A Baker’s Dozen Recommended Christmas Movies!

Well it’s officially the Christmas season and I have another suggtestion for you!  It’s not like you really need my suggestions, but humor me, and if you take the time to watch some of these films they will brighten your holidays.  I love Christmas movies and I have a pretty vast collection, but these are the dozen plus one that  I have to watch every year.  I’ve broken them down into several categories, so here goes:

Just for fun, laughs, and enjoyment;

1.  Christmas Vacation –  This classic with Chevy Chase is all about the ups and downs of Christmas, and family.  No matter how many times I watch it, it always brings great laughter.  The opening car/truck chase sequence always cracks me up!

2.  A Christmas Story – This great tale takes us back to the 50’s when I was this same age as the main character.  The great book by Jean Shepherd, “In God We Trust, All Others Pay Cash.”  is wonderfully adapted!  Darren McGaven was wonderful as the dad!   Peter Billingsley was perfect for Ralphie.

3. & 4.  Home Alone & Home Alone 2 –  Rarely does a great movie have a great sequel but this time it worked.  Both are great films that the kids always love.  They also have wonderful messages of Christmas love.

5.  The Santa Clause –  Tim Allen’s classic Christmas movies has spawned several sequels but none are as good as the first!

6. Emmet Otter’s Jug-Band Christmas –  A family favorite at the Fortney house has always been this great film.  My daughter Catherine cans still recite every line while watching the film before it’s spoken!

7.  Miracle on 34th Street (the 1947 original) –  This is a great film best viewed in the original black and white version.  This is a wonderful film was made one year after I was born!

8.  Holiday Inn – This classic Christmas movie with the great music of Irving Berlin stars Bing Crosby, Fred Astaire, and Marjorie Reynolds.  A film that is an entertaining the 50th time you watch it, as the first!

Christmas films about redemption and values:

9.  A Christmas Carol –  Many wonderful adaptation have been done to  this classic Charles Dicken’s story.  this version made int he 1951 with Alastair Sim is on e of the most faithful to the original story and most touching, though I own every version I am aware of.  this is a great story of redemption and change.  I watch it several times a year to remind me of what God wants my heart o see and embrace.

10.  Scrooge – A modern adaptation fo A Christmas Carol with Bill Murray.  Filled with good laughs and a great ending of change.

11.  It’s A Wonderful Life – Frank Capra’s great film about a man and his life and what a man’s actions lead to in the end.  One of the greatest films ever made.  Jimmy Stewart;;’s best film and a must see,  once every year!!!!  What would life have been like if you never existed?  This film will give you a peak!

12.  The Bishop’s Wife  (1947)- A lovely story of God’s intervention into the  lives of His servants.  A classic not to be missed.  It stars Carey Grant, Loretta Young, and David Niven.

13.  Mr Krueger’s Christmas – This storty adapted into film for the Seventh Day Adventist starrying Jimmy Stewart is worth watching if only for the scene where Mr. Krueger (Stewart’s character), show up at the stable and encounters the baby Jesus.  A very  powerful moment, for all of us!

Merry Christmas,

the pilgrim