Grab a Blanket and Someone to Cuddle With

The day after Thanksgiving...several things happen at our house. 

First and foremost...the Christmas decorations come out.  

I spend the majority of the day arranging, and re-arranging things to make them look absolutely perfect.  I have a vision in my head of what I want my house to look like, and I'm always excited to see how things come together.  

Secondly, we listen to Christmas music...the way Christmas music is supposed to be listened to.  The day AFTER Thanksgiving.  Not a minute sooner.  In my opinion, it should be illegal to listen to Christmas music until we have had our day of thanks, eaten our delicious bird, filled our tummies with stuffing, potatoes, gravy, buttery rolls, and other such scrumptious happy things.  

Thirdly, we pull out our Christmas movies, and watch them all month long.  

This is something I look forward to pretty much all year.  Especially since some of these Christmas movies are my all time favorites, and I feel weird watching them in the middle of summer.  July 4th just doesn't scream winter, hot chocolate, and sweaters to me.

However, on Black Friday, you can pretty much assume that I'll be cuddled up on my couch with a warm blanket and a bag of popcorn watching one of these:

Santa Claus The Movie

Not to be mistaken for The Santa Claus with Tim Allen.  This one is much older, and much better in my opinion.  One of my absolute favorites...I think my most loved part of the movie is when the elves come out and greet Claus and his wife Anya for the first time.  It's quite magical, and sometimes makes me wish I was a kid again.

Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer

I'm sorry, but if you're not in love with Rudolph and Hermey the misfit elf...then you must have a sad, unimaginative, miserable life.  I actually watch this one while I put up my Christmas tree.  Emmy's already requested it several times since our Christmas movies made an appearance, and who can blame her?  It's a classic!  I even get mad at Santa in this one.  But let's face it...he's kind of a jerk...until the end of the movie when he finally redeems his terrible behavior by asking Rudolph to lead his sleigh...thus making Rudolph the hero of the show...and we all cheer for him at home!

 A Christmas Story

I grew up watching this movie with my Dad, so of course it's one of my favorites.  I can still hear my Dad laughing while we watched this movie together and exclaiming how certain things are exact events of his childhood.  From the leg lamp, to the fudge blunder, and repeatedly being told "you'll shoot your eye out!",  Ralphie worked his way into my heart.  I laugh every time he stands at the foot of the stair in his pink bunny jammies.  I'm smiling right now just thinking about it :)

The Muppet Christmas Carol

I'm not a fan of many Scrooge movies.  They pretty much scare me.  But I love the classic story by Dickens, and  how it helps us to remember the true meaning of Christmas.  Luckily for everyone in the entire world, Disney came out with a version starring The Muppets.  I LOVE this movie.  The music, the characters, the dialog, everything about this movie is awesome.  If you haven't seen it...I highly recommend you add it to your list of movies to watch this season.  

It's A Wonderful Life

My all time favorite Christmas movie.  Tim and I have made a tradition of watching this movie every Christmas Eve.  This is also one that I use to watch with my Dad when I was growing up.  I remember it made him cry every single time we watched it together.  It wasn't until I got older that I realized the message of this movie.  It makes me cry every time I watch it now too.  I  hope that I make as big of an impact on the people in my life as George Bailey did in his.

Well friends, there you have it...a list of my all time favorite Christmas movies.  I think I may just sit down and watch one right now.  Maybe you should too!