This list makes up my favorite Christmas specials/movies. These aren’t necessarily the “best” but are the ones that I personally have to watch every year for it to feel like Christmas time:
10) How the Grinch Stole Christmas (Animated Version) - Like most Christmas movies, this one is about the magic of the season and about redemption. It’s also a faithful adaptation of Dr. Sues! What’s not to love about this? (just sucks they made the live-action version because it takes away from the animated version) 
9) White Christmas - I know everyone and their mother loves “It’s a Wonderful Life” but I think its over rated. When I want my “classic” Christmas needs meet the only movie that does it for me is Bing Crosby’s “White Christmas.”
8)Year Without a Santa Claus - I love women. As a result, in my movies/tv shows I love strong female characters, which is why I love “A Year Without A Santa Claus” because for the first time Mrs. Claus gets the spotlight she deserves.
7) Nightmare Before Christmas - Jack as Santa trying to turn Halloween Town into Christmas Town. Tim Burton. Disney songs that are actually decent… AWSOME MOVIE!
6) Elf - This is by far the newest film on this list, but I think it deserves to be here. It has that wacky humor and tone of the classic stop-motion specials but the whit of Will Ferrell and Jon Favreau that makes it a modern classic.
5) A Christmas Story - Christmas movies are about one of three things… the mythos of Christmas, a character discovering the magic of Christmas, or dysfunctional families. “A Christmas Story” is one of the kings of family Christmas movies. “You’ll shoot your eye out” and frozen tongues are part of pop culture and wouldn’t exist without this movie! ((side note: Yes when I was a kid I stuck my tongue to a pole to see if it would really freeze.))
4) Home Alone - Maybe I’m biased because I was a kid when this first came out, but to me its just not Christmas unless you spend it with the Macalister Family. Not only is this a great Christmas movie, but it is one of the best slap-stick comedies since the days of Abbot and Costello. It’s also soooooooooo quotable! “you’re what the French call les incompetents.” “Look what you did you little jerk!” “I’m gonna give you to the count of 10 to get your ugly, yellow, no-good keister off my property before I pump your guts full of lead! One, two, ten!”
3) National Lampoon’s Christmas Vaction - There is no other family in existence that is more dysfunctional than the Griswold’s. Not even The Bundy’s or Rosanne could take them on! And what makes them so great is that seeing just how crazy the Griswold’s are makes you feel better about how crazy your own family is. I mean my family drives me nuts but at least they’ve never wrapped up a dead cat in a box or dumped raw fecal matter into storm drains.
2) Charlie Brown’s Christmas – Part of me feels that “Charlie Brown’s Christmas” is overrated and played out. But the other part of me just can’t go a year without wanting to join the overly wordy children as they talk about commercialism and presents.
1) Rudolph and Frosty’s Christmas in July- I know this seems like an odd choice and most of you have probably never heard of this movie before. But I LOVE it! This is the first “crossover” I ever experienced in my life and that concept just blew my mind. I mean here we had Rudolph, Frosty, Frosty’s Family, Santa, and Jack Frost all in one movie! It was all my favorite xmas characters together, how could I not love it?
Honorable Mentions
Mickey’s Christmas Carol - Everyone has their Favorite “Christmas Carol” adaptation and for me… I love the Disney version. Not only do they stay faithful to the book, but they somehow mange to squeeze in all the major plot points in 30 minutes without making the film feel rushed. Plus its fun to see all the classic Disney Characters together.
Nestor the Christmas Donkey - I only got made fun of for one thing when I was little… Big Ears. Everyone always made fun of me for my ears and I was always called “Frodo” and “Dumbo” (Eventually I hit puberty and the proportion of my head and ears evened out). So it’s no wonder I’ve always enjoyed this special about a donkey with super-big ears. For those of you who haven’t seen it, Nestor is born with long ears and everyone makes fun of him… but eventually a Christmas angel comes to him and its Nestor’s job to carry Mary and her newborn Jesus threw a storm and the only way they survive is because of Nestor’s super-hearing and ability to keep them warm with is big ears.
The Family Stone – This is a really odd choice because like “Love Actually” or the first “Gremlins” I’m not sure many people would consider this a Christmas movie, but I definitely think it counts. Then by normal standards it’s a good movie. You have comedy, drama, family-melodrama, and romantic comedy elements! It’s just quirky and fun.
