There are so many Christmas movies to choose from if I were to compile a “Top 10 Christmas Films of All Time” list, spanning the entire history of film. Like everyone else, I love It’s a Wonderful Life, Miracle on 34th Street, How the Grinch Stole Christmas!, Holiday Inn, White Christmas, the countless versions of A Christmas Carol, etc. And we all know that It’s a Wonderful Life will always get the #1 spot when someone makes a list like that.

So, to provide something a little different, I decided that it would be best to give a shout-out to the top 10 Christmas movies of my generation. These are the movies that I, along with so many others my age grew up with and watch every year for the most part, and it also includes more recent films from the last decade. These are the best modern Christmas classics:

10. The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992)

I’ll be perfectly honest – I don’t care much for musicals. While the music and dance numbers are usually undeniably great, the musical genre just doesn’t sit right with me. It pretty much has everything to do with people bursting out into song in real-life settings. Everything seems completely real about musicals as far as the story and settings go, and then all of a sudden people start doing something completely unreal. Don’t get me wrong – it is perfectly fine if people like the genre. I accept it as a valid one. I just don’t care for it personally.

But this is the Muppets. It has established itself as not only fiction, but fantasy as well – with the presence of Muppets, and of course the ghosts that accompany every Scrooge tale. So the fact that it is a musical does not bother me one bit. This is not the real world, therefore it is much less jarring – for me.

Everyone was placed in the perfect roles, especially Michael Caine as Ebenezer Scrooge and Kermit the Frog as Bob Cratchit. Also, who could forget “Marley & Marley,” played by the Muppets “Statler and Waldorf” (those two kermudgeons that normally sat in the balcony during The Muppet Show)? They were absolutely hilarious. And lastly, as far as comic relief goes, Rizzo the Rat and Gonzo as Charles Dickens steal the show. This dynamic duo will put a smile on anyone’s face.

The movie is heartwarming, funny and still holds up to this day. Who doesn’t enjoy the occasional outing with the Muppets? Definitely one for the kids around the Holiday Season!

9. The Santa Clause (1994)

The Santa Clause is one of the few Christmas films to spawn sequels that are also Christmas films. I believe Home Alone is the only other one to do this – unless of course you count Die Hard.

The Santa Clause sequels were enjoyable family films in their own right (especially The Santa Clause 2), but this one still tops them all. I had never even thought about what would happen if Santa got injured or killed during his Christmas Eve travels. Who would take over? How would that work? The Santa “Clause” of course! And who else better to fill those shoes than comic genius Tim Allen?

There is a very endearing story contained within as well. Not only is Tim Allen’s character, Scott Calvin, dealing with being the new Santa Claus, but also a father separated from his son after a divorce. It shows clearly that it is already difficult to be the father he wants to be for his son, and on top of that he is the real Santa Claus – which, of course makes the situation much worse for him to deal with.

This successful Christmas film started Allen down his career of Christmas films. Along with the three Santa Clause films, he also did Christmas with the Kranks. But it was the original Santa Clause film that really put him on the map as being a quality movie star.

8. Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993)

This movie is awesome. Not just because of the spectacular stop-frame animation, catchy songs and beautifully atmospheric set pieces – but also because it is the only movie I know of that can be watched both on Halloween and Christmas!

I am in love with the idea of a forest that contains doorways to different worlds based on various holidays like Easter, Christmas, Thanksgiving and Halloween, and someone from one holiday world discovering a different holiday world. It is such a cool concept.

7. Miracle on 34th Street (1994)

I just recently re-watched this again after not seeing it for quite a few years. When I first saw this in the theater, I felt that this remake of the original 1947 classic was one of the best remakes of a classic I had ever seen. Today, I still feel the same way.

Sure, it sucks that they did not use the “Macy’s” name for the store that Kris Kringle works for (“Cole’s aint got any. Nobody’s got any,” just doesn’t sound right). Sure, this Santa played by Richard Attenborough didn’t have the nice long beard that Edmund Gwenn had. This film could never top the original. But it came awfully close.

What I loved about this film is that they found a different way to stand up for Kris Kringle in court than how the original did it, and it still had the same effect. Just like the original, the film brought just as many tears of joy to my eyes as the 1947 film did. Writer John Hughes is a genius when it comes to Christmas movies, and it shows in this worthy remake.

6. The Polar Express (2004)

This movie is pure magic. I know quite a lot of people complained that the characters felt too artificial, but I never had a problem with it. I always thought the motion-capture animation looked fantastic. I love the look of this film, especially the arctic scenery on the way to the North Pole. Simply breathtaking – although one has to have seen in in 3-D to really get the right effect.

I really do appreciate the journey that the main “hero boy” character has to go through. It is a great tale of finding the the child within and returning to that state of mind when it comes to Christmas. After all, isn’t that what the spirit of Christmas is all about?

5. Elf (2003)

I don’t know a single person that doesn’t like to watch this movie around Christmas time. Even people I know who are not fans of Will Ferrell love this movie. It is simply a funny Christmas story, and also quite original. Most stories that deal with Santa and his elves usually focus on Santa Claus. This movie focuses on a misfitted elf trying to make his way in the real world as he searches for his real father… and of course all the hilarious shenanigans he gets himself into along the way.

What is great about this character is that despite all his clumsiness and inability to fit in, he ends up reuniting with his family, getting the girl and saving Christmas. I am a total sucker for stories with social misfits that end up being accepted for who they are.

4. Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (1992)

Okay, so what if this movie is a carbon copy of the original? This movie topped the gags from the first film, it is still every bit as hilarious and has just as many tear-jerking moments as the first one did. As someone who never cries at movies, even I get at least one tiny tear when Kevin gives the turtle dove ornament to the homeless “bird lady,” symbolizing his everlasting friendship with her.

Oh, and Marv getting electrocuted is still one of the funniest things I have ever seen on film, as well as Harry lighting his head on fire and sticking his lit head into a toilet full of kerosene. Priceless.

3. National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation (1989)

“I don’t KNOOOW Margo!”

This follow-up to National Lampoon’s European Vacation is actually a film that I had always seen bits and pieces of on TV, but had never actually seen all the way through from beginning to end until a couple of years ago. I always felt like I had seen the whole thing, but never all at once.

This movie is the perfect example of when Christmas does not go as planned. The family freezes their butts off hunting for a Christmas tree in the middle of nowhere (only to find that they forgot the saw to cut it down with), the tree destroys their house, the outside Christmas lights are a pain in the neck, the Christmas turkey gets dried up and caves in, a squirrel gets loose in the house and causes total chaos, cousin “trailer park” Eddie shows up spreading his disgustingly awkward personality all throughout the Griswold household, etc., etc., etc. I mean, could this Griswold Family Christmas get any worse… or funnier?

What is amazing is that Clark Griswold pretty much holds his composure and keeps the spirit of Christmas in tact throughout the entire movie until he finds out that he is not getting a Christmas bonus. I know I would have lost it long before that if my family Christmas turned out the way that his did – which is actually what makes Clark Griswold such a funny character.

2. Home Alone (1990)

This movie was in theaters for quite a while when it was released. It might have even been a whole year, but it definitely stayed for months – much longer than usual.

What is so great about this film is that it doesn’t feel dated. Aside from Kevin sitting at home watching an old school tube TV and playing VHS tapes, the film feels timeless. It really stresses one of the most important aspects of Christmas, which is family togetherness. Its message still resonates just as strongly today as it did in 1990. The film has a timeless feel with a timeless message, which is really what any film maker should go for when making movies in my opinion.

Of course it is always good fun to watch Harry and Marv get what they deserve when Kevin booby traps the entire house. When I was 10, this was the funniest movie I had ever seen. At 29 years of age, I still find the child within giggling every time I watch it – especially when Harry catches his head on fire and when Kevin puts the tarantula on Marv’s face and he lets out that high-pitched girly scream. It gets me every time.

1. A Christmas Story (1983)

“Deck da harrs wit bowers of horey, far rah rah rah rah, rah rah rah rah.”

I own this on DVD, despite the fact that there is always a 24-hour marathon every Christmas on TV of the film.

What kid hasn’t wanted one particular gift for Christmas so badly that that is all he or she ever thought about for months at a time? I know I have. Thankfully I never asked for something that could “shoot my eye out,” as I probably would never had heard the end of it.

This movie has a plethora of classic moments. All the kids “triple-dog” daring Flick to stick his tongue to the pole (I actually did this in 5th grade, and yes it does work), the leg lamp, the foul-mouthed dad, the spirited mother, Randy unable to put his arms down in his “deep sea diving” winter wardrobe, “yellow eyed” Scut Farkus, etc. – this movie has it all.

Lastly, if there is one thing that I learned from this film, it is that I have to make sure to drink my Ovaltine. Little Orphan Annie said so.

Notable Mentions:

Santa Claus: The Movie (1985)
Gremlins (1984)
One Magic Christmas (1985)
The Santa Clause 2 (2002)
The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause (2006)
Christmas with the Kranks (2004)
How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2000)
A Christmas Carol (1999) (TV) starring Patrick Stewart
Die Hard (1988)
Die Hard 2 (1990)

(Hey, I’m a guy, and Gremlins and the first two Die Hard films take place during Christmas so…)