It's not Christmas without…

You can argue, but these are my preferences for top ten Christmas films. I’ve already viewed Home Alone, The Family Stone, and Elf this year. I told my dad that I’m saving Meet Me in St. Louis for Christmas Eve. Here, in my own personal and particular order – is the list.

10. Christmas Vacation – I saw this one for the first time about five years ago and thought it was hysterical. I showed it to the rest of my family and they did not have the same response...alas. “Can I refill your eggnog for you? Get you something to eat? Drive you out to the middle of nowhere and leave you for dead?”



9. The Nightmare Before Christmas – We love this movie. We can sing the songs, my Dad has the CD and DVD. What can we say? There’s nothing like Tim Burton for Christmas. “There's children throwing snowballs / instead of throwing heads / they're busy building toys / and absolutely no one's dead!”



8. A Charlie Brown Christmas – Linus gets me every time. I love his recitation of Luke 2 in the King James translation. Also, the singing of Hark the Herald Angels Sing with the characters heads thrown back in complete abandon brings a smile to my face. “That's what Christmas is all about, Charlie Brown.”



7. Mickey’s Christmas Carol – I’ve probably seen this 25 times. We have a tape of the Disney channel from about 1988 that shows this along with some other lovely clips. “Listen, Scrooge, if men were measured by kindness, you'd be no bigger than a speck of dust.”



6. Home Alone – There’s nothing like laughing at grown men being beat up for forty-five minutes to really enjoy the season. “Bless this highly nutritious microwavable macaroni and cheese dinner and the people who sold it on sale. Amen.”



5. White Christmas – I want to be Rosemary Clooney and wear her clothes and put on a show and have everything go perfectly. “There's no Christmas in the Army!”



4. The Family Stone – This is actually one of my favorite movies all year round. I watch it all the time. I love the house. I love the messed up family. I love the tender moments it showcases. Although it won’t be quite as severe, I do foresee a coming home of this nature in my future. “I'm sorry, I would sign, but I don't know the language.”



3. Meet Me in St. Louis - There’s just something about Judy Garland singing “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas.” “No, no, Tootie, you're wrong. New York is a wonderful town. Everybody dreams about going there, but we're luckier than lots of families because we're really going. Wait till you see the nice new home we're going to have, and the loads and loads of new friends we're going to make. But the main thing is, Tootie, that we're all going to be together, just like we've always been. That's what really counts. We could be happy anywhere as long as we're together.”



2. Elf – Too many quotes to choose from, thus bringing it to the top of the list. “Wow, you're fast. I'm glad I caught up to you. I waited 5 hours for you. Why is your coat so big? So, good news - I saw a dog today. Have you seen a dog? You probably have. How was school? Was it fun? Did you get a lot of homework? Huh? Do you have any friends? Do you have a best friend? Does he have a big coat, too?...”



1. A Christmas Story – it’s tradition. “Aunt Clara had for years labored under the delusion that I was not only perpetually 4 years old, but also a girl.”




Now Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night.