Rudolph is on in in half an hour! It is my favorite, despite being a tale of both cowardice and cruelty. I would elaborate more, but I must go bake cookies and light the fire.

A Christmas Story! I really want a leg lamp.

Funny - I have been told that (especially when I was a youngster) I resembled both the Elf dentist from Rudoplh (Shermie?) AND the kid in A Christmas Story. I love them both too.

And, The Year Without A Santa Claus. Killer.

A Christmas Story is on RIGHT NOW - 8pm EST - USA. What a great movie. And, leg lamps are easy to come by.

The original Grinch. Hands down. Great music, great score, great message at the end, it's pretty much Christmas to me.

On a different level, I really, really like Elf, with Will Ferrell.

The only funny thing about the live action Grinch was when Jim Carey impersonated Ron Howard. Otherwise, bleh.

I do enjoy Scrooged, however. It is getting time to dust off that old DVD and set it spinning. Hell, why not make it a Bill Murray weekend and throw in Stripes, What About Bob, and Ghostbusters?

Charlie Brown!

A Christmas Story tied with the original Grinch.

I think I like most Christmas specials and movies. I even like Home Alone and A Christmas Vacation.

Another vote for original Grinch, and my older sister and I rarely let a Christmas go by without curling up and watching Little Women together.

Charlie Brown, no question.

Nthing most of the ones already mentioned, and adding Emmet Otter's Jug Band Christmas. IIRC, part of the story is a twist on the O Henry story. Plus, it's one of the few memorable Christmas Specials from when I was a kid.

Charlie Brown and the Grinch. Those are the only two I can remember watching from the time I was a toddler.

Emmet Otter's Jug Band Christmas.

They're doing a stage adaptation of that film- a friend is in it in CT, it's being put on by the Hensens with their puppets and everything. We're going on Sunday!

Charlie Brown is tops - it chokes me up. It's familiar as Linus' blanket and just as warm.

The Grinch, too -- I like to kind of recite along.

Emmett Otter is pretty cute!

But a dark horse that I absolutely, dearly love is the "Christmas Eve on Sesame Street" from the late 70s orearly 80s - the one where Oscar the Grouch gets Big Bird all upset because there are no chimneys in their neighborhood. How's Santa going to get in? He ain't comin'! IT's wonderful, and has some awesome vignettes, including BIg Bird skating at Rockefeller Center, and yet another retelling of "Gift of the Magi," where Ernie sells his rubber ducky to get Bert a cigar box to hold his paper clip collection, and Bert sells his paper clip collection to get Ernie a tray for his rubber ducky.

Aw, I love Emmet Otter. We have it on DVD. We have Christmas Eve on Sesame Street, too. But we only own those because they don't air them anymore. I have a strict policy about only watching specials when they air. It's more "special" that way. We make cookies and hot chocolate and light a fire and let the kids stay up past their bedtimes, pile all the pillows on the floor and snuggle under a giant blanket. It's An Event.

Even before I had kids, I used to send out an annual e-mail to friends letting them know what Christmas special was on when.

FYI--Charlie Brown is on Monday at 8ET, The Year Without a Santa Claus is on next Thursday at 8 on ABCFamily and Frosty is on next Friday. But screw Frosty. He's my least favorite special. Total weak link.

Frosty is irritating - but heaven help us, nowhere near as irritating as "The Year Without a Santa Claus," which is painful. My brother and I still get a lot of mileage out of sneering "Santa Claus is a fraudulent myth. Signed, all of us".

Also, I think Christmas movies are in a different category than Christmas specials that were made to air on TV, so in my head they're a different category. Among my top faves are: It's a Wonderful Life (forever and ever #1), Miracle on 34th Street, Christmas in Connecticut, White Christmas, Christmas Story - and also, like richat, Elf -- which is so great because they set out to make a true classic, and they did. That movie will age well.

Favorite holiday specials? Two for one crabs on Valentine's day, A Wish for Wings That Work, and A Christmas Story.

Also, It's a Wonderful Life, and Miracle on 34th Street. Elf was mind numbingly dull for me.

But a dark horse that I absolutely, dearly love is the "Christmas Eve on Sesame Street" from the late 70s orearly 80s

Same! Love it, love it, love it!

Wonderful Life of course. Jimmy Stewart is perfect. Christmas Eve on Sesame Street, too. Great story & great music, nice to share with kids. The Snowman, which ties w/ Charlie Brown Christmas for wonderful music. White Christmas, because my sisters & I always sing "Sisters" and it's just a great, sappy movie.

I shall seek out the Pee Wee Hermann special and A Wish for Wings That Work.