It is a pleasant way to spend a winter's evening. I guess that it probably IS my favorite. SCROOGE!, with Albert Finney, SCROOGE, with Alistar Sims, and The Polar Express are also on the To Be Watched Yearly list.

I do have to say that I am very tired of the ...... Saves Christmas movies. I was at STAPLES tonight, and they had Diego Saves Christmas there, I don't know if Dora has one as well. You can't "Save Christmas", as it was never in any danger, only the crass comercialism can be threatened, and I wish it could be. At least the Grinch was able to force the Whos to realise that there was more to it than pantookas and bisselbinks. ( I mean the real Grinch, not the Jim Carey travesty) Oh well, Bahoo Dores everyone

"It's a Wonderful Life" is indispensible, even though we know every word and frame of it.

"Christmas Story" is dearly loved, too - I love the way it is true to the spirit of the Jean Shepherd stories and even features Shep in a cameo, as well as narrator.

StB mentions two version of "A Christmas Carol", which brings up another point - of all the many movie versions of this story, which is the best (and worst)?

The Alistair Sims version is probably definitive, but I particularly like the 1985 version with George C Scott as Scrooge - a wonderful, faithful treatment, which we watch every year. On the other hand, I was very disappointed in the Patrick Stewart version, although he was great, the rest of the production stunk on ice. Then there's "A Muppet Christmas Carol" - which I love, though it's not exactly Dickens. I learn from wikipedia that there was a Jetsons version. I'll bet that sucked. The Mickey Mouse version (with Uncle Scrooge, natch) was just OK.

"Scrooged", with Bill Murray? Not quite the right spirit, and featuring the incredibly annoying Carol Kane AND Bobcat Goldthwaite. Hard to watch.

Any others? Seems like it's been remade more times than "The Front Page".

If you really like the Dickens story - I recommend the Patrick Stewart unabriged Audio CD (2 disks). A wonderful performance.

Something contemporary to mix in with the classics. I love the compelling, interconnected characters, and it's pretty darn funny, too.

A Christmas Story, without a doubt. So many quotables in there...

"The clerk filled in the $18,900 proposed valuation, but then mistakenly hit the key to exit the program."

Gee, seems like the mistake was made by the software designer, not the clerk, who did something that sounds quite reasonable - make a change, and exit. Adding 4 zeros - what the heck?

Now, perhaps the clerk 'mistakenly' forgot to check her work, but that's not quite the same thing. It's a pity that systems continue to be produced that make it entirely too easy for errors like this to be made.

Clearly, my favorite Christmas movie is "A Christmas Story." All the sweetness and sentimentality is there, but leavened with a mighty dose of humor. And I have to agree with heather8875, it just may be the most quotable movie ever. I think I can recite the whole thing from memory.

Like everyone else, "It's A Wonderful Life" is one of my favorites.

Although not true to the story, "Scrooged" with Bill Murray is still pretty good.

The original "How The Grinch Stole Christmas" is of course excellent. I have yet to see the Jim Carrey version, but from what I've heard and read, I think I'll pass.

"Christmas Vacation" proves that Murphy's Law doesn't take a holiday. It works 10 times as hard.

As far as all the versions of "A Christmas Carol" out there, I have to say the three I like the most are the version with Patrick Stewart (although some of the acting by the other actors was weak), the 1984 version with George C. Scott, and the VH1 spin, "A Diva's Christmas Carol." I enjoy the Muppets' version somewhat, as well as the Disney version.

The first two "Home Alone" movies were OK, but you can only tolerate them for so long. After a while they seem to be a bit too sappy.

One of the best ones has to be "A Christmas Story." I think that one is really more timeless than any of the others, mainly because kids everywhere see themselves in little Ralphie, wanting that one particular toy above all other toys, and tries to go through every single channel available to get it. Unfortunately, like Ralph, there are certain roadblocks that would prevent them from getting that toy. Although in Ralph's case it was the threat of him shooting his eye out, the more common roadblock is that the toy might be too expensive, or in the case of this year, was made in China and contains highly dangerous levels of lead.

Fa-who For-aze Da-who Dor-aze, everybody.

PatrickRsGhost

I'm not really into Christmas movies, the only one I like is the George C. Scott version of A Christmas Carol. It's amazing what an actor he was.

Re: the tax issue. Didn't anyone on any of the three entities question how they suddenly got an extra $2.5 million?

"Gee, the last three years we got 4.7, 4.9, and 5.0 million in tax revenues, this year we got 7.5 million. Let's go spend it, and not double check everything!"

Right after the Thanksgiving Day parade, "Miracle on 34th Street" with Edmund Gwynn, Maureen O'Hara, Natalie Wood, and John Payne is a must; in the next week or so, we make sure to watch 1942's "Holiday Inn" with Bing and Fred where "White Christmas" is first heard (that movie would probably be my wife's third favorite).

But with all due respect to the dissenters, "A Christmas Carol" is the 1938 version with Reginald Owen and the pre-Lassie Lockhart family, with June as a little girl and Gene as hapless but charming as he is as the judge in "34th Street." The strong affection for the 50's era Alastair Sim version has always baffled me -- his laughter at the end just creeps me out.

My favorite scene is the little boy in the street on Christmas morning who has 'alf-a-crown thrown down to him from the jubilant Ebenezer, with a promise of more for swiftness, who replies with arms flung wide and an ebullient "Whoooooossssshhhhhh!"

James, your suggestion is indeed elegant in its simplicity, but to go from sarcasm to deep cynicism, from my knowledge of the magical thinking that deeply infects political budget makers -- what's going on, i infer from the piece, is that the moment the new fiscal projection came out, money got committed all over the place (new trucks, new ducks on the pond, new ponds in the parks, new pond managers in the park district named "Uncle" or "Cousin," etc.).

So now their problem is that they've "taken back" everything they can, but some contracts and obligations are already legally binding (have they really tried? good question, but do you know how much the county gets charged for legal work? which could cost more than the money you're trying to recover, plus ticks off voters if you're suing Farm & Fleet to let you return a dozen tires, etc.).

Which means a tax increase to give them a measure of what they thought they had but didn't. A more cynical man than i might point out that could be a really "handy" accident, but i'm more cynical than that -- it points out some of the fundamental flaws in the system when it works correctly, so to speak.

There can be only one: Santa Claus Conquers the Martians.

Well, I guess I have to pick 2:

A Christmas Story (of course) what a fantastic movie -and as someone else said - one of the best quotable movies ever. "Fuuuuuuuuuu-dge!"

Second would be the little known "Holiday Affair" 1949 Robert Mitchum and Janet Leigh. Great movie and Mitchum is completely cast against type as the dapper, romantic lead. If you've never seen it, look it up. Quite a sweet movie and a complete departure for Mitchum.

Sure it's a Thanksgiving movie (and how many of those are there?) but "Planes, Trains and Automobiles" has to be one of the best holiday movies ever (and probably the best John Hughes movie)

A Christmas Story, of course.

A Charlie Brown Christmas comes in a very close second for me, mostly for the climactic scene where Linus reads from Chapter 2 of the Gospel of Luke. Try getting that one produced in today's media environment.

What I don't understand is, doesn't anybody in even local government have the ability to conduct a "smell test?" "An extra $2.5million in property tax revenues when property values are stagnant... seems totally reasonable to me!"

cneth - you're right that bad software continues to be written, but this smells like old software. The program required entered numbers to be 9 digits? I don't even know how you would make a Windows-based or other modern program that worked that way without trying real hard. I suspect this is a "legacy" application written in COBOL or some such language 30 years ago by someone holding the manual open with one hand and typing with the other. It has never been changed because no-one understands it, and it kinda works. Clerks sit at ancient VT-100 terminals tapping in their assessment information just so.

I have to say that I watch a lot of Christmas movies each year, but the one I watch every December without exception is the old B&W Christmas in Connecticut. It's a silly little movie with Barbara Stanwyck, but enjoyable every single time. It's so hard to choose a favorite, though, so it's a good thing there are so many days between Thanksgiving and Christmas during which I can watch all the classics like A Christmas Story, Nat'l Lampoon's Christmas Vacation and Holiday Inn.

And though it's more of a TV thing than a movie thing, I love A Charlie Brown's Christmas. I cannot read that passage of Luke without hearing Linus's voice in my head.

Die Hard :"Now I have a gun. Ho! Ho! Ho!"

Holiday Inn and White Christmas. Bing Crosby & Christmas, how can you go wrong?
I like the George C. Scott version of a Christmas Carol best (thank you very much, thank you very much.

Thank you for reminding me of his name! I really wanted to list that one, but could not remember his name. I like it when he is dining and tells the waiter to bring him more bread, and then chases him off, when he finds that it would be tuppence more. Bob Cratchett's snowballing is also great.

Henry Winkler did a startleing good job in An American Christmas Carol.

I am a big fan of Jean Shepherd, I have over 100 of his radio programs on MP3, but I must disagree mildly on the subject of A Christmas Story. It is a fantastic movie, and I dearly love it, but TBS has ruined it with their 24 hours of it.

Christmas Vacation, contains a line that I use whenever I want someone to know how incredulous I feel about something they just said.

Clark: Hey, Kids, I heard on the news that an airline pilot spotted Santa's sleigh on it's way in from New York City.
Eddie: [After a pause] You serious, Clark?

I loved mosst of the movies mentioned here, but does anyone remember the Jackie Gleason Christmas special shown on TV? Jackie Gleason was the Poor Soul who dreamed about fairy tales...I remember all these soldiers marching around and finally marching into a huge Christmas present on the stage, dancing bunnies, etc......Loved it. Can't find it anywhere on the Net, though. Gleason had way more heart than any comedian today.

My favorite is the English black-and-white version of "A Christmas Carol" starring Alastair Simms. Scared the crap out of me as a kid. Most recent favorite is "A Christmas Story." Does anybody remember the TV movie, "The Homecoming: A Christmas Story," from the early '70s? It was the movie that the TV show "The Waltons" was taken from. Patricia Neal played the mother and she sends John Boy (Richard Thomas) to go pick up the father from the coal mine in a snowstorm so he would be home for Christmas. I haven't seen it since the the original. There was also a Christmas special from the late '60s, early '70s that was about a poor black kid in the inner city projects who adopts a kitten. The character's name was T.J., which was also in the title of the show. The kitten ends up dyng or getting killed in the end. It was a real tear-jerker. It only ran once or twice but it's stuck with me all these years. I also remember the many variety show Christmas specials that were on in the '60s and '70s. We always looked forward to watching the Bob Hope Christmas Special each year. I remember once during the Vietnam War they filmed it on an aircraft carrier.

"A Christmas Story" is the best holiday movie.

Jean Shepherd was a genius story teller and this was his crowning achievement.

Possibly, but the real culprit is bad testing, not bad software.

/cranky software developer

You're probably right about old software.

Funny you should mention VT100's and COBOL: I spent quite a few years of my life developing the VAX COBOL compiler, and even used a VT100 for a bit to do it :-) You'd actually have to work kinda hard in COBOL to make the form that stupid. But then again, you'd be surprised (or maybe not) at how hard people will work to implement dumb ideas.

You'd probably also be surprised at how many people are still writing new programs in COBOL. To paraphrase Monty Python: "It's not dead yet!".

I blogged these elves but here it is for the comments, guaranteed to be a holiday favorite:

JL & the Doggy Kid

The site is called Elfyourself.com, there is also Scroogeyourself.

There was also a Christmas special from the late '60s, early '70s that was about a poor black kid in the inner city projects who adopts a kitten.

I remember a couple of scenes from that one rather vividly. It was aired at least once before 1968, because I remember watching it with my grandmother at our old house.

I just spent some time rooting around on IMDB and wasn't able to find anything about it. Anyone else here in Buzzland recognize it?

1969's J.T. from the CBS Children's Hour. It's the story about a sensitive young boy (Kevin Hooks) in a Harlem Ghetto who befriends a sickly, one-eyed cat written by Jane Wagner.

J.T. IMDB

I urge you all to watch "One Special Night" starring Julie Andrews and James Garner. I believe it originally aired on the Lifetime channel. I don't where or when it may air now.

They are brought together through a set of circumstances involving a snowstorm on Christmas Eve and wind up spending the night together after having broken into a vacant cottage.

What a warm, wonderful, yet kind of sad and realistic movie. There are two actresses who play Garner's daughters, and their on-screen relationship as sisters is as real as it gets. I'm not a crybaby, but for this movie I'll make an exception. It's the best.

I have three top holiday film favorites.
Two have already been noted several times: "A Christmas Story" and "It's a Wonderful Life" - which by the way, this year a "special edition" came out, it has the color and black and white versions on one disc.
Lastly, even thought the film takes place on Thanksgiving, it is still a hilarious holiday film - "Home for the Holidays."

I'm so glad someone mentioned Christmas in Connecticut - I first saw the movie about 25 years ago on Christmas eve and fell in love with it - just really a "feel good" movie.

I must be remembering where I saw it wrong, because the date would be after my family moved--but that's it! Thanks, bgbear!

Possibly, but the real culprit is bad testing, not bad software.

/cranky software developer

Either that, or a project manager that punted the bug in order to ship the product on time. After all, they can work around it, right? So why bother fixing it?

//cranky software tester

It's that it's creepy. It feels as if Tom Hanks had a soul-ectomy (which is entirely possible, considering his role in "The Da Vinci Code").

But he always seems to be looming over the scene, like King Kong over lower Manhattan in the poster for the 1930s version of that movie. His presence is more menacing than anything else, like an uncle that your parents are not too sure you should be left alone with.

And -- do I really need to say it?-- the entire meaning of Christmas becomes "fabulous big bunches of toys and stuff, luridly displayed."

The special effects are wonderful, but that soul-less quality made me want to go and watch something worthwhile, like the Alastair Sim version of "A Christmas Carol."

--Boot of the Beast (read your Evelyn Waugh)

It's probably sacrilege, but I can no longer endure "Christmas Story". I found it to be marginally cute the first time I saw it, but the over-the-top narration got on my nerves. For example, there is a point where Ralphie realizes that the best chance of getting his BB rifle is to ask Santa for it. Immediately, 99.9% of the audience understands what that means. But the narration has to go on and on and on about who Santa is and what a great idea this is to ask him for the rifle and how exciting it will be to see Santa and how agreeable Santa is, etc. Yeah. We get it. Move on. (I know this is a setup for the scene where he is gravely disappointed by Santa, but it's still waaaaay over-the-top.)

The whole movie is like that. Scenes that need no narration at all are totally trashed by the addition of narration. How many other movies based on books have the author reading the book out loud while the movie plays?

My favorite movie varies from year to year (as does my favorite Christmas song). Past favorites have included Rudolph, the George C. Scott version of Christmas Carol, and the original Miracle on 34th Street. I haven't yet settled on one for this year. But it's NOT "Christmas Story".

It has always bothered me that the Polar Express is pulled by a steam engine. Santa, being one of the earliest tech junkies, dieselised all trains in and out of the Pole in 1939. The suppiles have to come from somewhere, you know, and they have to get to the pole in some manner. The Polar Express of the era protarayed in the movie shouls have been puled by an A-B-B-A set of General Motors Electrao Motive Division F-7 locomotives.

Santa also takes much better care of the tracks than as portrayed in that movie. He has, after all, hundreds of thousands of tons of supplies coming in on the Canadain Pacific North Pole branch.

If yopu want to see what the current diesels on that line look like, go to the Canadian Pacific website, and look up the Holiday Train, or, for you people in Minneapolis, go and see it when it comes to the Twin Cities next Monday.

The CPR runs it's decorated Holiday Train along it's Canadian and US main lines, stopping in each town, opening up a Hi Cube Auto Parts car that has been converted into a stage, and putting on an houir long free concert. the admission being goods for the local food bank. The CPR also gives the local food bank a check. Here in Mauston, the train will be here Sunday night, and we will have a parade to welcome it.

The CPR does this to say Thank You to the towns that allow them to run high speed frieghts through them 24/7/364. Here on the Mpls-Chicago Main Line, we get 32 trains a day, plus two EMPIRE BUILDERS from AMTRAK. CPR appreciates our letting them do so. I can't see any US companies doing that. If you live on the CPR, I highly urge you to go and see it. The train is decorated with over a million LEDs, and is a sight to behold. I wish that there was some way to get the message out to have everyone who can go and give something to the food bank, and get to see a spectacular train and concert.

I dearly love the George C. Scott version, particularly the scene where Edward Woodward pins GCS's ears back about "who the surplus population is, and where it is," and when the two of them start bickering about the rules of engagement as they watch the Cratchits playing 20 Questions, or whatever it was.

But.

My vote will always go to Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol. Probably the shortest adaptation ever, but to me, definitely one of the most heartfelt. Great songs and musical score, and the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come scared the crap out of this 5 or 6-year old when it first hit the air.

A Christmas Story 24-hour marathon isn't my favorite idea ever, but the movie itself is simply perfect, and it will have a place alongside It's a Wonderful Life on The Winter Solstice Non-Demoninational Non-Binding Festival All-Time Greatest Movies list.

I have a number of Christmas specials I have to watch every year for the sake of tradition (or it's Just Not Christmas)

1) Will Vinton's Claymation Christmas. Because watching two walruses ice-dance to "Angels We Have Heard On High" never gets old.

2) Garfield Christmas. Because you never know if Binky the Clown will fail to save Christmas this time around.

3) Merry Christmas Charlie Brown. Because you need to have the classics.

4) How the Grinch Stole Christmas (Boris Karloff version). Because hearing Tony the Tiger call someone a nasty wasty skunk is always a treat.

5) Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol. Because it doesn't matter if they screwed up the order in which the spirits visit (Who thought it was a good idea to do present, past, future?) when you can have razzleberry dressing.

6) A Muppet Christmas Carol. Because it's the most faithful adaptation of the Dickens classic you're likely to see that involves a talking rat and a sock puppet frog. (It's also the last decent movie to feature the original muppet cast of characters.)

7) A Christmas Story. Because nothing says "Christmas" like a little boy's quest to get a rifle. I'm surprised they still air this one, but I'm glad they do. 'Cause it's awesome.

8) Elf. Because Will Ferrel doesn't always make a complete arse of himself. And Bob Newhart is awesome. (Needs more cowbell, though)

9) Scrooged. Because everyone needs to see a Christmas movie where Bill Murray says "Now I have to kill all of you!"

10) We're No Angels. Because it isn't every day you get to see Humphrey Bogart, Peter Ustinov and Aldo Ray save Christmas for one family by inadvertently (ahem) murdering an unpleasant uncle.

Hands down , "A Christmas Story" is my all time fave. What a classic.

Possibly, but the real culprit is bad testing, not bad software.

Now, brianlutz, you know that's simply not true.

Any cranky software developer worth his salt would blame the hardware first.

My favorite was "Mr. Maggo's Christmas Carol."

Time Bandits: the perfect movie for the holiday season, anti-consumer and anti-religious. "Good question! I think it has something to do with free will."

Bad Santa: another perfect choice, as much to do with redemption as dwarves, booze and sex. "Goodnight, Mrs. Santa's sister."

Any cranky software developer worth his salt would blame the hardware first.

No they wouldn't. Blaming the hardware is the job of the cranky tech support guy. There's a perpetual trangle of blame between Dev, Test and PM. The Devs blame the testers, the Testers blame the PMs, the PMs blame the devs, lather, rinse, repeat.

//former cranky tech support guy

One of my all time favorite Christmas shows was the Twilight Zone episode with Art Carney as the homeless guy who liked to play Santa. I'm an old softy, and tear up at the end every time.

Don't know if they play it anymore...

Blaming the hardware is the job of the cranky tech support guy. There's a perpetual trangle of blame between Dev, Test and PM. The Devs blame the testers, the Testers blame the PMs, the PMs blame the devs, lather, rinse, repeat.

//former cranky tech support guy

I'd blame the change control process.

//cranky project manager

How the Grinch Stole Christmas (Boris Karloff version). Because hearing Tony the Tiger call someone a nasty wasty skunk is always a treat.

Our esteemed bloghost had a great Bleat post when the Voice of Tony/Grinch Singer (who had the great old-school name of "Thurl Ravenscroft") died a few years ago. I defy you to listen to the song that James posted--even while staring at the picture of Thurl that's right next to the link--and not picture Tony the Tiger doing the singing.

There's even version of A Christmas Carol with Vanessa Williams, and I just saw a treatment of it on the TV show Las Vegas (what can I say, I'm home sick).

What interests me about the Christmas Carol story is that it pretty much always works, no matter who does it. I prefer the George C. Scott version myself, but they more or less all work. I always take this as a real testament to Dickens. He really knocked this one out of the park.

I also view a Christmas Carol as the antidote to anyone that takes Ayn Rand too seriously.

"The Christmas Story" was born as narration. I first heard the Red Ryder BB Gun portion on radio, WOR New York, during the Christmas season in the early 1970's. Jean Shepherd's program was a nightly 45 minute monologue. The movie strings together several of his monologues, which later became short stories. (The Bumpus hounds originally stole the Easter ham, not the Christmas turkey.) A Shepherd story without the Shep's narration is unthinkable!

lost to me anyhow...

1. The story of the shephard kid (?) who falls off a cliff or something and ends up in heaven, only to be given the opportunity to present a gift to Baby Jesus.

2. A story that's even hazier in my memory - seems to me it was about a kid getting lost and locked in a department store at closing time, after which the mannequins came to life (no, not that one)and there is some Christmas message delivered. I can't remember much more than that, but I do remember that it deeply affected me at the time.

Maybe it was too traumatic and I now have a repressed Christmas memory...sigh...

with Johnny Whittaker, (Jody from Family Affair), was the special with the shepherd. Fred Gwynne played his training angel.

I cannot believe that I've seen "Holiday Inn" mentioned at least a couple of times here....and no "White Christmas"? The latter is definitely one of my top 5 Christmas movies, at least. I finally got around to watching "Holiday Inn" last year, and mostly remember being annoyed by the whole business concept of the Holiday Inn. Not to mention that there are too many other holidays involved for me to really consider it a Christmas movie. But I digress (or do I?) — "White Christmas," "Elf," and "A Christmas Story" must be watched every year. And my favorite non-Christmas-but-yes-actually-Christmas movie is that Rob Reiner/John Cusack classic, "The Sure Thing."

Does anyone remember seeing "The Snowman" (IMDB Plot summary: Wordless (save for the song "Walking in the Air") animated adventure about a young English boy who makes a snowman one Christmas Eve, only for it to come to life that night and take him on a magical adventure to the North Pole to meet Santa Claus)? Don't know if it played on US televsion, I was overseas when I learned about it.

One of my adult piano students wanted to learn some of the music from it, and I became interested in it and really enjoyed the movie. I probably still have it here somewhere if everyone wants to come over and watch it.

We won't be showing A Christmas Story, however. My sister loves it, I've not been able to sit through it even once. Dunno why. Less a fan of Miracle on 34th Street than It's a Wonderful Life, but the Natalie Wood one is certainly better than the remake.

Re: software. The only way I can think of for the software to make that mistake is for the numbers to be manipulated as characters, thus they might left-justify and pad w/zeros, instead of right-justifying and preceding with zeros. Big difference mathematically speaking.

Why would I even think of such a strange way of working with numbers? Well, I had to debug a program that did that with the 1099's for a major oil company, giving us all quite a thrill. When the fines for late filing were $50,000 per day, and we were off by gazillions of dollars, it certainly focused the mind.

Only in tax collector land is the absence of a completely unanticipated windfall counted as a "shortfall".

So in other words, James, what happens in Potterville stays in Potterville? That would be a great slogan for the town if they wanted to attract spouses prone to adultery and losing the next three months rent. Taken already, eh? Dang.

I'm glad someone mentioned J.T. about the boy who adopted the cat in Harlem. I saw it when I was very young and I still remember how my heart got stuck in my throat when the cat died. Here is the IMDB link.
For the longest time it has been a tradition in our house to run the "Christmas Story" 24 hour marathon in the background for the duration. I've only gotten marginally tired of it and still enjoy seeing it ever year (but only at Christmas time!!).

There was also a version, not too long ago, "An American Christmas Carol", with Henry Winkler as the Scrooge-embodiment ("Benedict Slade"). It's set during the depression. I think it came before Winkler settled into his other TV persona.

The Alistair Sim version is definitely a keeper. He wasn't much of a celebrity-status-seeker. Someone once asked for his autograph. He declined, saying, "I don't want yours, why whould you want mine?".

The best "Bad Santa" ever is, without question, Dan Aykroyd's down-and-out Louis Winthorpe III in "Trading Places," stuffing the cold salmon fillet down the front of his moth-eaten Santa suit, then pulling it out on the bus and chewing on it. Hysterically funny!

Scott, thanks. That's one down. I gotta dig that one up just to see Fred Gwynne.

Now if I can get the department store one, it'll be a major find.

1. It's A Wonderful Life
2. Alistair's Scrooge (untampered version, of course!)
3. Miracle on 34th Street, if only for the charming Miss Natalie Wood.

End of Discussion. Stick with the Classics!

I'm not much for Christmas flicks but my recommendation for a great audio book is Christopher Moore's 'The Stupidest Angel' as read by Tony Roberts.

"A heartwarming tale of Christmas terror."

Hereally was fantastic, and Edward Woodward really was great, when he not only pointed out just WHO could be thought of as surplus, but warned Scrooge to beware the girl, Want, and the boy, Ignorance. WOW!, what a perfotmance!

I mentioned both of them. Most people forget (or don't care that) the the song "White Christmas" came out first in Holiday Inn, and the movie White Christmas came later to capitalize on the song's popularity. I like Miracle on 34th street too; especially the part where Chris's bubble gum pops in his beard.