Christmas Spirit, and 25 Greatest Christmas Movies

Christmas is in 12 days, and I believe I've hardly mentioned it on the blog.  You can't go into a store anymore without a Salvation Army guy ringing a bell down your throat.  With that being said, don't forget what Christmas is all about.  Back in high school, the Yeti (Alan Flinchum) and I worked a shift for the Salvation Army in front of K-Mart in Newport.  It was 6 hours of volunteer work after school which absolutely sucked.  We rung a bell for hours with not too many people giving money.  We talked about everything from the weather to how Alan's mother refuses to pronounce Favre like Far-ve, and will only say Fav-re.  Anyway, I went into Kroger's yesterday and the raggedy Salvation Army dude greeted me.  Like most, I tried not to make eye contact, but in the store, it hit me.  That is a charity out there, trying to raise money for people less fortunate than I am.  You can argue that some of it was their own doing and they cheat welfare and all that, but what about the children?  What about the true spirit of Christmas?  Christmas is to celebrate the birth of our savior, Jesus Christ.  For those of you who don't know, I'm Catholic.  I was baptized, had my confirmation; all that 9 yards.  I strongly believe in God.  There are too many coincidences in this world to just claim science did all of this.  I, however, don't believe in church.  I compare it to Communism.  Before you judge me, hear my point.  The idea of church is great in a vacuum.  The problem is the church is always begging for money.  They make it voluntary but there's definitely a hierarchy for those who give.  They also shun public schools.  I graduated from a public school.  Are you saying I didn't turn out alright?  I remember going through my first communion and confirmation and all that and the Catholic school kids were always treated better.  The priests are not doing anything to help my wanting to go back to church.  They molest little boys and the church buries it under a rug.  Anyway I compare it to Communism because Communism is a great idea on paper, but it never works.  You have to have someone in charge and that ruins the whole idea.  Now back to my original point.  I walked through Kroger's and I've always said I'll never donate to Salvation Army because I paid my debt when I volunteered for them back in the day.  Something hit me in that store.  It's not about me.  It's about the spirit of Christmas.  It's about generosity, and making someone's life a little better.  Leaving the story, I made eye contact with the bell ringer and walked over and popped any loose change I had into his bucket.  The guy was very grateful.  It was worth it just to see the smile on his face.  I got caught up in this selfish world we live in where it's all about me, me, me.  I forgot what it was like to do something like that.  It wasn't much change but a little can go a long way, as they say.  Life isn't about who you are.  It's about how many people you touch that make you who you are.  I look no further than the crucifix hanging from my neck to gather inspiration from.  His 2011'th birthday will be in 12 days.  So let's celebrate, and get out of the serious talk and here is my 25 favorite Christmas movies... The movies are ranked based on how related the movies are to Christmas (like Step Brothers is considered a Christmas movie because Christmas is going on a couple of times but it can't rate too high because it's not all about Christmas), the quality of the movie, the humor/seriousness of the movie, the acting and so on.  The movies have to be feature length so Rudolph, Frosty, and all of those movies do not count.  Without any further ado...here they come.

25 Greatest Christmas Movies

25. Babes in Toyland (1986 Version)-Yes the movie was made for TV, but it had some stars before they were stars...Drew Barrymore and Keanu Reeves.  It only made the list because there is a song about Cincinnati in the movie.  Other than that, at this age it is hard to watch.

24. Die Hard-Okay so it's not the most Christmasy of movies, but it counts especially because of John McClane.  He is such a jolly guy.  He wrote on a dead terrorists shirt, "Now I have a machine gun. Ho ho ho."

23. Step Brothers- Hulk Hands.  Nuff said.

22. Gremlins-This whole gremlins thing is because of Christmas.  Mogwai was a Christmas present.  The rest is history.

21. The Nightmare before Christmas- So this is more of a Halloween movie to me so, this is why it ranks so low on the countdown.  Great movie.  Great soundtrack and of course, Jack the Pumpkin King.  Santa does make an appearance.

20. The Santa Clause 2- This isn't Tim Allen's worst Christmas movie.  He was in Christmas with the Kranks which you won't find on this list.  In fact, I can't remember much of this movie.  I saw it in theaters and never again. There was a third installment of these films with Martin Short I believe that I never saw but I doubt good enough to knock Babes in Toyland out of the 25 spot.

19. 8 Crazy Nights-Not really a Christmas movie, but it is technically about the Jewish version of Christmas.  Christmas is mentioned in this Adam Sandler animated film.  It's a story for Jewish children who have to deal with all these Christmas movies we're talking about.  The soundtrack is awesome and you'll fall in love with Whitey.

18. I'll be Home for Christmas-I remember back in middle school, they would show a Christmas movie to the whole school the last day before Christmas break, yes back when we were still allowed to call it Christmas break before all these politically correct people took over the world...Anyway we watched this one starring JTT once and I remember thinking it was alright.

17. Love Actually- It's a Christmas love story thing with Hugh Grant.  I saw this in theaters as well and never again.  It's not really my favorite movie but chicks seem to like it so here it is.

16. Batman Returns-Outside of the Dark Knight, this is my favorite Batman film.  There is a Christmas undertone when the Penguin comes to Gotham City.

15. Prancer- I remember this being a heart breaker. I think Prancer gets sick and starts dying until a girl who still believes in Santa or whatever nurses him back to health.  I remember really liking this one.

14. Surviving Christmas-Ben Affleck, a millionare in the film pays a family to spend Christmas with him.

13. The Family Man- This is about Nick Cage being a horrible person and he gets to see what his life would've been like if he chose the other way on Christmas Eve.

12. The Santa Clause-Here's Tim Allen again.  A much better and memorable performance in this one.  I remember really liking this movie as a kid.

11. The Family Stone-Sarah Jessica Parker visits her fiance's family for Christmas and realizes she isn't right for the dude. 

10. Home Alone II: Lost in New York- The sequel is never as good as the first and it's still strange to see Joe Pesci in a PG movie but it's still got a few good laughs and whatnot.  The video game was pretty fun.

9. A Christmas Story-I think it's overrated.  So here it is.

8. Jack Frost/ The Grinch-Neither movie in my opinion lived up to the hype so if you put them together they are top 10 material.  Remember there was a horror movie called Jack Frost that came out at the same time and people saw the box and were like what the hell?

7. White Christmas/It's a Wonderful Life- I have not seen either of these films but on a facebook poll I took, these two received enough support to put them in the top 10, but not above Ernest.

6. Ernest Saves Christmas- Yes Ernest is at it again saving Christmas no big deal.

5. Home Alone- Here are the McAlister's being irresponsible leaving their kid behind.  John Candy has a minor role in this and that always helps.  I remember being scared of the neighbor when I was little.

4. Bad Santa- The raunchy side of Christmas movies brought to you by Billy Bob Thornton who I'm pretty sure plays himself.  The kid they found for this is perfect for the role and the chick from Gilmore Girls is also in this as well as a midget.

3. National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation- I crack up every time I see this from the lights issue, to Uncle Eddie, to Granny singing the National Anthem.  So many good quotes and definitely top 5.  The Griswold's never fail to entertain unless it's National Lampoon's European Vacation.

2. Elf- "Bye Buddy, Hope you find your dad." "I like smiling. Smiling is my favorite." "Buddy the Elf, what's your favorite color?"  There are so many quotes in this classic I'm sure you've all seen so I'm not going to describe the plot.  Will Ferrell makes you forget the saying that PG movies can't be good.  

1. Jingle All The Way-When you put Arnold in a Christmas movie, how can't it be number one?  Then throw Sinbad in as the villian and the late Phil Hartman playing the All-American Dad.  Must see.  I'd quote it but it's impossible to talk like Arnold in text. "It's Turbo Time."  From my friend Bob McCoy: Bob McCoy 

if you would like to add my synopsis on why Jingle All The Way is also the best and most awesome road movie....

howard langston is a man conflicted. addicted to working and unable to see the big picture of whats happening to his family life and his marriage, everything comes to a finality when he misses one of the most important events in his sons current life.

destroyed, and knowing he is on the verge of losing everything that means anything to him.. he makes a promise to get the one thing his son wants in an effort to effectively buy back his love and repair things the same way he does in his business life where he makes everyone his "number one customer". he constantly goes above and beyond for his customers, so why not now for his son on the cusp of losing him forever?

with an empty promise and a lie in his hands.. he sets off on what he thinks will be a simple journey to fullfill his life and get everything back in order. what he actually gets, is a lesson in whats really important.

howard embarks on a journey all across the tri state area in an effort to find the elusive "turboman"... encountering crazed shoppers, rabid old ladies, precocious children, insults, ridicule... all the while not seeing that under his nose, his family is about to be stolen away at the efforts of his jigalo next door neighbor and a frustrated wife who has had enough.

howard travels far and wide to achieve what he thinks is his goal.. battling gangs of santa claus con men, taking the brunt of abuse and competition against his arch nemesis myron.. and also dodging the police on his renegade mission to find the turbo man and bring peace, love and happiness back to his home life.

ultimately he loses his chance, narrowly escapes being arrested, has his car highjacked and stripped, gets ripped off, and returns to his home.. only to go below the belt and attempt to steal the doll from under his neighbors tree. after nearly burning the place down, and nearly killing a reindeer... his life leaves him with neighbor in tow.

howard has his "come to jesus" moment in which he realizes that giving up is not an option, and decides to try and rejoin his family at the christmas parade and make things right.

after getting swept up in another mess and mistaken identity, he has a final epic battle with his nemesis where he is forced to save his sons life, reconicle with the cops, and reunite the love back to his family.

howard realizes the true meaning of not only christmas itself, but of love and sees what he had been missing the whole time. he saves his sons life, and in effect; changes both of their lives making each other see the importance of what really matters.... the father/son love relationship that goes above all else.

in the end the family are brought back together, howard is changed forever, and he is restored as a great father, husband, and patriarch of his family.

This blog is too long to do a winner and loser of the day, so here is the Quote of the Day:

"This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger."-Luke 2:12

Song of the Day: The Broken Ones by Dia Frampton

Yeti Photo of the Day: