It's the holiday season 🎄

what we're watching this Christmas

This year, the holidays are something completely different than what we’ve ever experienced. For the first time, my husband and I are hundreds of miles away from our families and long-time friends — and we don’t have plans to be home for Christmas. Instead, we’re celebrating in Texas, a place that doesn’t have normal seasons (no leaves on the ground, no chance of snow or wintry sunsets), and with new acquaintances who are kind enough to include us in their family gatherings.

But there is one thing we can do to feel homey and nostalgic, and that’s watch our favorite films of the season. Last year, in my zeal to “properly” observe Advent and the Twelve Days of Christmas, I convinced my husband that we should wait to watch Christmas movies until December 25th. With only two exceptions that I can think of, we followed this rule. But when we were in the Twelve Days of Christmas, we didn’t catch up on all those favorite movies and ultimately just missed out on watching them altogether.

This Advent, we still plan to observe the penitential season that prepares us for the feasting of Christmas and Epiphany. However, rather than waiting to watch Christmas movies, we will be giving up watching our television shows. We will spend our weekday evenings reading, playing games, and get ready for Christmas in various ways. And we will take time during the weekends to watch some of our Christmas favorites in anticipation of the arrival of the day.

My hope is that, over time, I will learn to extend the celebration of December 25th into the following eleven days, rather than immediately moving on to New Year’s and resolutions. In the meantime, I won’t deprive myself of all Christmas cheer in the four weeks leading up to it. After all, our priest in Virginia has a big annual Christmas party in the first or second week of Advent…

With that said, here’s our list of films we’re excited to watch in the coming weeks!

We’re kicking it off today by extending our Thanksgiving celebration and watching Planes, Trains & Automobiles, the 1987 classic starring Steve Martin and John Candy. It’s hilarious, and one that we’ve both watched over the years with our respective families. I remember watching it with my dad and cracking up at the dynamic between Martin and Candy. My dad loved Steve Martin, and watching anything with the comedian reminds me of him. It’s good to be reminded of my dad during the holidays.

The other film we’re very excited to watch again is The Holdovers. We saw it in theaters exactly one year ago today, and we knew immediately it would be added to our Christmas classic canon.

Ben, after seeing The Holdovers on November 29, 2023

We loved it. And we saw it in theaters a second time with my husband’s family between Christmas and New Years. While we’d love to watch it immediately, we decided to wait until the last day of my school semester, since The Holdovers takes place at a boarding school and begins the day that families come to collect their children for the winter break.

Ben and I both wrote about The Holdovers last year, and I’m sharing those for you here:

In addition, here are the Christmas films (in no particular order) that are on our must-watch list this year:

1. Harry Potter & the Sorcerer’s Stone: magical and nostalgic — we plan to watch through the series this winter!

2. A Christmas Story: this was the wryly that we always watched with mom’s side of the family on Christmas Day.

3. Klaus: my husband and I discovered this movie before we met, and were thrilled to learn that we both love it. This one means a lot to both of us, and we make sure to watch it with tissues.

4. Scrooge (1970): one of Ben’s favorites that also makes him cry. We watched it with my mom two years ago and she later confided to me, “Why does Ben love that so much? It’s kind of goofy.” Well, Ben, I guess you had better write about it!

5. It’s A Wonderful Life: nothing needs to be said here.

6. Home Alone: I’ve never seen it all the way through! It’s a must-watch this year.

7. White Christmas: again, nothing needs to be said. *Singing to myself: “We’ll follow the old man wherever he wants to go…”

8. Die Hard: I hear there’s a debate about whether or not this is a Christmas movie. Well, I’ve never seen it and Ben says it is, so it’s on our list.

9. A Double Feature of Rudolf + Santa Claus is Coming to Town: absolute classics! The Burger Meister Meister Burger! *Singing again: “Put one foot in front of the other…”

10. A Charlie Brown Christmas: it never ceases to amaze me that this “secular” film includes a complete recitation of Luke 2: 8-14. Also, Ben and I frequently quote to each other, “My own dog!”

11. Meet Me in St. Louis: this is my best friend Alli’s favorite Christmas movie and I’ve been promising myself to watch it for years. This is the year!

We also have flexible lists, with movies we enjoy but don’t feel the need to watch every year and which, in fact, would lose their charm if we did watch them every year at Christmas.

Heather’s Flexible Christmas Movie List:

1. Elf

2. National Lampoon Christmas Vacation

3. Miracle on 34th Street (1994)

4. The Grinch (2018)

5. Little Women (1994)

6. Christmas with the Kranks

7. Polar Express

Ben’s Flexible Christmas Movie List:

1. Jingle All the Way

2. A Muppet Christmas Carol

3. Gremlins

4. Love Hard

In addition to movies, we’ll have the Vince Guaraldi Trio on repeat and we’ll read aloud or listen to the audiobook of The Best Christmas Pageant Ever by Barbara Robinson — one of my all-time favorite stories that happens to have a new adaptation out this year, directed by Dallas Jenkins (The Chosen) and starring Judy Greer and Pete Holmes (one of our favorite comics)! The trailer looks good, is too long, and has us hopeful for the film’s success.

Beatrice Schneider and Judy Greer in The Best Christmas Pageant Ever (2024)

We’d love to hear some of your favorite traditions when it comes to movies and stories at Christmastime! Let us know in the comments below!