What are you enjoying right now?
We thought we would change up Favorites for the Christmas season. This time of year we all have favorites—favorite movies, favorite recipes, favorite gifts, favorite memories, favorite songs, and more.
Today, the Facts & Trends staff discusses their favorite Christmas movies. But we also want to hear from you. What’s your favorite holiday movie or TV special? Let us know in the comments or tweet us @FactsAndTrends.
Aaron Earls (@WardrobeDoor), online editor: I have two very different favorite Christmas movies — Home Alone and The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe.
As a kid, I remember watching Kevin get left behind by his family and come up with those ingenious traps for the two bumbling burglars, the Wet Bandits. Seeing them inspired me to make my own household traps, to the frustration and danger of my family.
But now, as a dad, I’ve watched the movie several times with my kids and loved laughing along with them, hearing them quote their favorite lines, and dodge their homemade traps. Well, maybe I didn’t enjoy the last one as much as appreciate the irony.
As for my other favorite, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe has Santa and snow, so I’m calling it a Christmas movie. There is so much wonder and genuine awe in the scene where little Lucy Pevensie stumbles through the wardrobe into the magical, wintry world of Narnia and sees the iconic lamp post.
Reading “The Chronicles of Narnia” as a child, reading them to my children and seeing the movies with them, makes me associate those books, particularly The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, with the innocence and joy of Christmas and childhood. I may just go home and watch it with them again tonight.
Carol Pipes (@CarolPipes), editor: One of my favorite Christmas movies is Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol. Each year I try to watch as many versions of this classic Christmas tale as possible. There’s the 1938 film with Reginald Owen playing Ebeneezer Scrooge, the 1951 version with Alastair Sim, and George C. Scott plays a pretty mean miser in the 1984 TV movie. But I’m partial to The Muppet Christmas Carol with Michael Caine playing Scrooge and Kermit the Frog as Bob Cratchit.
No matter the version, I love seeing the transformation in Scrooge, from a tight-fisted miser who snaps Bah! Humbug! at his cheerful nephew when he wishes his uncle Scrooge a Merry Christmas, to the joyful and exuberant Scrooge who promises to “honor Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year,” at the end of the story.
Matt Erickson (@_Matt_Erickson), managing editor: My favorite Christmas movie is It’s a Wonderful Life. It has a number of memorable lines that always leave me reflecting on what’s most important in life. Here are a few favorites:
Clarence: [In book inscription] Remember, George: no man is a failure who has friends. [Priorities] Clarence: Strange, isn’t it? Each man’s life touches so many other lives. When he isn’t around he leaves an awful hole, doesn’t he? [Connectedness/influence/legacy] George Bailey: Dear Father in heaven, I’m not a praying man, but if you’re up there and you can hear me [begins crying] show me the way… show me the way. [Desperation and the need for God’s guidance and help]
Lisa Green (@lisaccgreen), senior writer:Clearly, Matt and I have a lot in common. I’m not much of a moviegoer, but I love It’s a Wonderful Life. The premise of the movie — what if you’d never been born? — reminds me of the value of every human life. Like George Bailey, we can make a difference in the lives of those around us, in ways big and small.
Katie Shull (@KShull), graphic designer: Nothing can beat Elf. Because it is just too cute, that’s my favorite Christmas movie. But I want to mention Home Alone since it turns 25 this year, and it is another feel good, fun Christmas classic.
Looking back 25 years, it is funny because so many of their problems could have been solved by having a smartphone. Not to mention, you would never get through airport security that fast now.
Towards the end of the movie when Kevin goes to church and talks with his older neighbor, it actually encourages grace, forgiveness, and reconciliation. It’s cool too that in a secular movie, Kevin feels safe at church and knows he should seek God’s help before his biggest battle with the robbers.
When Kevin’s family is reunited instead of being angry or sad, everyone is genuinely happy to see each other and forgiveness abounds.
What is your favorite Christmas movie? Which one do you watch every year?
