If you don’t know it, I do love Christmas. A lot!

Can I get an Amen?!

This past week has been wonderful winter weather. The Christmas tree has been up for 2 weeks, the lights and garland are hanging. And the other evening, I began to watch The Polar Express with our two little boys. Such a magical movie!

Below, I list my 5 favourite Christmas films. They are in no particular order, but I love them all.

1. The Polar Express – As I said, such is a magical movie. And I love magical movies. Some Christians do not like the idea of teaching their kids about Santa Claus (because Jesus is the real reason for Christmas or they feel that it could be considered lying). But, at this point, I have no problem with the story of Santa Claus and all its details. There truly is something magical and other worldly, in the best sense of those terms, about the story of Santa Claus. Kind of like how C.S. Lewis used Narnia to wow our imaginations and draw us in to something bigger than ourselves. I believe the same can be said of things like Santa Claus, of which The Polar Express accomplishes this very well.

2. Home Alone – The first one, that is. This is a classic Christmas comedy. I can watch it over and over each Christmas and not bore of the tricks Kevin (Macauley Culkin) plays on the two house thieves.

3. A Christmas Carol – I can watch just about any version, but I think I like the Muppet version the best. I grew up loving the Muppets, and that version carries some comedy with it as well through the character of Gonzo (he plays the narrator). I also enjoy the version with Patrick Stewart as Scrooge.

4. A Christmas Story – This is the one about little Ralphie. For me, it is a Christmas classic. In the past, I have been glad that the American channel, TBS, runs a 24-hour marathon of the movie over that last half of Christmas Eve and the first half of Christmas Day. So it comes on 12 times total. Now I just catch it on DVD. Everyone knows of the Red Ryder carbine-action 200-shot range model air rifle because of this movie.

5. Christmas Vacation – Pure comedy and not much else. But I laugh at many of those scenes each time. My favourite scene is probably when cousin Eddie shows up and the one-liner response that comes from the lips of Clark (you have to hear it yourself if you don’t know it). And then there is the bit where Snots (the dog) starts drinking the water from the Christmas tree. I love how Eddie tries to assure Clark that Snots will be ok because the week before he drank a quart of Penzoil and was just fine.

Many people have other favourites, such as Miracle on 34th Street, etc. We also like the British classic, The Snowman, a 26-minute animated musical with no dialogue, mainly shown on Christmas Eve in the UK (though we now have the DVD). And I can easily watch other Christmas movies because it draws me in to this magical season. But those are my 5 favourite above.