My Top Five Christmas Movies

This week, in honor of Christmastime, I have decided to put together a list of my favorite Christmas movies.

I will admit that I am not a huge fan of Christmas, and my favorite holiday is actually Thanksgiving (come on, all you have to do is eat). But after watching one of these movies, I am ready to sit around, sing Christmas carols and eat a Christmas goose.
Also, there’s really nothing better than one of these movies and a cup of hot cocoa on the couch while the snow falls outside. Ah, if only in my dreams...

1. “Love Actually”: This movie is actually one of my favorites of all time. It is not really a movie about Christmas, just one set in the Christmas season. Still, there’s something about it, and I feel like the holiday season does not really start until I watch it. I know, I know, this next part is really sappy, but it restores my belief in love. The part where the guy who is in love with Kiera Knightly holds up signs telling her how much he loves her – I cry like a baby every time.

2. “It’s a Wonderful Life”: I am always reminded of the Christmases of old when I watch this movie. When I was much younger, this movie was a holiday tradition for my family. We would pop this movie in on Christmas Eve, read “The Night Before Christmas,” go to bed and wake up in the morning with presents stacked to the ceiling. This is one of those movies that reminds you just how much you really mean to the people around you, and you instantly feel how much they really mean to you. That is what Christmas is all about, right?

3. “White Christmas”: Two soldiers come home from World War II, fall in love with two sisters and save a failing inn in the snowy hills of Vermont. Throw in a devastatingly handsome Bing Crosby and that classic tune “White Christmas,” and you’ve got Christmas gold.

4. “A Christmas Story”: Leg lamps, BB guns and frozen tongues – what about this equation doesn’t say, “Christmas in northern Indiana?” Every scene is memorable, along with that classic line, “You’ll shoot your eye out.” Ah, the Christmas spirit.

5. “Elf”: Will Ferrell in tights acting like he has the maturity and intelligence of a 5-year-old screams Christmas. The film starts with Ferrell journeying from the North Pole in search of his real father. It ends with him falling in love with a pretty department store elf and having a little elf baby, except they are all actually humans. Holiday spirit abounds in this movie, along with the part that literally makes me pee my pants a little bit whenever I watch it: Ferrell hurling himself on the Christmas tree from across the room and completely decimating the thing.

I hope you all are doing your best to get in the Christmas spirit. Personally, I was so excited about the snow last weekend that I could not go back to sleep after I woke up at 8 a.m. Saturday and looked out my window. Take a study break and watch your favorite Christmas movie. Good luck with finals and happy holidays.