Trevor

My story on Elf is somewhat similar, I guess, but this is more just an excuse to type about it.

I also don't like Will Ferrell much of the time. He is mainly "miss" for me. But for me, Elf was an instant classic. I put off watching it for years, finally succumbed when my niece and nephew wanted to watch it one day years ago. Expected to hate it, but I loved every second of it and still do every year when I re-watch it. What's your favorite color?

Quack

Has anyone watched A Merry Mirthworm Christmas? Having my first viewing....

davidh777

For me, Elf is like A Christmas Story--I don't get the raves. That said, I've only seen it once so maybe I'll have the same experience. The highlight was Zooey Deschanel singing Baby It's Cold Outside.

Travis McClain

Haven't seen Elf, but by virtue of having Zooey Dechanel alone I like it more than A Christmas Story.

HyperWeather

It's windy and rainy here so I'm taking advantage of it (I live in central California, and while its been colder then I like recently (highs in the 50s lows in the mid 30s) we don't really get winter weather), so spending the night watching all the classic animated tv Christmas specials.

WallyOPD

There are a lot more gaps in my watching than in previous years. I like to try to watch something every day, but I've just been a lot busier this year. I'll see if I can squeeze some semi-marathon viewings in over this next week or so.

That'sAllFolks

Will Ferrell is someone who I can see his talent, but don't really enjoy it that much. He can be funny, but mostly is not.

I think I watched this for Bob Newhart -- one of my favorite all-time comedians. It was OK, but as a rule I don't really like "holiday" movies because it always snows at the end.

Ent Weekly had a pretty funny chart where they listed a bunch of holiday movies and indicated how many had standard scenes like "problems plugging in the Christmas lights", etc. I'm glad someone else recognizes how these movies overuse these same ideas.

BobO'Link

^Yep. Bob Newhart. The main reason to watch "Elf". I wish Fox would get off their buts and release the last 2 seasons of "The Bob Newhart Show" and continue with "Newhart"... 2 of a very small handful of series I'd purchase on release day.

I watched another one I thought was much worse the first time around: "Bad Santa". While I found it a bit funnier this time, there's still way too much profanity to suit my tastes. Mind you, I'm not a prude and generally feel language should not be "cleaned up" if a character would normally speak in such a manner. The amount in this film is far greater than the most foul-mouthed of my college buddies, and some of those guys could give a sailor a run for his money... (not to impinge sailors - just using the old colloquialism). This film has even more than most of Red Fox's old routines, and *that's* saying a lot! I recall many of them having "X" ratings when originally released on record due to the amount and type of profanity used.

The Monkees

Just watched Rudolph on BD and it looks amazing! I can't believe how good this 46 year old Christmas special looks!

Travis McClain

Just got back from seeing Red (Bruce Willis, Morgan Freeman, etc.). Didn't realize going into it that it was set during the holiday season. It opens with Bruce Willis having reindeer on his lawn and a lit up snowman on his porch, and wreaths and Christmas trees are seen throughout the movie. Oddly, no one ever says anything to acknowledge the time of year; it's purely conveyed through those kinds of visual cues. Still, it's going on my list!

Ash Ketchum

I'm now reminded that Chuck Norris' INVASION USA takes place at Christmas time, although in Florida, where there's no snow. At one point, the invading terrorists use missile launchers to blow up homes displaying Christmas regalia. I saw this in a theater on Manhattan's notorious 42nd Street ("the Deuce") and the audience whooped and hollered with glee during the terrorists' antics.

Travis McClain

Just finished watching some classic Gumby shorts, Fat Albert's Christmas Special (which has aged quite well, which in a way is fairly embarrassing for our society) and the Saturday Night Live "Christmas Past" compilation. I had forgotten how big a thing I had for Victoria Jackson back in the day.

Indy24LA

I knocked out It's a Wonderful Life on the plane back from Cali. I am amazed how good that movie is keeping in mind that it became the blue print for a lot of films that followed.

LBCrazyFool

Met my goal of 70 the other night and have no plans of slowing down. I still have a lot of movies to get through, so new goal is 120.

Ash Ketchum

What’s been particularly gratifying about this challenge for me is the chance it gives me to go through my anime collection and find Christmas-themed films and TV episodes. I’ve screened 17 so far, from TOKYO GODFATHERS and Pokémon to episodes of “Little Women” and “The Trapp Family Singers.” The oldest so far is from 1981 and the newest is from 2003. The funniest is the Urusei Yatsura episode, where Ataru, Lum and the entire cast are motivated to climb this giant Christmas tree in Mendou’s massive mansion by specific rewards waiting at the top. If you go to this link:
http://www.awesome-engine.com/category/xmas/
and scroll down the page, there are abundant pictures from the episode.

The most unusual was "Mahoromatic Automatic Maiden," which is about a high-tech female combat android who's retired from active duty and serves as a maid to an orphaned high school boy, much to the jealous ire of his friends at school. (Kind of like Ataru and Lum in "Urusei Yatsura," only the combat android is much nicer.)

The biggest challenge was watching the “Trapp Family” episodes in Japanese with no subtitles. I only figured out they had Christmas in them from pictures on the VHS case. They sing a number of familiar Christmas carols in Japanese, though. That was nice.

There are Christmas episodes of Ranma ½ that I don’t have and another Pokemon holiday episode that’s missing from my collection. Plus, I know I’ve seen other anime Christmas episodes that I’m just not recalling which series they’re from. I’ll keep searching. I checked my Power Rangers collection and was disappointed that I don’t have the “I’m Dreaming of a White Ranger” episode.

Darth Maher

Just watched "The Lovely Bones" tonight. There were icicles predominantly featured in the movie. Would this count?

The Monkees

I thought the movie took place over an entire year, but I could be wrong, but I seem to remember it being quite a long time period.

By the way, I hit 50 today, there's no way I'm going to hit my record from last year (144) because I just don't have as much time as I did last year. However, I still have 14 days before Christmas to try and cram in as much as I can so we'll see how I do.

Darth Maher

I'm only kidding. It's like the ONLY thing I've watched since mid-November, so when I saw the icicles, I thought I'd have a little fun here.

Gobear

I watched Puppet Master Vs. Demonic Toys on Hulu, which is most definitely a Christmas story despite the title.

KaBluie

Ice Quake (2010) on the Syfy channel was a Christmas movie!

Greg MacGuffin

I'm watching Three Days of the Condor on Netflix Instant. Apparently, it takes place around Christmas. You can hear carols in the background during some scenes.

Bluelitespecial

There are brand new Christmas episodes of Family Guy and American Dad Tonight.

The Monkees

I've been getting more into the feeling of watching Christmas stuff finally. I haven't been in the mood, but in the last week or so I've really started watching more. I guess it's because Christmas is much closer now. Last year I had nothing but time on my hands so I was able to watch anything and everything. This year I've been working a lot so I haven't really had too much time, but I'm enjoying myself now!

Watching A Charlie Brown Christmas as I type this! I usually wait until Christmas is closer to watch what I consider "classics" like It's a Wonderful Life, Miracle on 34th Street and Christmas Vacation.

By the way that Christmas episode of Family Guy that was on tonight was good, but so damn dark in many places. It was really bizarre!

Travis McClain

I'm still not feeling it this year. Back when the challenge first started it seemed like every channel we tuned into was hip deep in eligible episodes of shows, but they've been scarce since. We finally started getting some snow, and the tree is up, but I'm really just not finding myself caring this year. Which is surprising, because each year I think I've cared less than ever and wonder whether the next year I'll just abstain entirely. I haven't even gotten into the music this year, which was really the last thing I still enjoyed.

I think that's part of it; I've held off on our annual viewings hoping to get closer to Christmas, and since I haven't felt like digging into the "lesser" material, this has meant a lot of empty days. Maybe it'll pick up. We'll see.

Darth Maher

I'm right there with you. I just started putting Christmas songs on my iPod and I find myself skipping them more often than not.

If it wasn't for my kids, I probably would just skip Christmas this year... or at least try to.