Friday Five: Favorite Christmas / Holiday Movies

Welcome to day 2 of Blogmas and a Friday Five! Today's list is my all time, watch them a zillion times during the holidays, and I feel that you should too. Some of these are no brainers and some of them might not be movies that you've seen before. I'll put the year they were produced as well as the bigger name stars. You should be able to find them via a streaming service like Netflix or Amazon or your favorite way to rent videos.

So, let's go!

1. Love Actually (2003) - Hugh Grant, Bill Nighy, and a lot of your favorite British actors including Martin Freeman - This movie kicks off my holiday movie watching spree. It'll get put on Thanksgiving night, unless we decided to do something different like watch the parade because we missed it or something dire happens. This is one of the few ensamble cast movies that are successful due to the threads being all connected even without you realizing it. Of course, there's the big ones, like Hugh Grant's character being the brother of Emma Thompson's character, but there's a lot of little ones too. It's just a great feel good fuzzy sort of way to kick off the season.

2. Miracle on 34th Street (1947) - Maureen O'Hara, John Payne: If you don't know this movie, I don't know what you've been doing with your life. Okay, maybe you don't like the classics, but this is the movie that, until very recently, was on after Macy's Thanksgiving Parade because the movie starts the day of the parade. Basically, the plot is about the impact that a guy who is the department store Santa who claims to be the real one. If you haven't seen this movie, stop reading this, sip your coffee as you find a streaming service that has it, and watch it. It's a classic for a very good reason, that being the acting and the plot works so well, and... yeah. Go watch.

3. Children's Classics - The Grinch Who Stole Christmas (1966 by Chuck Jones), A Charlie Brown Christmas (1965), Frosty the Snowman (1969), Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer (1964): Okay, I really could do a Friday Five just in these four movies, but I'm going to spare that of you. These are all of the movies that, when I was a kid, it was timed around when they would be. I would make sure that I saw them or at least recorded them. Now that I'm in my 30s, I still watch them because they have the nostalgia feeling going on. When I have kids, they'll be parked down in front of the TV to watch them as well because I want to pass on how special they are. I want to pass on how well done they were and were morals, in a way, without being overly preachy. They were the best of their time and continue to be, which is why you'll find them on TV.

4. Christmas in Connecticut (1945) - Barbara Stanwyck, Dennis Morgan: This movie involves a writer for a popular food column in a magazine lying to her boss, using the home of a friend who is in love with her and tries to get her to marry him throughout the time at the house, and a war hero who was lost at sea and, while recouping in the hospital, reads her articles and is fond of her. It becomes a comedy of errors, centered around a Christmas meal, and has a happy ending. It is a ball of sap but it is really good sap. I watch it every year as it started with watching it with family as we made cookies. So, yeah, good memories are attached to the movie.

5. The Man Who Came to Dinner (1942) - Bette Davis, Ann Sheridan, Monty Woolly: A radio personality, who is a rude egotistical jackass played by Monty Woolly, comes to Ohio and slips on icy steps to make a nusiance of himself with his host family. It's set during the weeks leading up to Christmas and is another one of those comedies that's got a bit of family history. We watch it at least once a year, again due to family memories, but I like the story too. The rude guy stays rude at the end of the movie, which works with the overall story, but does enough things to make up for it.

So there's my top five (okay, more than five with one of them) but I hope this gives you some ideas of what to watch this holiday season. Until next time, keep on writing!