Now that we’re really settling into the Christmas month and hitting the final stretch before the big day, you’ll probably be flipping over to the family Christmas channels on your tuner.

No matter how many times you watch classic Christmas movies, they never get old. Every year, these movies are shown countless times across the networks. Maybe you even own a few on DVD.

This week, my top movie pick is It’s a Wonderful Life. If I were to choose a favorite holiday movie, it would win, hands down.

When it was first released to audiences in 1946, It’s a Wonderful Life didn’t take over the box office. The film was directed by Frank Capra and was nominated for five Oscars, but failed to win even one. It is now on the AFI‘s top 100 movies list. ¹

This is the movie I’ll be watching this week. It’s a great movie for the family as well.

What will you watch?

Honestly, I’d like to hear what your favorite Christmas movie is because I’m a sucker for favorite lists. Will you be watching a new movie? Will you stick with the classics? Or, will you just let fate determine it (or your kids)?

One other movie I always find myself watching this time of the year (though not strictly a Christmas movie) is Serendipity with John Cusack and Kate Beckinsale.

If you’re not watching anything or haven’t seen It’s a Wonderful Life, then it’s the movie for you this holiday season.

1. Source: It’s a Wonderful Life on Wikipedia.

And I just love the spirit and traditions surrounding the holiday. Despite being in a hurry all the time with shopping and preparations for family get-togethers, most people have a kinder, more helpful attitude this time of year.

With the normal traditions like Santa Claus, presents and Christmas carols comes my OWN traditions:

- Watching The Lord of the Rings trilogy all in one sitting.
- Doing a movie marathon day (or two) at the local theater to catch up on all the Oscar hopefuls
- Lots of napping

But I never get through the holidays without re-watching some of my favorite Christmas and Holiday movies and below is my list of the 10 best in my very important, highly-regarded opinion.

I hope you enjoy the list, it took me quite awhile to make sure it had just the right stuff on it.

Enjoy!

Mike’s Top 10 Christmas Movies

10. Home Alone

It’s hard to believe this movie came out in 1990, but it was a fun little film with a very young Macaulay Culkin, and I’m happy to admit that I enjoyed it. It’s a good classic to show the future kiddies someday. I doubt I’ll watch it again until those kids do come, but it holds a special place as a good X-mas film.

9. Bad Santa

This isn’t much of a re-watcher for me, I saw it once and I’d like to see it again ONE more time. But the fact remains, this movie was flat-out the dirtiest, politically-incorrect-est and most hilarious Christmas movie I’ve ever seen. The humor was so wrong that has to remain an X-mas classic forever.

Billy Bob Thorton is a drunk, cigarette-smoking department store santa, and you can guess where it goes from there.

8. A Christmas Story

The amazing thing with this movie is that I don’t think I even knew about it until my wife turned it on 4-5 years ago and said, “You’ve never seen A Christmas Story????” Nope, I hadn’t. Now I can’t imagine Christmas coming without it.

From the lamp shaped like a woman’s leg, to the BB gun, to the tongue on the lamp post all the way until the eating Christmas dinner at a Chinese restaurant…this movie is great holiday fun. You can always catch it on the 24-hour marathon Christmas day on TBS.

7. White Christmas

For some reason, my brother and I loved this one growing up. Probably because we were two weird kids that watched “The Ten Commandments” about 20 times, but who knows for sure. All I know is that I practically have all the music in this movie memorized and it isn’t Christmas without seeing Bing Crosby and Danny Kaye sing “The General…”

Except possibly for hearing me sing…”Sisters…sisters…there were never such devoted…“…erm, okay, enough Mike.

6. When Harry Met Sally

Not exactly a Christmas movie, but it has the best New Years moment of all-time, so I’m tossing it up there. This would also make #1 on any list I had for romantic comedies or chick-flicks or whatever. Billy Crystal and Meg Ryan (back when Ryan was young and had original lips) lit up the screen, with their discussions on men and women, the spectacular orgasm scene in the restaurant and “Pecaaan piiiieeeeeeeeee.”

Not to mention some great writing. I could post the entire New Year’s speech Harry makes to Sally, but it’s pretty long, so chew on this excerpt:

“I came here tonight because when you realize you want to spend the rest of your life with somebody, you want the rest of your life to start as soon as possible.”

5. Christmas Vacation

Funniest movie ever made about Christmas. Slicked up sleds, a billion lights, Christmas trees through windows, family photos with “cupping” and blown-up cats…Chevy Chase rocks and this is a classic must-see. Not to mention the plethora of memorable quotes like this one:

Bethany: “Is your house on fire, Clark?”
Clark: “No, Aunt Bethany, those are the Christmas lights.”

4. Love Actually

This film from 2003 became an instant favorite around Christmas time. Granted, it’s not exactly family-friendly with the nude stand-in storyline (Unless you see the TV version, which totally cuts out that entire story), but it’s still one of the more heart-tugging holiday movies I’ve seen. With a massive cast that includes Hugh Grant, Emma Thompson, Liam Neesom, Bill Nighy and Alan Rickman, you can’t go wrong.

“If you really love Christmas…come on and let it snooow….”

3. Die Hard

My list wouldn’t be complete without the best action movie ever made, which also happens to occur around Christmas time, so therefore it makes it onto my list. Bruce Willis is hilarious and funny, but also a butt-kicking one-man show who defeats a group of thieves in a skyscraper during his wife’s company party.

Alan Rickman stars as the villain, which is where I first saw one of the better actors of our time.

If you don’t think it’s a Christmas movie, listen to the music at the end, or view my evidence below, taken from a dead body wearing a Santa hat with a note attached:

“Now I have a machine gun…Ho, Ho, Ho.”

2. The Office: Christmas Party

What, a TV show on a top 10 movie list? Get over it, that’s how I roooooooooll.

So I know, it’s not a movie, but this is one of my favorite Christmas moments of all-time. I still mark it down as my favorite Office episode to date and I have a feeling it will stay there. There is so much going on in this one that even watching it a few times you see new things.

“Maybe I should have taken the iPod….ohhhh shooot.” – Kevin

From the opening moments with the “We’ll sell it to charity. That’s what Christmas is all about” line, to the final scene with Meredith, you really wont find anything funnier.

And the lame drum roll please……….

1. It’s a Wonderful Life

Don’t ask me why, this movie isn’t even set around Christmas at all until the end, but it will always hold a special place in my heart around this time of year. It’s got a great message and has some superior acting in it from Jimmy Stewart and Donna Reed.

No matter what happens, I try watch this movie every Christmas. And don’t give me the colorized version, the plain ol’ black and white works best.

I’ve seen the movie countless times, and I will see it many more, yet I doubt there will be a time where I wont have teary eyes at the end.

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So that’s the big Top 10 Christmas movies list and I hope you agreed with them. I’d love to hear some others that aren’t on my list, that are favorites of yours. I suspect some people will have A Nightmare Before Christmas up high.