And 12 to Watch
1. MIRACLE ON 34TH STREET: The best Christmas movie ever made. (See Introduction.) I am of course talking about the original, with Natalie Wood and Edmund Gwenn. In black-and-white. Don't even think about either of the wretched remakes.
2. A CHRISTMAS STORY: A close second, this Jean Shepherd story of a kid who desperately wants a BB gun ("You'll shoot your eye out!") for Christmas is that rarest of things—nostalgic without a trace of sentimentality. It has a number of hilarious scenes—the tongue stuck to the flagpole, the Bumpus dogs and the turkey, the trip to see the department-store Santa. (Pick your favorite. Mine is the Major Award, no, wait, the Ovaltine magic decoder ring, no, wait . . .) But it's not just a series of comic set pieces. More than any other Christmas story, A Christmas Story captures just how badly you want things when you're a kid and how central Christmas is to the kid's year.
3.	THE SURE THING: I almost didn't go see this movie. The previews (and the title) made it look like a beery remake of Porky's. But then I noticed that certain scenes looked an awful lot like It Happened One Night and decided to take a chance. Now, every year we watch this great road picture about Allison, who's going to visit her boyfriend for Christmas, and Gibb, who's trying to get to California for "a sure thing" and who happens to hitch a ride in the same car with Allison.
4.	MEET  JOHN   DOE:   Frank Capra's  other  Christmas movie—you know the one I mean—is a lot more famous than this one (and shown approximately 987 times a day through the entire month of December), but this one, which stars Gary Cooper as a down-and-out hobo and Barbara Stanwyck as an enterprising reporter, is really interesting, especially in these days of religious cults, hungry-for-power politicians, a rampant press, and even more rampant cynicism.
5.	THE   MIRACLE   OF   MORGAN'S   CREEK:   Most movies made during World War II were about brave soldiers and the girls who waited faithfully for them on the home front. Preston Sturges instead decided to tell the story of a girl who goes to an army dance and ends up getting married (maybe) and pregnant (definitely), and of her 4-F boyfriend, Norville, who tries to help her out of her predicament. But everything they attempt only makes things worse, till nothing short of a miracle can save them, and you can't even imagine a miracle that would do any good.

6.	AMAHL AND THE NIGHT VISITORS: This one-act opera by Gian Carlo Menotti about the wise men stopping at a poor widow's on their way to Bethlehem was originally produced for television. It's out on video, but, even better, it's often performed at Christmas by churches, colleges, and community theater groups, and I definitely recommend seeing it live. The story is haunting, the music is heartbreaking, and every production adds something to the simple story of the crippled shepherd boy, his embittered mother, and their distinguished visitors.
7.	A CHRISTMAS CAROL (THE MOVIES): There are a jillion versions of this, starring everybody from Alastair Sim to Captain Picard to Bill Murray. My two favorites are The Muppets' and Mr. Magoo's. Not only are they the most literarily faithful (okay, okay, the Muppet one has two Marleys, but it also has Charles Dickens as a character—and Rizzo the Bat), but they're the most fun. And they have wonderful scores. The Muppets' songs were written by Paul Williams. Mr. Magoo's were done by the Broadway team of Jule Styne and Bob Merrill, and include the wonderful "When You're Alone in the World."
8.	WHILE YOU WERE SLEEPING: This sweet and romantic comedy with Sandra Bullock and Bill Pullman is about the loony complications that can result from being all alone at Christmastime and wishing you were part of a family.
9.	THE THREE  GODFATHERS: A Christmas story in the last place you'd ever expect to find one—a John Ford Western starring John Wayne—The Three Godfathers tells the story of three bank robbers who find a pioneer woman in a godforsaken place and about to give birth. This is the perfect movie to watch when you've overdosed on mistletoe and Santas and snow, and it may introduce you to John Ford's Westerns, which are all wonderful, and convince you to go on to The Searchers and She Wore a Yellow Ribbon.
10.	THE LEMON DROP KID: Not only is this based on a Damon Runyon story (see comments on Runyon under "Dancing Dan's Christmas"), but it has Bob Hope. And the song "Silver Bells."
11.	WHITE CHRISTMAS: This wasn't the movie that intro duced the song, but who cares? It's got Bing Crosby, Danny Kaye, Vera-Ellen, Rosemary Clooney, fifteen Irving Berlin songs, soldiers, snow, sentiment, and killer costumes.
12.	LITTLE WOMEN: This isn't really a Christmas movie, but it starts out at Christmas, and the book has one of the great Christmas-story first lines ever: " 'Christmas won't be Christmas without any presents," grumbled Jo, lying on the rug." And I watched it every Christmas when I was a kid. There are three versions to choose from: the one I grew up on was the June Allyson one (with Elizabeth Taylor per fectly cast as snotty Amy), the Katharine Hepburn version is generally acknowledged to be a classic, and my personal favorite is the new one with Winona Ryder and Kirsten Dunst.