Thursday Thirteen: Trying to feel a lot like Christmas

I don't know about you, but with all the stresses with the Christmas preparations, the icy wet weather, and the fact that both pairs of winter boots I bought last year have holes in them and are leaking (BOTH!!!) ... I've been having a tough time getting into the Christmas Cheer.

So I thought about what might help, and if there's something that I love it's a good Christmas movie.

Here are 13 movies that I love to watch around Christmas, none of which I have seen as yet this year. I think I need to.

1. Rudolph the Rednosed Reindeer. As a kid, no other TV show got me more excited about Christmas than this TV special. It seemed so high-tech with the special effects way back when. When we watched this last year with the kids, the boy was bored; but the girlie still loved the cute puppetlike animation.

2. It's a Wonderful Life. This classic is on this list because that's what it is, a classic. I only wish they wouldn't show it so late at night at Christmas time, as usually I'm too tired to watch the whole thing. Maybe I should consider a DVD, you think?

3. Gigi. This one is not a regular holiday favourite, I know, but it brings me right back to Christmas time when I was a teen. You know how during the holidays they bring out many of the old Hollywood classics, late at night? I remember helping my mother get ready for her big Christmas Eve bash, rolling the egg rolls that I would be deep-frying the next day, and tidying up the house and cleaning up all the dinnerware and cutlery. It was one of those rare moments as a teen when I actually got along with my mother rather than resent her for not letting me go out as frequently as I wanted. One such evening, they were playing Gigi around midnight. My mother shared some of her own memories of when the movie originally came out in theatres, and what her life was like at that time. Precious moments between mother and daughter.

4. The Sound of Music. I don't know why they always seem to play this movie on TV during the Christmas holidays. I still think that Julie Andrews was the most gorgeous actress, and Christopher Plummer, wasn't he just wonderfully dashing? Actually, the stage musical is playing as we speak, maybe I should try to get tickets to the theatre version in the new year ... hmmmm.

5. The Family Man. This was the first movie that Hubs and I went to see in the cinema after baby number 1 was born. Yup, we were new parents - how ironic!!! It took us almost 8 months to get out! I thought Nic Cage and Tea Leoni were just wonderful in this film about the "what if's" in life. Just a great film.

6. Christmas Vacation What would Christmas be without the Griswolds, and those lights, those lights! Just hilarious!

7. Elf. I just fell in love with Will Ferrell in this role. No one else could capture the innocence, naivete and hilarity as this big goof could in green tights. I couldn't think of any better casting than James Caan either, as the bad boy grown up who really has a heart.

8. Polar Express. I took the boy to this movie while I was waaaaay pregnant with the girl. It was a little more intense for a 4 year old than I thought it would be (especially in a dark theatre), but ultimately we both absolutely loved it.

9. Love Actually. Who could NOT love this movie? So many different love stories, all about different types of love, with the backdrop of Christmas.

10. Home Alone. Macauley was cute, cute, cute!!! And I just loved Joe Pesci and Daniel Stern as the villains.

11. White Christmas. Oh, another classic in here. But the music was just phenomenal ("Sisters, sisters...; White Christmas...) Bing Crosby, Danny Kaye and Rosemary Clooney, just flawless. And honestly, they just don't make movies like that anymore.

12. Die Hard. Bruce Willis, as an action star? That was a strange concept at first, but look how far he's come? That movie was just stellar, and what talent it had for their villain (Alan Rickman) and the slimy office guy (the still-gorgeous Hart Bochner).

13. A Christmas Story. This is my all time favourite Christmas movie. And I know I am not alone. Apparently that leg lamp is a hot seller even to this day. And look, they've got the original house set up as a tourist attraction now! So, a Christmas dinner of Chinese cuisine -- what's so unusual about that? Ra-ra-ra-ra-ra...ra-ra-ra-ra!!!