Top 5 Christmas Movies

The Athanas home is ready for the Christmas season. Pandora has been set to Christmas music, the tree is up, wreaths have been purchased (one from the local Boy Scouts that will be delivered later this week), and the house has been decorated. The only thing left to do is pop some popcorn and entertain ourselves with some of our favorite Christmas movies. What do Steve and I love to watch around the holidays? Well... here are my

Top 5 Favorite Christmas Movies

A Christmas Story: Who doesn't love this movie? Who didn't want a Red Rider BB Gun as a kid as a result of this movie, even if for just a second? This is one of the most classic, most quotable Christmas movies of all time. If you've never seen it don't worry - TBS plays it for 24 hours every Christmas, so you can certainly catch it if you've got basic cable. If not - check your local library and put a reserve on it. You'll laugh and you'll become nostalgic... it's that kind of movie.

One of my favorite scenes - If you've never seen the movie, don't watch it. It's kind of a spoiler.

The Nativity Story: This is a more recent film that came out a few years ago. It documents the story of Mary & Joseph relatively closely to how it is relayed in the Bible and is really a beautiful film. There aren't any subtitles, and the woman they cast to play Mary does an amazing job. A must see if you're looking for a film to help you refocus on the reason for the season (as it were).

The trailer for "The Nativity Story"

Love Actually: I love a good romantic comedy, and I also love a good romantic comedy starring Hugh Grant. This is a heart-warming story (or really... interrelated stories) with lots of British Accents, hilarity, and a drunken singer who sings a terrible song that becomes a hit. This is a fantastic movie for cuddling up on the couch with a glass of wine and a big bowl of popcorn with your significant other on a chilly winter evening.

The trailer for "Love Actually"

The Polar Express: A movie based on the children's book of the same title, the story behind the film is a great parable for faith and believing. Tom Hanks does an awesome job as the Dad/Conductor/Bum/Santa, and if you read the book as a child you'll agree that the artwork is spot-on. We saw this in the theaters and made sure to buy it the next Christmas season. Such a great film.

Embedding was disabled by request, but my one of my favorite parts of the movie is the "Hot Chocolate" number. You can view it by clicking here.

It's a Wonderful Life: This movie actually does have a ranking in our household - number one. This is a great movie that reminds us about giving, the joys of living a life for others, and how we can have an impact on the people around us. I seriously cry at the end of this movie every year. We watch this one as close to Christmas as we can since it's our favorite and it's the only one of our movies that we make sure to save as a date-night film. If you've never seen this movie - you MUST.

The scene where George Bailey gives his speech in the boardroom - great glimpse into his character.

That rounds out the movies that are on my must-see list every year. I will say that there are a few others that I get excited to see around this time of year - "Elf", "National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation", "A Christmas Carol" with Patrick Stewart, and "A Muppet Christmas Carol" are a few of them. For whatever it's worth, Steve contends that "Die Hard" is also a Christmas movie... I'm not so sure about that, but we'll probably watch it anyways.