Friday Night Movies – Christmas Edition

I must admit, it is almost overwhelming to try and narrow down to basically four Fridays my favorite Christmas movies. Because of this, I’m going to cheat a little bit and this week include several that aren’t movie length that add up to the length of one movie. I guess that isn’t really cheating. My family would probably watch all of these movies in one evening anyway. These are the classic Christmas shows that often can be found on network television sometime in the month of December.

Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer – A Christmas classic, this is the story of how Rudolph came to be the lead reindeer on Santa’s sleigh. I really don’t need to retell the story as everyone knows it. I will tell a few reasons of why I like it though! I love the stop motion animation and the look. It screams Christmas to me! The music is also top notch and can’t be beat, especially with Burl Ives right there in the middle of it.

Frosty the Snowman – Another Christmas classic that is based off a song of the same name, Frosty is a must see every year at Christmastime in our family. While there are a lot of cute and clever moments in this quick little show, my favorites actually all involve the villain magician,  Professor Hinkle. I love watching him jump off the train and fall down the hill, into the tree, and then to cap it all off…. get dumped on with a pile of snow. I also love when he gets punished by Santa. Anybody remember what he needs to do to get a new hat? Santa’s line there is one of the best in the show!

How the Grinch Stole Christmas – Yes, they made it into a full length feature but I like the original animated version better. I used to read the original book every year to my much younger sisters. The animated show is perfectly cast with  Boris Karloff as the narrator and the grinch. The music is some of the best and with Thurl Ravenscroft singing “You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch,” there are very few more memorable songs! Also, who can forget Max the dog turned reindeer??? Everything looks as if the book had popped from the pages and onto the TV screen. It also has a wonderful message.  “Maybe Christmas,” he thought, “doesn’t come from a store.” “Maybe Christmas…perhaps…means a little bit more!”

There are definitely more shorter Christmas shows that could be included in this category. One of them I am saving for another post. The others just weren’t my favorite and sadly didn’t make the cut. I will open the floor for other nominations. Feel free to post a comment below with your favorite Christmas special that isn’t full feature length! Hope you all are having a very merry Christmas and Happy Holiday season!

Make it a GREAT day!

-Mr. DAPs