When the kids were small, we would watch Christmas movies after they got out of school and before Christmas Day. For the most part, Christmas Vacation was our favorite. The antics of the Griswold family trying to celebrate the holiday brought loads of laughs to us. Each of us found something about the movie that caused us to laugh out loud.
Within the past few years, my favorite Christmas movie is Love Actually, a British import with mostly British stars in it. If you have not seen it, it has Hugh Grant as the prime minister, Liam Neeson as a recently widowed stepfather trying to make his stepson’s wish come true, a young Brit’s desire to visit America at Christmastime so he could score with American girls, the prime minister’s sister who discovers her husband is playing around, the lonely office worker who is so dedicated to the needs of her mentally challenged brother that she avoids all emotional connections, the friend of a recently married couple who is in love with the bride, the porn stand-in couple. There may be another segment or two that I am missing.
As we watch this movie, we all discuss our favorite segments. Casey’s favorite segment is the Liam Neeson story; not surprisingly, JD finds the young Brit coming to America to score with American girls “inspirational.” Patti also likes the Liam Neeson story. Me, I get a hoot out of Hugh Grant as the PM, dancing on the stairs and halls of #10 Downing Street and then knocking on door after door looking for his sweetheart.
But my favorite segment involves Colin Firth as an English novelist who falls in love with a Portuguese maid with whom he struggles to communicate. It has a tiny touch of the Gift of the Magi by O Henry to it because when they separate during part of the story, he tries to learn Portuguese and, unknown to him, she learns English. When he proposes to her, my heart just races. So romantic. Great story.
Do you have a favorite Christmas movie?
fighting damien 
December 29, 2010 at 9:07 AM
Along with our love of Shiner Bock, you and I share a love of the same Christmas movies! Our family watches National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation every year, without fail. It’s as much a part of our rituals as playing the “John Denver and the Muppets Christmas” CD (we also had it on vinyl and cassette) while we decorate the tree.
And Love, Actually is another favourite, reminding us of our time in the UK with a great story. I think my favourite scene is Liam Neeson’s son breaking through security at Heathrow to see his love before she gets on a plane to America.
Now that Christmas is over, go rent Pirate Radio. Made by the same guy, it’s a fictional story about the real-life DJs who ran pirate radio stations from the Irish Sea to blast rock ‘n roll into the UK in the 1960s. I still listen to some of those DJs today, ironically on the BBC.
January 4, 2011 at 2:55 PM
Christmas Vacation, especially the unedited version, is also a favorite in our home–we watch it every year as part of the family Christmas ritual. All I can say is, “Dad, you taught me everything there is to know about external illumniation.”
January 4, 2011 at 6:49 PM
Mike, I hope you had a great New Year’s. That line from Christmas Vacation is probably the best line of the movie. Have a great 2011 and stay warm and careful on those Maryland roads. Good to hear from you, Mike.
January 4, 2011 at 7:50 PM
I think our favorite line is from Eddie: “Now that there, Clark, is an RV. Don’t go gettin’ too attached to it, because we’re takin’ it with us when we leave next month.” (spit take)
But Hope, our youngest, knows every word of Clark’s rant against his boss.
January 4, 2011 at 8:20 PM
A few years ago, my buddy Morgan, and I were working together and we challenged each other to quotes from Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. He would send one quote and I would send back with another. We did this for a couple hours. The only thing is, Morgan didn’t know that I had a copy of the screenplay beside me when I was dishing up quotes. He and I laugh about that to this day.