A Christmas Story rules.

I suppose I need to be careful what I say about beloved Christmas movies. It's like making jokes about your mothers.

Sorry, Orange Swan, it's just you.

While I was trying to answer that question, I realized all of my favorite holiday movies are actually Thanksgiving movies. Like Pieces of April. Like Home for the Holidays. What's up with that?

Home for the Holidays wasn't bad at all.

"This is not my ugly coat. I have my own very stylish coat at home."

I'm in the Scrooged camp, myself.

Oh, and Bad Santa.

I do enjoy National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation, if for no other reason than it reduced my prim, conservative mother to helpless fits of giggles.

A Christmas Story was filmed in Cleveland. In my neighborhood actually. The home is actually being converted into a museum about the movie, and I'm within spitting distance of where Ralphie lost it and kicked that one kid's ass.

I love all Christmas movies/specials, but they must never be rented or owned. I like the ritual of waiting for them to come on TV and making a big deal of it.

With the exception of Frosty. I hate that one.

I saw A Christmas Story for the first time last year in Ohio, and loved it.

A favourite British Christmas film of mine is Bernard and the Genie. It's a little dated now (i.e. Gary Lineker appears in it as himself when he was still a footballer!) but it's a whole lot of fun.

I love all Christmas movies/specials, but they must never be rented or owned.

I totally agree! The best part is hunting them down and scouring the local listings for them, or even better is just happening upon them by accident. Then you can scream and freak out and run around like crazy and demand that everyone come and watch it with you. I'd never buy a Christmas movie or give one as a gift.

I've never seen Eyes Wide Shut. it's a Christmas movie?

I think "horror" is the key word there, or at least "horrible."

I seem to recall that the first time I saw A Christmas Story, I thought that it took a long time to end -- I had thought it was going to end with, well, not to spoil, the opening presents scene, so it just seemed to go on and on after that, a bit of an anticlimax. But now I have seen the darn thing so many times it seems perfectly okay, length-wise and climax-wise.

I love A Christmas Story, I love all those Rankin-Bass TV specials from the 60s, and Bad Santa is one of the funniest movies I've ever seen.

Other than that, I'm not much for holiday movies.

dano, it takes place during Christmas, there's some Christmas shopping, and one of the cinematic elements is using the decorated tree throughout the movie. As far as it's theme and story? I don't think it has anything to do with Christmas.

As far as Christmas specials my all time favorite (from when I was a kid) is Charlie Brown Christmas. My mom used to call me when it was on, but now that I don't have a teevee anymore she bought me the DVD. It has the coolest soundtrack of any of them. These days watching it on teevee just isn't the same. I remember the little "Special" lead-in for it, and the Zingers ads. How can you watch any Peanuts special without Zingers ads? Am I right? Am I right? OMG I've just been kissed by a dog. GERMS!

It's just you, OS. I can recite A Christmas Story front to back. My family, in fact, has taken it to the level of actually giving each other joke gifts from the movie (can of Simoniz, blue bowling ball, toy zeppelin).

I grew up in a family of Christmas movie hounds. Other rituals: It's a Wonderful Life is one of the greatest movies of the 20th century, Christmas or no. It's a perfect film in many ways. I have that one memorized, too. Each year I find something new in it to notice and think about.

White Christmas and its far weirder antecedent Holiday Inn each have their own annual viewing rights. My family will break into "Snow!" at the slightest provocation.

As to the TV specials: Charlie Brown wins, hands down. Snoopy's decorations -- Linus' soliloquy about shepherds abiding in the fields -- solid gold. The Grinch comes in a close second. Rudolph and the other claymation specials can provide some arch ironic enjoyment (though Burl Ives' 'Silver and Gold' is very nice).

But the Charlie Brown Thanksgiving special? That's hilarious! I mean it! Watch the long sequence where Snoopy and Woodstock set up the outdoor table and prepare the feast of popcorn and toast. It's pants-peeingly funny, really well orchestrated and full of character, and accompanied by Vince Guaraldi's awesome jazz piano doing a really cool number.

Rudolph and the other claymation specials can provide some arch ironic enjoyment

"We knew we had to get the women back to the camp."

I've always had a soft spot for Black Christmas.

"Bill-eee... WHERE'S THE BABY?!!"

Orange Swan, it's not just you.

I've never seen Eyes Wide Shut. it's a Christmas movie?

Well, it takes place around Christmas time. There's a shopping scene and a Christmas party scene. But I don't recall any Christmas-themes.

Anyway, despite its unpopularity, I've really grown to love this movie. For some reason, it is shown fairly often on HBO and some of the other movie channels and I find that I can't keep from watching it.

I'll never be able to watch Rudolph again without jon's voice ("She's a hot doe!") surfacing unexpectedly in my head.

Let us not forget Jean Teasdale's plans for a Christmas special.

What — no love for Ebbie, starring Susan Lucci as a distaff Scrooge? (But that one's for the write-in ballots.)

My real vote's for The Ref.