Our Family Christmas Movie List
Here's our family's movie traditions.
When you think about your family’s Christmas traditions, how many of them revolve around movies? I would assume that most families have at least one movie they associate with the holidays (definitely those families that read this newsletter).
What follows are the movies that are queued up each year in the Perritt household. Some of them are viewed more than once but they are rarely viewed outside the month of December.
That is to say, while I love most of the movies that follow, I think I would despise them if I tried to watch them in July, for example. They would just seem out of place.
Let me know which of these are on your list and which of your’s I forgot to mention.
Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer: This one is first on the list, not because it’s our favorite, but because it’s the first one we watch each year. Our Christmas begins by driving out to the Christmas tree farm to search for our pine-needled guest that will lodge with us for the season. Once we pick it out, play hide-n-seek, and head back home, we’d often crank this up for the drive in the car. The drive to the farm is about 40 mins, so we often finish this in the home. It’s not a great movie, but it’s filled with nostalgia. I remember seeing it a few times as a child and it seemed magical, so I wanted to impart that to my children. Also, who doesn’t love a character named Yukon Cornelius.
Home Alone: This is the second on the list, because…you guessed it…it’s the second movie we watch. One year we tried playing this while we were decorating the tree, but we completely got sucked in and neglected the task of decorating. Learning our lesson, we start this after we’ve finished most of the decorating. On one particular year, one of the Perritt children was watching this movie for the first time, and they gave us new eyes for the scene where Kevin puts the pet tarantula on Marv’s face. As we all burst into laughter at Marv’s screaming reaction, this child laughed along with us, but it was a forced laugh that quickly turned into a tearful scream. We actually had to stop the movie and it reminded us to be a bit more discerning for younger viewers. (If you’re able to watch the Netflix series, The Movies That Made Us, you should totally watch the episode about Home Alone.)
The Family Man: This is a movie that only the two oldest Perritts watch; i.e. husband and wife. It’s a date night movie for us - no kids allowed. The following comment might make some of you question my taste in movies, but this is one of my favorite movies. Some may claim that it’s a cheap version of It’s a Wonderful Life, but I enjoy it each year and that enjoyment has only increased with each passing year, making it one of my favorites. It truly has some great performances. Jeremy Piven is one of the best ‘best friend’ characters in the history of movies. His charisma allows him to go toe-to-toe with any lead and his portrayal of Arnie is a genuine depiction of a great and loyal friend. Don Cheadle is also excellent. Even though his screen-time is minimal, his range of comedic to dramatic in such a short span is phenomenal. Nicholas Cage and Téa Leoni have great chemistry and their daughter, Annie, turns in one of the most underrated child performances. It’s an unfiltered picture of family that doesn’t minimize the struggles of life with kids, but clearly communicates a message that the allures of the world pale in comparison to family [Be sure to read up on the content at IMDb].
A Christmas Story: While this movie wasn’t a box office bomb, it wasn’t a blockbuster either, but it turned into a classic which runs for 24 hours straight on cable television. In some ways the repetitive nature of this film often moves it to become background noise making viewers miss how truly great it is. Most lovers of this film have it memorized and while that’s fun, it can actually work against our appreciation of the true craft this movie contains. Silly, for sure, but the dialogue is great and all of the main actors are excellent. Each of the Parker family members are truly great and Ralphie’s buddies - Flick and Schwartz - are phenomenal. It’s some of the best narration in a movie and there’s too many classic scenes to count. Think about it, the runtime of this movie is a tight 93 minutes. There’s no filler. Classic scene, after classic scene. Bravo to the post-production work!
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Elf: My wife and I went to the theater with a few couples to watch this movies and we were the only ones laughing in our group. None of our friends that night enjoyed this, but we laughed from beginning to end. ‘Instant classic’ was an apt descriptor of this movie. At the risk of sounding like a broken record, Will Ferrell’s performance is flawless. I cannot think of anyone else who could’ve done a better job. His portrayal of Buddy is only amplified when it’s set in contrast to James Caan; making it some of the best casting imaginable. While you might have been able to cast a better straight man for Caan, who else could have played Buddy? The answer is: no one. Ferrell didn’t poke fun at the idea of a delusional human elf, but acted in a way that truly believed it, making audiences believe it as well. Zooey Deschanel and Mary Steenburgen are also great, and Faizon Love, as the store manager, cranks it up to eleven in a hilarious performance. Oh yeah, they also throw in Bob Newhart(!). Once again, too many quotable lines and memorable scenes to mention.
National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation: Our family went to see this in the theater and I had to cover my eyes on more than one occasion (For younger readers, that was the VidAngel of the 1980’s). There’s an appropriate disclaimer for some of the content, so I understand families that steer clear of this one. However, there are some absolutely hilarious moments in this film that make me laugh no matter how many times I’ve seen them. Chevy Chase really was a master of physical comedy and possessed a sarcastic line-delivery that was masterclass. Randy Quaid’s portrayal of Cousin Eddie might be one of the greatest comedic characters in cinematic history (If not the best, he’s in the top three). While it’s over-the-top, slap-stick, comedy, it also has some hints of the gift that family is.
A Few Others to Mention:
Even though we don’t ensure these are watched each year, they sometimes make it into the rotation:
The Grinch (1966)
Frosty the Snowman (1969)
It’s a Wonderful Life (1946)
White Christmas (1954)
Which Christmas favorites did I forget? Let me hear from you below.
And while we’re talking about Christmas, don’t forget to buy your family a copy of The Family Movie Night Journal.
Rudolph really does pack a good nostalgic punch. And our family probably watches “Elf” at least a half a dozen times. I haven’t seen The Family Man, but we’ll check it out! One that was surprisingly good was the more recent animated “Grinch” that came out just a few years ago.
I grew up in a non-Christian home and have good memories of National Lampoon's Christmas Vaction. I watched Home Alone way too much (but have introduced it to the kids, who love it now)
With our kids (8 &5), we watch The Star (2017). A great way of implicitly telling the Christmas story from a different angle.
Without the kids, my wife enjoys watching Love Actually (with some skips), and as much as Bruce Willis says otherwise, Die Hard is a great watch, too.