c/o MGM

It’s finally December. Time to grab your itchiest sweater and blast Mariah Carey songs, without the judgy looks from people who are weirdly sanctimonious about the official start of the holiday season. This time of year often comes with the opportunity to relax, reflect and reconnect with all the relatives that immediately remind you why you only see them once a year. 

By far my favorite gift of the season is the time to watch the numerous charming, tender films (and the many other hysterically terrible ones) made about the holidays. A tradition I’ve enjoyed for many years is watching one holiday movie every day from Dec. 1 to 25. Whether you celebrate any of the mainstream December festivities, I invite you to join me in revisiting some of my favorite Christmas classics: the good, the bad, and the weirdly religious. Here’s my lineup for the month, each with a little description of what I think you need to know going in. This is NOT a ranking, it’s the order to watch them in from Dec. 1 to 25. Happy watching!

1. “A Christmas Story” (1983) This movie manages to break down the nuances and tensions of the postwar American nuclear family through the eyes of an eight-year-old and keep you laughing from start to end. There’s a reason TNT plays “A Christmas Story” for 24 consecutive hours every year.
2. “How The Grinch Stole Christmas” (2000) Jim Carrey’s Grinch is the most relatable character in the entire cinema canon.
3. “Four Christmases” (2008) Kristin Chenoweth is the best part of this movie, and every other movie she’s ever been in.
4. “Die Hard” (1988) What are the holidays without a little action? 
5. “Love Actually” (2003) Prepare to watch fifteen characters, whose names you will not remember by the end of the movie, make the worst decisions of their lives and enjoy every minute of it.
   

   c/o 20th Century Fox

6. “The Polar Express” (2004) You haven’t lived until you’ve heard Tom Hanks voice every other character in a movie with an animation style that can only be described as morbidly fascinating.
7. “The Muppet Christmas Carol” (1992) No one could have possibly predicted the pure magic that is Michael Caine singing with Kermit the Frog.
8. “National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation” (1989) If you can stomach a movie led by Chevy Chase, this one’s not entirely bad.
9. “The Santa Clause” (1994) It’s “Prison Break” with elves. What’s not to love? 
10. “The Santa Clause 2” (2002) You’d think Scott Calvin would have learned the importance of reading the fine print in the first movie. I guess not.
11. “Arthur Christmas” (2011) Breaking up the only perfect film trilogy, “Arthur Christmas” offers a more traditional explanation to the Santa Claus tradition, an unavoidably lovable main character, and a geriatric reindeer. 
12. “The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause” (2006) Martin Short’s Jack Frost is a hater first, and I respect that. 
13. “Let It Snow” (2019) The last fifteen minutes of this movie almost make the first 75 bearable.
14. “The Princess Switch” (2018) Just like “Barbie as the Princess and the Pauper,” without the cool song.
15. “The Princess Switch: Switched Again” (2020) I just think it’s funny that they managed to come up with a plausible storyline that involves the main characters pulling the EXACT scheme as in the first one. Believe it or not, Netflix thought we needed a third installment of this series but I won’t make you sit through that.
16. “Home Alone” (1990) Negligent parenting makes for a great physical comedy.
17. “Home Alone 2: Lost in New York” (1992) In the words of a once-great man, “How can you get lost in New York? The streets are numbered.”
18. “It’s a Wonderful Life” (1946) This Christmas classic will lull you right to sleep on the flight home.
19. “Christmas with the Kranks” (2004) Jamie Lee Curtis ALWAYS understands the assignment. Always.
20. “Almost Christmas” (2016) This movie is the only one on this list that captures the chaos and frustration that are inherent to being home for the holidays.
21. “A Christmas Carol” (2009) More spooky Jim Carrey, because why not?
22. “The Nightmare Before Christmas” (1993) You gotta love a movie that counts for two different holidays.
23. “The Holiday” (2006) Only Christmas magic could transform Jack Black into the embodiment of the female gaze.
24. “Elf” (2003) No matter how many times I see this movie, I am never not shocked to see Zooey Deschanel with blonde hair. 
25. “A Charlie Brown Christmas” (1965) No better way to end our holiday journey than with the Peanuts cast.
    

    c/o Sony Pictures

Sulan Bailey can be reached at sabailey@wesleyan.edu.