this part of the movie the family isn't happy... it's not a magical, wonderful light-hearted Christmas romp, and the lyrics of the song reflect that. It reminds us that we aren't always perfectly happy at Christmas time.  Our problems don't all go away just because it's Christmas and we're only supposed to be happy at that time of year. Sometimes it's okay to just do our best at Christmas... it doesn't have to be perfect.

3. One Magic Christmas

This is another Christmas movie about a family going through a difficult time, and trying to learn the true meaning of Christmas. But the thing I loved about it as a child, and now as an adult, is the atmosphere of the movie.  It's very hushed and quiet, which somehow lends itself to the "magic" of Christmas time.  I remember as a child thinking during the scenes where the little girl Abbie travels to the North Pole to visit Santa that this must truly be what the North Pole and Santa's workshop would be like.  It just seemed so realistic to me.

4. The Shop Around The Corner

The plot of this movie will be familiar to many as the basis for the Tom Hanks/Meg Ryan movie 'You've Got Mail'.  The story is about two clerks in a department store who hate each other in person, but are secretly in love with each other as pen pals.  It's set in Budapest which I think is random, but it has Jimmy Stewart in it and it's pretty hard to go wrong there.

Look forward in the month of December to more blogs about Christmas movies including the really horrible ones that I am ashamed of myself for watching. Happy Viewing!!