There are so many movies that my family watches every year during the holiday season – despite having a dad who groans every time my mom and I gang up on him to watch Netflix’s newest Hallmark Christmas rom com or rewatch a cheesy classic. My personal favourites are the rewatches that have been running since my childhood and always get my family and I nostalgic for Christmas films from the early 2000s unbelievably excited for the holiday season and .
Home Alone
The watching of this movie is a yearly occurrence in my house in the week leading up to Christmas, and sometimes on Christmas Day as well – during our morning to early afternoon movie binge as the ‘presents’ high has died down, activating lounge mode. We marvel at Kevin’s youthful smarts and go around the room to decide whether we think each of us are ‘smart’ enough to pull that off. Usually my coding obsessed brother is a ‘yes’ and my fear of confrontation guarantees a ‘no,’ alongside my mom who squeals at every shocking turn of events although we have actually watched this movie at least 10-15 times!
Elf
This movie got introduced to my family by my cousins, whose yearly tradition is to rewatch this holiday classic. I have distinct memories of seeing a magnet reading “cotton headed ninny muggins” stuck to the side of my cousin’s fireplace that seemed to remain there all year. All of the cousins gathered around the couch to watch Elf, laughing at every joke, and the insistence on making post viewing maple syrup spaghetti made these memories stick with me. And you wouldn’t believe the shock when I realised that Jovie is played by the same actress as New Girl’s Jess, which came into my life only a few years after Elf.
How The Grinch Stole Christmas
This movie was my elementary school classic which complimented a school day-long holiday party to kick off the winter break, as we were sitting with crossed arms and laid our heads down with a plate full of seemingly every single Christmas baked good imaginable sitting in front of us. Those were the days for being a sugared up kid sent home to parents who had to deal with our inbounding excitement after those days – How The Grinch Stole Christmas is what takes me back to them.