Countdown to Christmas: Seven Days - Favorite Christmas Movies

Christmas is my favorite time of the year, and since we're just one week away from the big day, I wanted to do a series of posts for every day leading up to it to share some of the things I love most about the season! So, without further ado, welcome to day one of Countdown to Christmas! Today's topic: my favorite Christmas movies!

Home Alone 2

This has always been my favorite of the Home Alone duology. (I absolutely refuse to acknowledge the existence of Home Alone 3 or any other spin-offs. If it doesn't have Macauly Culkin, it ain't Home Alone, people!) When I was little, I loved watching Kevin explore his room in the Plaza Hotel, open that giant cabinet full of candy and cookies, ride in a limousine with his very own pizza while watching The Grinch, and exploring the wonderland that was Duncan's Toy Chest.

How the Grinch Stole Christmas

The thing I remember most about watching this movie as a kid was how funny I thought it was. I seriously thought it was the most hilarious movie ever. I loved all the Grinch's funny quips, especially his voicemail message: "If you utter so much as one syllable, I'LL HUNT YOU DOWN AND GUT YOU LIKE A FISH! If you'd like to fax me, press the star key." I would crack up at this part every single time (and I still do)!

Christmas Vacation

I never get tired of watching Christmas Vacation. Like the Grinch, there are so many hilarious moments. When I lived in Indiana, we started the tradition of going to see Christmas Vacation at this little renovated movie theater that was in a small town about twenty minutes from where I used to live. They hold screenings of it the weekend before Christmas, and people go dressed up as their favorite characters and shout their favorite lines in time with the movie. It became one of my favorite things to do, and I'm really sad I wasn't be able to go this year.

The Holiday

This is such a fun, feel-good Christmas movie! And the soundtrack by Hans Zimmer is awesome. Oh yeah, and Jude Law is pretty darn adorable too. ;)

Love Actually

Apparently, over the last couple of years, it's become the new "cool" thing to do to hate on Love Actually. Whatever. I don't really get why people are such grouches (or should I say grinches?) about it, but I still love this movie despite its flaws. Bill Nighy's character is so freaking hilarious, and I love the stories about Jamie and Aurelia and Sam and his stepdad (whose name is escaping me at the moment). Plus, let's be real: it's worth watching just for that Hugh Grant dance scene alone.

A Christmas Story

If there ever comes a day when TBS no longer does the 24-hour marathon of A Christmas Story, my heart will break. I absolutely have to watch it all the way through at least once (preferably the first time it plays on Christmas Eve) and then have it on in the background until it ends on Christmas night. There were many Christmas Eves as a kid when I would be too excited about Santa to fall asleep, so I'd turn on my TV and watch A Christmas Story until I finally crashed.

The Family Stone

You know how some movies just give you a cozy feeling when you watch them? That's how I feel when watching The Family Stone. It's funny and bittersweet and filled with holiday family drama, and even though it's a bit sad at the end, it's a comforting movie for me. And the soundtrack by Michael Giacchino is so pretty. Seriously, go listen to "A Big Red Shovel," "It's Snowing," and "A Very Good Tree" and tell me that they don't make you feel all warm and fuzzy but also kind of like you want to cry at the same time. (Damn it, I just listened to them and now I am crying!)

The Polar Express

So, for reasons I can't remember now, I totally hated The Polar Express the first time I saw it in the theater. I was in the eighth grade, so maybe chalk it up to being a surly teen. Lol. Now, though, whenever I watch it, I always get a huge lump in my throat at the end when the boy (all grown up) talks about how the time comes when his little sister can no longer hear the Christmas bell Santa gave to him. UGH! MY HEART!

Elf

This is another movie that I wasn't all that crazy about when I first saw it that has now become a must-watch every Christmas. Again, must have been in surly teenager mode at the time!

Love the Coopers

This is one of my more recent Christmas favorites. I love all the flashbacks in it and the folksy Christmas music they use. (Though I could do without the family sing-along montage in the middle. Ugh. So much secondhand embarrassment! Lol!) Also, there are, like, zero gifs for this movie, so here's the trailer.

Three Days

I think I must be the only person left who actually likes this movie because ABC Family/Freeform never plays it anymore, and you can't get it on DVD, much to my disappointment. If you've never heard of Three Days, it's a made-for-TV movie that came out in 2001 about a man named Andrew whose wife dies on Christmas Eve. Andrew is visited by an angel named Lionel shortly after, and Lionel gives Andrew the past three days to live over again so that he can prove his love to Beth, who died thinking Andrew had cheated on her (ANGST! DRAMA!). It's cheesy, but I love it so darn much, and I'm so mad that you literally can't buy it ANYWHERE! This movie is also gifless, probably because I'm the only person on the planet who likes it, lol!

George Ballanchine's The Nutcracker

When I was little, I was obsessed with The Nutcracker ballet. The first time I ever saw it was when I watched the 1993 movie version with Macaulay Culkin. I loved everything about it: the party scenes, the music, the costumes, the dancing (and little four-year-old Alex may have had a crush on Macaulay Culkin as the Nutcracker Prince). To this day, one of my favorite Christmas traditions is going to see the ballet live. I'll be going to see it this Saturday for the first time in a couple of years, and I can't wait!

Phew! That was a lot of movies! Now you all tell me what some of your favorites are!
And be sure to come back tomorrow for day two of Countdown to Christmas! :)