Fa Ra Ra Ra Ra

I am Jewish. I was born and raised Jewish. We celebrated Hanukkah while growing up and I was lucky enough to get presents on each of the 8 nights as a child. Most of my friends growing up were also Jewish. There were the fair share of gentiles in the neighborhood and obviously the sights, sounds, and smells of Christmas were and still are everywhere, especially on TV.  (I mean, are there even any Hanukkah movies anyway?) There are so many Christmas movies out there, old and new, and I have my favorites. (I am also not ashamed to admit I have never seen It's a Wonderful Life. Sue me.) Some are very popular and on all the time, especially in the time leading up to Christmas. And some just come on once or twice right before Christmas. Nonetheless, I must watch each one of the movies below at least once to get in the holiday spirit.

1. A Very Brady Christmas. This is probably the rarest of the Christmas movies because it is on only like once a year. I search and search for this movie for when it is going to be on and I make sure to watch it in real time. It's pretty much my favorite Christmas movie. I just love the Bradys and their hijinks. In this movie, they are all grown up (everyone is the original actor and actresses except for Cindy) and they come together for Christmas. Priceless. (This is no particular scene in the movie, but a nice montage of this fantastic family movie.)

2. Elf. This movie is usually on TV at least once a week right after Thanksgiving. I can watch it over and over again even though I own it on DVD. Will Ferrell nailed this role as Buddy the Elf and it makes me laugh out loud almost every single time.

3. A Christmas Story. TBS made this movie even more spectacular by running their 24-hour of A Christmas Story. From the leg lamp to learning that your tongue will indeed stick to a frozen flagpoll, this movie has it all. There are way too many classic scenes to count but to me, this movie is Christmas.

4. Bad Santa. I first saw this movie in the theater with my family on Christmas Day (that's what us Jews do on Christmas) and all of us loved it. It's totally not a family movie in any sense, but because we all have a such dirty sense of humor (my mom pretends not to, but def does), we all enjoyed it and were laughing out asses off. How could we not grow to love little Thurman Murman?

5. The Santa Clause. This is another movie I can watch over and over again. I don't know what it is about this movie, but I really like it. I think its just Tim Allen. When I was younger, I had a weird crush on him even though he was a dad. Weird.

Honorable Mentions: Home Alone (and Home Alone 2: Lost in New York), Scrooged, and (The original) Babes in Toyland

We all have our favorite holiday movies and most of them are on the "25 Days Of Christmas" movies on ABC family leading up to Christmas. And if not, they are at some point before the big day. There is nothing better than putting on some sweats and hopping on the couch with some hot chocolate to get this Jewish girl in the Christmas spirit.