December is almost here! 

I’ve been waiting for December for a while now. Not only do I get a break from school but I also get to enjoy Christmas baking, Christmas music, Christmas movies, Christmas sweaters….

I think you get the point. I love Christmas. I’ve been wearing my reindeer sweater since October. I quote Elf year round. This is the season I live for. Honestly.

I have several traditions I uphold each year (tree decorating! baking! craft sales! choir concerts! Starbucks peppermint hot chocolate!) and one such tradition is working my way through my Christmas movie list. I watch the same set of movies every year sometime between the beginning of November (I watched Love Actually on November 9 – don’t judge) and the end of December, and I haven’t gotten sick of any titles yet.

I enjoy a variety of storytelling forms – from books to blogs, and TV shows to film – and I thought I’d interrupt our regular programming to talk about Christmas movies. Get excited!

Here’s my current list:

1. The Grinch – both the animated classic and the Jim Carrey version
2. Home Alone – I stick to the first two but I watch them every year without fail
3. Elf – if you haven’t seen it, you’re a cotton-headed ninny-muggins
4. The Family Stone – probably one of my all-time favourites!
5. The Holiday
6. Little Women – not technically a Christmas movie, the first scene is set at Christmas-time
7. Muppets Family Christmas (this is TV special from the 1980s and it’s amazing! My sister, a tech whiz, found it online and we now have our very own DVD copy to replace our recorded VHS tape hehe)
8. Muppets Christmas Carol
9. While You Were Sleeping
10. Serendipity
11. Four Christmases
12. Ghosts of Girlfriends Past – it’s so bad but so good!
13. You’ve Got Mail – this is another one that isn’t technically a Christmas movie but the Christmas scene has always stuck with me so I watch early on in the Christmas movie marathon
14. Arthur Christmas – watched it for the first time last year, so this one’s new to the list
15. And of course, my favourite recorded TV specials from the 90s: Rudolf the Red-Nosed Reindeer, The Smurfs, Alvin and the Chipmunks, The Little Match Girl

This year, I plan on adding National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation to the list because I confess I haven’t seen it yet!

I plan on getting the marathon started tonight – what’s on your Christmas movie list? Let me know!

Happy First Advent!
– Katrina