We started with our favorite, White Christmas, and I watched another of my favorites, Desk Set, the same day. (Both were on Netflix.) I know that Desk Set, with Spencer Tracy and Katherine Hepburn, isn't a traditional Christmas movie, but it has Christmas trees and presents. And I like it.
Today, Holly and I watched two more favorites, The Bishop's Wife and Miracle on 34th Street (the one with Edmond Gwenn). We haven't seen It's a Wonderful Life yet, but it'll probably be on TV later today; I don't have a copy of it.
Holly also broke out our copy of Holiday Inn tonight, but I couldn't watch it. I like White Christmas MUCH better.
Tomorrow (or later today), we'll watch another of our favorites, It Happened on Fifth Avenue. It's not a traditional favorite, but it's one of MY favorites. I found it at Big Lots, and I've been watching it ever since.
Oh, I forgot; we watched Trading Places with Dan Ackroyd and Eddie Murphy (plus Jamie Leigh Curtis) recently on Netflix. Yes, it's not a traditional Christmas movie, either, but it has Christmas, Santa and presents, and I love that movie.
One other thing: I also watched The Santa Clause 2 on Netflix the other day. It's less mean-spirited than the first one and way better than the third one.
Oh, I don't want to forget A Christmas Visitor, a Hallmark TV movie featuring William Devane, Meredith Baxter and Dean McDermott. I try to watch it every Christmas season.
P.S.: You're probably wondering about A Christmas Story not being on this list. I'm not a huge fan of that movie.
Also, I found Small-Town Santa last year. It features former Superman Dean Cain, and Holly and I watched it together this year. I really like the guy who played Santa. (Oddly, I found a YouTube review that panned Small-Town Santa, saying this Santa had a scary face. I didn't think so. He just wasn't your traditional Santa.)
MORE WHITE CHRISTMAS: I was just watching a portion of White Christmas again (my third time in a month), and I noticed Danny Kaye's character telling the girls that he and Bing could give them pointers on that "Sisters" number. The girls had already gone for the train when Bing and Danny did their version of the "Sisters" number. They wouldn't know what he was talking about.
For some reason, that had never registered with me before.
My only explanation is that Kaye told the girls offscreen about their sister act.
NETFLIX: I used to rent Christmas in Connecticut each year from Netflix DVDs, and there was a bonus movie called Star in the Night. I didn't remember the name of the movie, but I Googled J. Carrol Naish, the star of the movie.
It popped up immediately, and I just watched it again. It makes me feel good every time I see it.
I recognized three other faces on the movie. One was Anthony Caruso, who played in the Star Trek episode A Piece of the Action. I have no idea the name of one of the three cowboy-hatted "wise men," but I know that face (it was Richard Erdman). The other was the little man who kept trying to marry Barbara Stanwyck off to the wrong man in Christmas in Connecticut. I looked it up, and Judge Crowthers was played by Dick Elliott.
UPDATE: A year or two ago, I watched Pottersville, a strange Christmas movie about Bigfoot. The hero of the movie (Maynard Greiger) learns that he's had a wonderful life (or is about to have one). The interesting thing is that the mean old bad man in It's A Wonderful Life was Mr. Potter.
I won't watch Pottersville again, but I enjoyed it.
ANOTHER UPDATE: I just watched The Christmas Chronicles with Kurt Russell. There's a lot of Christmas magic (nice FX), and the ending is, naturally, sweet.
Russell is a cross between Tim Allen's Santa, Mario Andretti, the new Steve McGarrett and Elvis Presley. By the way, Mrs. Claus looks and sounds a lot like Goldie Hawn.
One other thing: the elves are kinda weird, in a good way.
I would have loved to live in Tim Allen's North Pole; not so here.
FINALLY: No, I don't consider Diehard a Christmas movie just because Alan Rickman sings a Christmas song at the end.
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