my bit torrent failed me. Several movies that made my list were unobtainable. So I punished myself by watching a couple HORRID RIFFTRAX Christmas movies.

So we’ll start with Santa’s Christmas Circus (with Wizzo the Clown!) Yes I watched it. Regional TV “personality does a Christmas movies. 0.4/10. Just don’t.

Followed it up with Santa and the Ice Crem Bunny – which is even worse than it sounds. It is now ranked 8,979 out of 8,992. I never have to do this again.

We return to the “normal” list with Elf. It’s grown on my but never gonna get much above the 4.7 I’ve been giving it. Hopefully something will eventually supplant it. Zoey is still the ideal manic pixie yadda yadda. Mary Steenburgen as the JAP celebrating Christmas. Angry Ed Asner as Claus. And Peter Dinklage in his breakout roll.

At last a classic. Christmas in Connecticut. Barbara Stanwyck. Sydney Greenstreet. And a marvelous supporting cast. Occasionaly seems to have outlived it’s stay but no – it’s just charming. 9.4. Top 500.

Kind of a Halloween carryover, but Tim Burton’s Nightmare Before Christmas keeps hanging around. Music is solid. Burton at his best. 6.3. Makes the list based on the masses.

And finally the last of the previously unwatched. Dr. Who. The Time of the Doctor. Probably good if you’re a fan. I’m not. 3.4. Maybe NEXT year Star Wars will make the list.

Same drill as October.And SOMEBODY suggested I do this with Thanksgiving movies NEXT year. There aren’t many but we may give it a shot. But first … Christmas 2022

We begin with a 1901 silent version of A Christmas Carol. I figure another 10-15 years I will have caught them all. The first of the unseens. Eleven minutes. Meh. 2.7/10

The Small One, a Don Bluth project from Disney in the late 70’s. Not really entertaining on any level. 2.7

The Long Kiss Goodnight. If YOU can have Die Hard I can have Geena Davis and Samuel L Jackson on the run from the CIA and the mob. With a TON of Christmas though. Dropped it to a 4.9 this year though. Probably won’t make it again.

Jumped the gun on Home Alone but there it is. And just for good measure we might throw in “2” in a few days. 8.8. Actually moved it UP!

Another silent Scrooge previously unseen, this time from 1923. Twenty-seven minutes this time. A marginal improvement at 3.1

The final movie of this set was … interesting. Anna and the Apocalypse. Think Shawn of the Dead meets High School Musical. Not the WORST thing I’ve seen this week but I’m not the target audience either. 4.5

The final five in no particular order.

1966 How the Grinch Stole Christmas. I was sad this year. It seemed lacking. The animation has lost it’s luster. Don’t get me wrong. The voices of Thurl Ravenscroft and Boris Karloff still bring it. (Side not. Why, JK Simmons, did you take the role of Tony the Tiger? Do you need the money THAT bad? Surely a tech savvy sound guy could take all of the Ravenscroft audio and deep fake any text the Sugar Frosted Flakes Folks need.) Dropping it to a 9.4. Will likely make the list next year but it’ll be earlier in the month.

1947 Miracle on 34th Street. Touching. Fun. 9.5. Kim want’s to see the 90’s version. Might add the ’55 version as well next year.

1983 A Christmas Story. As mentioned before, not one of my favorites but my dad was about Ralphie’s age and LOVED it. 9.4

1946 It’s a Wonderful Life. Watched it with family Christmas Day this year. See below. 9.2

1965 A Charlie Brown Christmas. 9.4 Watched it when Kim and I got home from our respective festivities and while doing a small gift exchange. Wonderful bow at the end of the day.

It was a great Christmas but an odd one. My BiL’s mother was near death so he and my sis headed to York Pa to be together as a family. As a result we opted on Thursday to move our gift exchange to New Years Day. We’d still do the Christmas Eve family gathering for those of us who could, and the “big”Christmas dinner. Imagine our surprised when the York contingent showed up Christmas Eve! Seems mom was sent home under hospice care! Then Christmas morning I got a call that the boy and his fiance both tested positive for Covid. A family member of HERS had tested positive and there was much “mild symptoms” abounding so they took a test to protect my 87 year old mom and three educators who might have school issues. So they DIDN’T make it to the “big” dinner. We had six this year. We were happy and thankful and fun and were well fed but we al felt the oppressive weight of the lack of “crowd.” This from a family that hosted double digit holiday meals as a matter of course, with an occasional slip into the 20+ range!

And I made Kim cry with her gift.

So it was QUITE a good Christmas.

Elf. Mary Steenburgen makes another appearance. And James Caan shows up. And Zoey Duschanel is cute. And some new guy named Bill Ferrel. 5/10 from me but everybody ELSE seems to like it.

Muppet Christmas Carol. Toe tapping numbers and Michael Caine. A solid 9/10.

National Lampoon’s Christmaks Vacation. 8/10. And as I mention every year … Brian Doyle-Murray plays Clark’s boss AND Bill Murray’s dad in Scrooged.

Love Actually. VERY sweet. And better every viewing. 9.1

Scrooged. 9.4. Funny and poignant. And another wherein I see something new EVERY time.

We’ve decided to save Charlie Brown for Christmas night together so the final write-up will be 12/26ish.

A few old favorites and a few that won’t need to be revisited.

We start with the 2003 animated Tokyo Godfathers. Odd. Quirky. Heartwarming. And beautifully rendered. I give it a 2/10 but the masses show it quite a bit of love putting it in the second thousand.

Bad news. NEXT year the Star Wars Christmas Special will likely make the list. Good news: Hogfather made it THIS year. From Terry Pratchet’s Discworld series. Just fun. Michelle Dockery from Downton Abbey brightens the festivities but not enough to make it better than 2/10

My list give us the 1938 version of A Christmas Carol, featuring the entire Lockhart family. My sister prefers the ’51 version but for some unknown reason this one tugs my strings. I give it a 9/10 even though the masses disagree, putting it in the top 5,000.

1985 gave us Mary Steenburgen, Harry Dean Stanton and a couple other familiar faces in One Magic Christmas. It’s a tough one to watch. I’ll give it 3/10 but I’m not sure why.

The Bishop’s Wife, David Niven, Loretta Young and Cary Grant, from 1947. Light fluffy festive escapism. The first movie on our list from both me and the masses. 9/10.

And an unexpected freebie. Hulu was streaming the 2019 A Christmas Carol with Guy Pierce and Andy Serkis. NOT your fathers Christmas Carol. Scrooge is <ahem> MUCH nastier in this one. Some interesting casting choices. Some good special effects. Overall this perhaps comes closer to the “against type” ghost story Dickens was TRYING to tell than the treacly offerings the cinematic world has given us. Currently I’ll give it a 9/10 but subsequent viewing may lower it. We expect it to be back next year.

and no, Die Hard isn’t on it. It may be on yours though and if it is I’m happy for you.

Started the month with FIVE previously unseen Christmas movies (and took Eight Crazy Days off the list. Not a Christmas movie. Even though it’s set at Christmas time. Jus’ sayin.)

1949 made for TV version of Dickens titles THE Christmas Carol. Vincent Price narrated. That’s the ONLY good thing here. Oh – and it’s only about 25 minutes long. Reads like a mediocre community theater stage production. 1 out of 10. Don’t waste your time unless you’re on a quest to watch every version ever put to film.

Christmas Comes but Once a Year. 1936. Another Fleisher bit. If you’re looking for seasonal period treacle this is it. 3/10.

Bugs Bunny’s Looney Christmas Tales. Money grab from ’79. 2/10.

Rudolph and Frosty’s Christmas in July. Rankin Bass drek ALSO from ’79. 1/10. Even the voices of some wonderfully talented people sound old and tired.

And rounding out our first five: Silent Night, Deadly Night part two. 75% of which is flashbacks from part 1! 1/10. And there are THREE more of these!! Been a bleak start to the movie viewing month. The next five will be better. I promise.

A Christmas Story. My dad loved this because Ralphy was his age. Or was he Ralphy’s age? Regardless I give it a low 9/10. Heart warming? Yes? Cartoonish? Yes. Score sucks? Yes. But many of us can relate to Scott Farkas, the Bumpus’s dogs and gifts from Aunt Clara.

It’s a Wonderful Life. Just because.

and at the top of my list, 1965’s A Charlie Brown Christmas. I was 7. That has a LOT to do with it. And it’s AWESOME. So there. And then there’s this.

Thinking of scraping the list for next year. Too much Die Hard et al pressure. The “unwatched” list is pretty much kwap (although the Kranks wasn’t bad thanks to the cast.) Maybe trim it to 10.

Regardless, hope you and yours had a happy, safe, comfortable season. Because next week? KABOOM!

kicked off with the last of my previously unseens … The Santa Clause 3. Not bad. Good cast. Basically “It’s a Wonderful Life.” Watchable but only 4 out of 10.

we then enjoyed National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation. Tips of the hat to Brian Doyle-Murray who ALSO appears as Frank Cross’ father in Scrooged, William Hickey who voiced the professor in Nighmare Before Christmas, and of course Nicolette Scorsese. 8/10

The Muppet Christmas Carol. Michael Cain is solid. Perhaps my favorite version of the telling. 9/10

Love Actually. Some familial disagreement about whether this IS a Christmas movie, but it works for me. Awesome cast. 9/10 but perhaps over-rated.

How the Grinch Stole Christmas – the REAL (and imho ONLY one.) 9.7/10

Scrooged. Gives the Muppets a good run for the money. Tidbits? The two folks in the shelter with Michael Pollard? Very long and distinguished careers. She did Goonies and Throw Momma From the Train. He was in, well, over 130 things! And MARRIED to each other. Who knew?! And Mrs. Rhinelander. Over 2 dozen credits in the 50’s but no work from 1958! And she’s Marlena Dietrich’s daughter!!

And we’ll close out THIS part of the list with John Payne, Maureen O’Hara, Natalie Wood and Edmund Gwenn. Miracle on 34th Street. Special note? The Judge is played by Gene Lockhart, who played Bob Cratchit in the 1938 Christmas Carol with his whole family as the Cratchit kids, including June (Lassie, Lost in Space.)

my true love gave to me ….

Four Christmases. Not BAD per se, but just not good. I like both leads and they play characters which fit nicely into their type. The supporting cast should be awesome (Duval, Spacek, Voight, Steenburgen) but the writing falls apart. We’re introduced to our principals. They are typically stereotypical. Insert surprise event here. Then a whirlwind of Christmas was each member of the family. Became a drawn out sitcom or a too often recurring sketch set-piece. Watchable one. And as much as I love Mary Steenburgen I can’t watch her in a Christmas movie without thinking of the wonderful seasonal song stylings of Barbra Streisand! 4/10

A Christmas Carol. 1971. British. Animated. Adds nothing new to the genre. Alistar Sim voices the big guy and Chuck Jones produces so …. you know … quality. But not worth the time. 3/10

All I Want for Christmas. 1991. And NOT that insipid pop song. Loren Bacall ALONE makes this watchable. It’s a predictable pull at the heart strings as the kids try to keep divorcing parents together. Kevin Nealon plays a schmuck which IMHO is no reach. Leslie Nielson as Santa. And Andrea Martin making her THIRD appearance on the list this season! 7/10

A Flintstones Christmas Carol. 1994. A nod to the Magoo version. I was moderately pleased with the voice actors, but you can safely pass on watching. 4/10

A Christmas Eve on Sesame Street. 1978. Just no. But it WAS fun to MST3K. 2 …. out of 100.

The Nighmare Before Christmas. Why do I do this to myself. EVERY year. 5/10

And closed it out with a threesome. The Santa Clause trilogy. Hadn’t seen 2 or 3. The first gets a 6.4. The SECOND got a 7.5! Not sure why except for Elizabeth Mitchell. And Wendy Crewson fixed her hair. Number 3 will kick off next week.