A Golden Night for Geeky Flicks-The Kids Version

For those of you who may have missed, yesterday was the Golden Globes, which goes by some hoity-toity real name, but we will call it the Golden Globes (It's the Hollywood Foreign Press, just in case you thought I didn't know). I don't care much for these kinds of things, award shows, I mean.  Typically, my type of movie doesn't win.  Sure there are exceptions, but by and large, the winners are typically movies or shows that I have never seen and have little desire to see.  Maybe that makes me uncultured. I'm ok with that, so you should be too.

Last night was a little different, especially in the Best Animated Feature category, or as it should be called, the Disney/Pixar Award. The award has been a part of the Golden Globes since 2007, and since then a non-Disney/Pixar film has won the award a grand total of once-when Cars 2 lost out to The Adventures of Tintin.  All the other winners have been Disney/Pixar or Disney. And they have all been not really "geeky" type films.  You can see the list of winners here. But last night was different.

The nominees for Best Animated Feature last night were: How to Train Your Dragon 2, The Lego Movie, Big Hero 6, The Book of Life, and The Box Trolls. The last two are more traditional, non-geeky films, like the previous winners of this  award, but the other three, I would say are pretty geeky, and all pretty good.  Reading over the category, I realized last year was a great year for geeky kids' flicks. You could make an argument for any of these three to be the winner, but I think they got it right when they gave the award to How to Train Your Dragon 2 (only the second non-Disney film to win this award).

I really enjoyed the first How to Train Your Dragon, and the second film was one those rare sequels that's just as good, if not better. The story is awesome just because it involves dragons and vikings. On top of that, though, it has a lot of heart. Hiccup is not your normal viking, but he doesn't let that stop him- he works through it and finds his own place. Plus the film gets a little heavy, when his father dies, but it doesn't over do it. If you haven't seen this film yet, first of all, sorry for the spoiler, and second, go and rent it and watch it. It is beautifully animated and has a great story and deserves to win this award.

On top of that, though, the other two geeky films were pretty fantastic as well. There has never been anything quite like The Lego Movie and it will be hard for anyone to ever replicate that ever. Even the equal will have a hard time capturing the same lightning in a bottle. The movie has it all, likable characters, great humor and Batman. You really can't go wrong, except when I saw the preview I thought it was going to be a disaster. It surprised everyone, I think. Big Hero 6 is what we get when we merge Marvel with Disney and leave Disney in charge-a super hero movie with maybe a little too much heart. It is not a bad movie, by any means, but it just feels weird to me.

The real point here, however, is that we had 3 great geeky kids' movies last year. It is a great time to be a geek, and more than that, it is a great time to be a geeky parent. It is becoming easier for us to find geeky things to expose our children to, in order to raise the next generation of geeks. Really, it is pretty exciting.

What do you think? Did the right animated film win last night? Let us know in the comments below what your thoughts were.

My Kids and Star Wars

One of the main reasons I got married and decided to start having kids was so I could have my own little geek army.  I was going to raise them right and teach them everything I know about everything geeky.  My kids were going to be the coolest kids ever, by being the geekiest kids ever.  I was going to do my younger self proud.  When I was a kid, it wasn't cool to be a geek, so I felt pretty alone in my geekery.  When I grew up, I promised my self that I would never be alone again.  My kids would all appreciate everything I was made fun of for as a kid.

One of the big things that I swore my kids would know was Star Wars.  That was such a big part of my life growing up.  I think we went through a few sets of video cassettes watching those movies.  I loved them.  They shaped a lot about me as kid and a teen and now as an adult. I felt like this was one of the most important randoms I could share with my kids.  As the prequels came out, and I enjoyed them so little, I swore that not only would my kids love Star Wars, but they would do it right, and only enjoy the originals.  Oh to be young and so naive. I had my kids, and I have tried to bring them all up as little geeks.  I tried extra hard to bring them up Star Wars.  I even have photographic evidence:

That's Johnny, Eliza, and Jak, Halloween 2011.  They are the cutest little Star Wars people I have ever seen.  They were excited about these little costumes at the time, but that was really the extent of their Star Wars knowledge and love.  For whatever reason, despite my best efforts, none of the kids seemed that interested in the movies.  At all.  It made me sad, but I never want my kids to feel like I am forcing anything on them.  So, I had to find ways to secretly force Star Wars on them until they loved it.  I would offer to buy them Star Wars toys, and only Star Wars toys.  If they didn't want them, that was fine, but they couldn't have other toys instead.  I tried to trick them into watching the Clone Wars cartoons, but each time the episodes would start, the kids left the room.  Part of me started to feel like I was failing as a father. I mean a minor fail, not like Anakin choking the mother of his children and then becoming a mass murderer kind of a fail as a father.

Then last weekend happened.  We had a Star Wars party at our house.  We invited some friends, and a few even came.  And my kids got really excited for it.  They could not wait to watch Star Wars with my friends.  They all tried to stay up late, but after a week that also included New Year's, it just wasn't happening.  Johnny only made it through A New Hope, before falling asleep.  To my surprise, and delight, he woke up the next day and wanted to start right where he had left off the night before, so I started Empire for him, and he was glued to it, and then devoured Return of the Jedi. He couldn't get enough. He loved it, and I was a proud papa.

Then return of the Jedi was over, and he wanted more.  He knew the prequels existed.  He knew a series doesn't start with 4.  He wanted to watch 1-3.  I caved, and I let him watch the movies.  He wanted me to sit and watch them with him, and I caved again.  I would have killed to have my dad sit down and watch Star Wars with me, so there was no way I was going to deprive my son of that moment.  So I sat and watched the prequels with him.  As I did, I came to some realizations.

First, I realized that my kids would never know Star Wars minus the prequels.  Part of me thinks that's sad, but another part of me doesn't think it's that bad.  For Johnny, the prequels are going to be a part of his growing up like the original trilogy was for me.  Yes, all three movies are totally CGI and Green Screen, which to old time Star Wars fans is blasphemy, but Johnny won't feel that way.  He's used to it.  What movie isn't CGI or green screen now?  That's how our kids will experience movies.  We can like it or not, but it doesn't change the reality.  Him watching those movies that were more what he is used to, helped him bridge a gap to the original trilogy and enjoy those movies more than he would have.

Second, I think I have been overly critical of some things in the prequels.  I make that statement, and then I must clarify.  By no means am I saying that the prequels are as good as the original trilogy, but they're not as bad as we make them out to be either.  Yes, the actors who play Anakin are awful, but they are also kids.  Natalie Portman doesn't give her best performance ever, but it was also her big break.  Watch A New Hope again and try to tell me that Mark Hammil and Carrie Fischer gave Oscar worthy performances.  They didn't.  They were young too.  They got better as the trilogy went on, as does Portman in the prequels.  Guess what, though, your kids don't care.  Kids don't sit down for a movie and say, "That actor moved me."  No, they sit down and want to see action and explosions and bright colors, all of which the prequels deliver.

Third, if I were Johnny's age, I would love all the Star Wars movies too.  Each and every one of them.  To an 8 year old, they are all fantastic and fun movies.  The important thing for me was to experience that magic with my son as he really enjoyed the whole saga for the first time.  He literally just sat for 12 hours over the weekend and stared at these movies, and wanted to watch them again. No, you can pass judgement on my parenting skills and wonder how any parent could let a child sit and watch movies for 12 hours, but it was one of the proudest moments of my life.  My son was a geek, and now we can talk Star Wars, and I am realizing my dream of raising my own geek army.

Now we just need to get our tent and sleeping bags ready for December 2015, so we can camp out for  Force Awakens...

Bringing in the New Year with Kids

Happy 2015, everyone.  I hope you all had a nice evening yesterday and enjoyed your New Year's activities.  Believe it or not, we didn't party too hard at our house.  With 5 kids, the party tends to revolve around them instead of  you, and when the party revolves around 5 kids ranging in age from 8 to 2, it tends to be pretty tame.  The good news for Erica and I is that we weren't big party animals before we got married and took on the responsibility to replenish the human race by ourselves, so it hasn't been a huge adjustment to stay in and "party" with the kids.

This year, Erica wanted to add something new, and it was kind of cool.  We went through a list of questions with each of the 3 oldest kids and typed up their answers, so we can save them for posterity.  The questions were things like "What was your favorite memory from 2014" or "What was your favorite food." It was fun for the kids, because it was all about them, and it will be fun for us and hopefully them, as they get older to look back on what their answers were.  If we keep it up from year to year, then we will be able to see how they're growing and changing with time.  We also asked them what they were looking forward to in 2015.  We got some good answers as Johnny is looking forward to his baptism and Jak is looking forward to starting school.  We also had them set some goals, things they wanted to work on in 2015.  It was a lot of fun.

After we did that, then the party began.  I had gone earlier in the day to buy a bunch of snacks and treats for our New Year's Eve party, so I got all of that stuff out, and we brought it downstairs. The kids made up some beds on the couch and on their bean bag chairs on the floor. Then we settled in to watch movies until 2015 hit. The first movie we watched was The Incredibles, which is my favorite Pixar flick.  Hands down.  The kids weren't excited at first because it's not they are as familiar with, but once we started it, they were really enjoying it.  After that film finished we purchased How to Train Your Dragon 2 from iTunes and watched that.  Johnny was way excited.  He loves those movies.  That was pretty much our evening.

All the kids planned on staying up until midnight.  The 3 older kids get that that's what you are supposed to do on New Year's, so they all wanted to do it.  Lucy is always just glad to stay up as late as we will let her.  Before the night began, my wife and I engaged in our favorite New Year's game.  We took bets on who was going to last until when.  My money was on only Eliza making it all the way to the end.  Of course, at the time Lucy was already asleep, and I thought she was down for the count.

 Once our bets were placed, then the fun begins. Watching the kids go down and out one by one.  Maren didn't count.  We brought her upstairs and put her in bed.  She didn't have a choice.  Jak was the first to fall out.  He fell asleep in the middle of the entry way to our family room in the basement, which was probably the most inconvenient spot, but we didn't want to risk moving him, so we left him there, and spent the rest of the night stepping over him. This was about halfway through the first movie.

About this same time, Lucy woke up from her nap.  At that point, I knew she was going to make to the end.  She was now fully rested and ready to go.  At the end of The Incredibles, Johnny, Eliza and Lucy were still going.  So we started the next film, which Johnny picked. Then he proceeded to fall asleep about halfway through.  He loves the Dragon movies, but he was also tired.  My boys do not do late nights very well.  When they are tired, they go to sleep, and it rarely happens that they stay up or awake later than 9 or 9:30.  Jak and Johnny were out, it was now just Erica and I  and the 2 girls.

We only had about an hour left, so we didn't want to start another movie that would tempt Eliza to want to stay up later than midnight.  Instead, we picked an episode of the BBC's Top Gear.  Yes, we love that show.  It can be pretty hilarious, and the episode we watched was pretty good.  It finished right about midnight, so once it was through, we just waited a few minutes and then said  Happy New Year to each other, and Lucy and Eliza, who had both made it.  At that point, I brought Lucy upstairs to put her in bed, and she wasn't happy about that.  She didn't want to go to bed, she wanted to stay up.  She cried for about 30 seconds, then her head hit the pillow and she was out.  Eliza wanted to watch something more on Netflix, so we started something for her and we went to bed.  I don't think she made it very far into whatever she was watching before she was asleep.

That was our exciting New Year's Eve.  I loved it.  We were all safely at home, we had fun, and the kids I think will remember that kind of stuff as they grow up, and hopefully look back on it.  As I was going upstairs to bed, I thought about my trip to Walmart earlier in the evening.  The guy ringing up my groceries asked if I had anything fun planned, and I told him I was just spending it with the wife and kids.  Then he asked if I was going to get wasted.  Uh...No.  Then he proceeded to tell me that he was going to get wasted, it was one of only like 5 nights of the year that he gets wasted.  Sounds great, I hope he enjoyed it.  I would rather spend the evening with the people that matter the most to me sipping my pink lemonade.  To me, that's living life.

Pee Wee on NetFlix

There are a few shows that really stand out to me from growing up.  One is the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.  Another was X-Men.  Probably rounding out my top three as standing out the most, shaping my life kind of a thing, would probably be Pee Wee's Playhouse.  For whatever reason,  I loved this show.  I couldn't really tell you why I enjoyed this show, but somehow as an 8 year old kid, it resonated with me.  I know and have heard all about Paul Reubens' issues since the show went off the air, but it never really diminished my love and appreciation for the series.  I used to ride my little red scooter and pretend I was Pee Wee leaving from his playhouse at the end of an episode.

Recently, my kids and I discovered that the series was available to watch on NetFlix (who knows for how long).  I was excited and started out by showing them his Christmas special.  I didn't know if the kids would like it, or if the show would just look really old so they just wouldn't be interested in it.  To my delight, the kids have really enjoyed it.  Who knew?  My oldest boy, Johnny, has been watching it nonstop, which somehow makes me feel pretty good.  Lucy has also enjoyed watching it in spurts. The show probably drives my wife crazy.  It is loud and annoying and just weird, but I can look past all of that and I just see the show I loved as a kid.

It's hard to say what makes the show so appealing to kids.  I think one big thing it has going for it is that the show is completely random.  There is no overarching storyline from one episode to the next, or really any kind of story at all.  It just seems to bounce around from one thing to the next.  The only thing that seems to be consistent throughout an episode is the word of the day, which leads to screaming each time it comes up.  As I think about this, I believe it really is the reason kids love this show.  Think about.  Have you ever had a conversation with a child?  It is totally random and it bounces around from one thing to the next.  That is how kids think, at least it seems like that is how they think.

The show doesn't look overly dated, and I think that is part of the beauty of the show.  Yes, somethings stand out, like Pee Wee's suit and bow tie, or Miss Yvonne's Beehive updo, but those things were dated when the show originally aired, so it doesn't stick out any more than it already did. There isn't a lot in the show that dates it.  Yes the colors are bright, like the 1990's, but kids always love bright colors, so it works.  There isn't a heavy agenda being pushed with learning this thing or that, it was simply entertainment, and the kids love it.  It was fun for me to also join them on that nostalgic journey, and it makes me happy.  It is one of the biggest benefits, I think, of NetFlix. It is rediscovering these old shows and having the opportunity to share them with your kids.

A Special Christmas Moment with Jak

I know it might seem like Jak must be my favorite because he is the only one that has a special feature named after him.  I also know as a parent, I shouldn't have any favorites.  My parents always said that they never had any favorites, that they loved each of us the same.  I knew it was a lie back then, and I believe it even more now.  As a parent, of course I have a favorite child.  It's Lucy.  Hands down, she is my favorite.  It's not even close.  So why is Jak the only one with his own feature?  Jak just seems to be the one with the most wisdom to share right now.  Experiencing the world through Jak's eyes, even for just a moment is a special treat that we experience every day, and I want to share that with all of you.

This particular Jak-ism is a Christmas related experience.  On Monday this week, we decided to go downtown to see the lights at Temple Square.  Let me share a little secret with all of you out there.  IF you are in the Salt Lake area, and you think the Monday before Christmas is a good time to visit Temple Square, you're wrong.  This is apparently the worst time to visit because there are so many people there, making the last ditch effort to visit the lights for Family Home Evening before Christmas.  I mean, really, people, why would you think it is ok for so many of you to have the same idea I had.  Most of the issue comes form the fact that I am a master procrastinator, and put a lot of things off to the last minute (which would also explain why I am writing this post at a quarter to eleven at night).  I do this because I do my best work under pressure, or so I tell myself.  I am learning as a parent that procrastinating may have been good enough to get me through school, but it is not a great skill to have as a parent.  Planning ahead is much better, and not waiting until the last minute is far superior to putting things off. In any case, because of this awesome skill, we all found ourselves at Temple Square with like a million of our closest friends.  Close in proximity, not really relationship wise.  I didn't even know these people.

We try to make this trip downtown with the kids every year as part of our efforts to make Christmas more about the Savior, Jesus Christ, and less about Santa Claus and presents.  Don't feel bad for Santa, he gets plenty of run at our house, we just hope to somehow help our kids realize that Jesus is the real reason we celebrate Christmas.  We do this through Family Home Evening lessons, incorporating movies and music and stories.  We do this every year, and every year when Christmas rolls around, we fail like failures.  Why?  Because if you ask our kids what the most important thing is about Christmas, most of the time they say presents.  They don't just say it like that, it's more like this: PRESENTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I hear it, and in my head I do a mental face palm, and just think: FAIL!  That is how I feel most of the time, but every once in a while my kids give me a moment.  Usually it is quick, short and sweet, and it is usually just one moment, but in that moment, they let us know that they have been paying attention.  This post is about one of those moments.

As part of our efforts this year, we have shown our kids the latest Christmas video from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (The Mormons).  It is called "He is the Gift," and it focuses on how Jesus Christ is the first gift of Christmas, and really the only gift.  The one that means the most.  For your reference, here is the video:

I love this video.  To me it really brings home the whole meaning of Christmas, and puts it all in perspective.  Apparently, we have played this quite a bit at our house this holiday season.  Probably too much.  I kind of thought the kids were sick of it and didn't want to see it again.  I kind of expected them to kind of roll their eyes if I started it up again, but Jak found a moment on Monday to let me know that wasn't the case, at least not for him.

We were at the North Visitors' Center, and we had just gone up to see the Christus Statue.  We came down to the lobby, which was packed full of people, and Johnny wanted to go over and see the model of Jerusalem they have there.  He is fascinated by that kind of stuff.  Erica took Johnny over to the model, and Eliza followed her over there.  I was standing off to the side with the two little girls in our massive stroller (to anyone we may have run over with this beast, I'm sorry) and Jak.  Jak saw that they were playing this video in the lobby and they had some seats facing it.  He walked toward the front, and next thing I knew, I found him like this:

The video is less than 3 minutes long, so it's pretty short, but that is an eternity for Jak to sit still and watch something.  He wasn't just sitting still, but he was glued to it.  When he first got to his little bench, it was ending, and then there was a 30 second countdown, and it started again. Jak just sat and waited the 30 seconds for it to begin, and then watched it through from the beginning.  As it was coming near the end, I wen over and knelt beside him and asked him what he was watching.  His response made me laugh.  He said, "It's your favorite movie."  I smiled, and asked him if he liked it too.  He said, "Yeah, but I need to watch it again so you can read all the words.  I don't know the words."  So I had him scoot over and I sat next to him, and we watched it again, together this time, with me reading the words:

As we got to the part where they are describing the first gift, and they started showing the images of the Savior, Jak blurts out, "It's Baby Jesus, the gift is Baby Jesus." And he had the biggest grin on his face.  In that small, quick little moment, I knew we hadn't totally failed as parents.  Something was sinking in.  It had been a challenging weekend with Jak, at different Christmas parties, at Church, at home, just kind of a rough time.  That little moment changed everything for me.  He was getting it.  Sometimes it seems like our kids have no idea what we said or what we're talking about, and then they let us know they have been listening all along.  This was my Christmas moment.  Whatever happens on Thursday or tomorrow night, nothing will top this for me.  My kids get it.  They get why Christmas is so important.  Despite their parents' shortcomings, something has sunk in, and that was the best present I could have asked for this year.

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My Top Ten Family Christmas Movies

Welcome to a new feature for this festive time of year.  It's the Geeky Dad Christmas Countdown.  This will be a list of ten items, my choosing, to share with you, my faithful readers, to make everyone's holiday season brighter.  Today's list is a top ten countdown of my favorite, family appropriate, Christmas movies.  My top ten may not be the same as yours, and I know people are very sentimental about their Christmas movies, and I am sure that there may be many I left off the list.  I would love to hear from you if that's the case.  Let us know what your favorite movie might be if it's not on the list. A couple of disclaimers before we begin.  First, these are feature length films only.  No short films or TV specials, like Rudolph or Mickey's Christmas Carol.  I love those movies, but this list is feature length films only.  Second, these are all family friendly, so if Bad Santa or Die Hard may be you favorites, just know they won't be on this list.  Third, this is not a critical look at these movies.  I picked them based on nostalgia and how often we watch them, not on how "good" they are.  In other words, this is a completely biased list. So, let's begin the countdown.

10. The Nightmare Before Christmas

The debate rages on.  Is this a Christmas movie or a Halloween movie?  Personally, i tend to lean more toward this being a Halloween movie.  It just feels more like a Halloween movie to me.  I still included this on the list because it is a stunning movie.  The animation is fantastic and the songs are catchy.  I love Tim Burton, generally, and this is one of my favorites of his.  Every Halloween we pull this out and watch it, and we enjoy through November and up until Christmas.  The only reason this is so low on my list is because I do think of it as more of a Halloween movie.  It's fun, it's quirky, and worth the less than 90 minutes. 

9. The Polar Express

This was one of my favorite books growing up.  In particular, I loved the idea of a bell from Santa's sleigh.  I even asked for that one year for Christmas.  It was undeniable proof that Santa was real.  I loved that bell, and loved the fact that I could always hear it.  Sometimes it is hard to get the pacing right when you take a short children's book and attempt to make it a feature length film.  This film does pretty well with that.  The additions are nice and don't distract form the main point of the story.  Despite the creepy animation style, I enjoy pulling this out and watching it each year with the kids.  My boys love it because it has a train, and boys love trains.  

8. Home Alone 2

This is the only sequel to make the list.  I really enjoy this movie.  I know, really what are the odds that Kevin would find himself in this type of a situation, again?  It's a movie, so we'll just go with it.  Personally, I think this film is funnier than the original.  The gags are great at the end with the Wet Bandits, but I also enjoy Kevin's interactions with the hotel staff.  That leads to some great funny moments.  I also feel like there is just something extra Christmasy about New York.  Maybe because it has been the backdrop for a lot of holiday films, or maybe it's because the Christmas season officially starts at the end of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade.  Whatever the reason, having New York as the backdrop for this film was a major plus.

 7. The Santa Clause

I remember this film coming out shortly after my parents divorced.  I always wondered what it would be like if my Dad ended up being Santa Claus.  It would be pretty awesome.  The movie has plenty of plot holes, it's true, but I still enjoy year after year.  I enjoy Tim Allen's wit and timing.  He is great with kids, and ends up making a pretty good Santa.  I enjoy the second Santa Clause movie as well, and not so much the third one.  However, neither of the sequels come comes close to the original here.  It was a great concept about how Santa has lasted so long.  If he dies, someone puts the suit on and they become Santa.  Although, the elves didn't seem too broken up about the other Santa falling off the roof.  

6. Home Alone

While I think that the sequel was funnier, the original is better.  It's a little more heartwarming, and I'll admit that I get choked up every time I watch it.  And Erica, my wife, usually makes fun of me, because when it comes to movies, she has a heart of stone.  This was so huge when I was a kid.  There were video games and cartoons that spun off from this movie.  It was just a really big deal.  Usually, when there is that much promotion behind the movie, it's a kind of flash in the pan, and it is not a timeless classic.  I feel like Home Alone broke that mold a little.  I think it has endured the test of time, and has become a staple for a lot of homes.

5. Elf

The movie that introduced the world to Will Farrell.  Elf is one of the few films on this list that I remember seeing in the theaters.  I remember going with my friends to see it, and just laughing the whole time.  I don't know if I thought that it would last as long as it has, but it has seemed to endure and has become a modern classic.  I know it doesn't feel like Christmas until we watch this show.  Will Farrell is hilarious as Buddy, and reminds each of us not to take things so seriously.  Yes, there is a sappy Christmas story with a scrooge behind all of it, but really Will Farrell as Buddy makes the whole movie.  I watch it now and find myself laughing in anticipation for what's coming next.

4. Miracle on 34th Street

This is an old movie, it's true, but it is a great movie.  It should be watched in black and white, not colorized (black and white movies should never be colorized).  The Santa Claus in this movie is perfect.  He is what I picture Santa would be like.  Not the big booming voice that we picture so often now, but a quiet, yet confident demeanor.  I love the idea of challenging the skeptics in the world.  We need a little more magic, a little more imagination in the world.  If we needed it back when this film was released, how much more do we need it today?  The newer version of this film is also good, but for one reason only, at least in our house.  Instead of a little Dutch girl, Santa signs with a little deaf child, so we love that, of course.  Other than that, it has to be the original.  You can't redo the classics.

3. A Christmas Story

You'll Shoot your eye out!  This was the quintessential Christmas movie for me growing up.  There was nothing better than this movie at Christmas time.  I remember this film being one of the first ones I could quote from regularly.  And who couldn't identify with Ralphie?  Who can't remember just wanting that one thing for Christmas, and hoping against hope that it might be there under the tree on Christmas morning?  And then the rapture when you wake up and it is there.  That was a magical moment.  This film captures it all, from the anticipation, the never ending wait for Christmas, to the magic of Christmas morning.  I could almost watch this again and again and again, on like a 24 hour loop all day Christmas.  Someone should do that.

2. The Muppet Christmas Carol

This is one of my favorite Christmas stories, and this is one of my favorite versions of the story.  I know there are probably better, more serious versions out there, but I enjoy this one the most.  I think Michael Caine is great as Scrooge, and often overlooked as a great Scrooge because he played it opposite some puppets, but he pulls it off well.  At first glance, it might seem like having most the cast be made up of Muppets would be a distraction from the story, and who knows how they sold this pitch to the studios, but it works.  The Muppets are not distracting, and the point of this wonderful story shines through.  Plus, the songs are great.  Super catchy and fun songs throughout the film.  This is the Christmas Carol I watch each year.

1. It's a Wonderful Life

Any list counting down to the best Christmas movie should always end here.  This is the best Christmas movie ever made, and may be one of the best films ever made.  It is so good, and I look forward to watching this every year.  I admit that it is hard to sit down and watch this with younger kids, so you may want to put them to bed first.  Despite that, it is family friendly and has a great message.  We don't always know how we have touched the lives of others, but this movie shows each of us that we are important, and that no matter what, Life is wonderful.  We watch it every year on Christmas Eve after the little ones have gone down.  I just love this movie.

Well, there you have it.  There's my list.  What films have to be on at your house once the Christmas season has begun?  Were there some not on my list?  Let me know in the comments.  I would love to hear from you.