The 38th annual Festival of Trees and Traditions is happening at the Wadsworth Atheneum until December 11th! Y’all should stop by if you’re in the Hartford area, there are over one hundred tress that have been decorated by local artists. If you aren’t feeling the holiday spirit yet, you soon will be!
Top 10 Christmas Movies
With Thanksgiving under our belts (literally), we can finally embrace the festive holiday cheer. I know some of you scrooges out there hear “Jingle Bells” and want to go crawling under a rock but over here at THE MILL we are always in the spirit of celebration and what better way to start the season than by watching a Christmas movie? Below are my top ten personal favs.
This is the only Christmas movie that my grandparents own and we watch it every year while my grandma and I bake cookies. The 1954 Technicolor musical starring Bing Crosby has it all - singing, tap dancing and awesome fur mufflers (I want, I want!).
A movie from our generation, Macaulay Culkin is the ultimate prepubescent badass. Not only does he pull pranks on two mean guys, makes friends with the pigeon lady and goes ice skating in Central Park, he does it all with that Munch inspired face.
*I combined Home Alone 2: Lost in New York within this category
When Tim Allen starts taking on characteristics of Santa Clause I can’t help myself from laughing. His mysterious weight gain, white beard and jolly spirit make me giggle like a little kid.
7. The Nightmare Before Christmas
I haven’t seen Tim Burton’s exhibition at the MOMA yet but I would advise you all to check it out. The director’s spooky stop-motion-fantasy-musical reminds me of Edgar Allen Poe’s similarly beautiful yet creepy poems and will take you into a land of imagination and creation where anything is possible.
A wonderful classic (ha, get it?), this movie is a tear-jerker and makes you realize how you can impact other’s lives for the better.
Another feel good movie, I love the British accents and overlapping narratives. After seeing this movie I was inspired to buy a red jacket like Natalie, the cute low love luck assistant to Hugh Grant who plays the British Prime Minister, wears in the final scene. The heartwarming narratives about love blend together in a fabulous rendition of “All I Want for Christmas.” Plus, watching Hugh Grant dance to “Jump” is fantastic.
*Great soundtrack, I might add.
Will Ferrel at his best. Buddy the Elf is the best elf there ever was. This movie makes me LOL to the point where I can’t breathe, and his awkward yellow tights would make a perfect holiday costume. A pure pleasure to watch.
3. National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation
My family watches this movie every season in preparation for the annual arrival of our extended family. Comparing our unusual family to the Griswolds can make anyone feel somewhat normal. From the oversized Christmas tree to the attack of the squirrel, the Griswold Family Christmas is a hard one to compete with - everything that could go wrong does and does to the extreme.
Bill Murray plays the best Scrooge EVER. In a 1988 take on Dickens’ classic story A Christmas Carol, Murray encounters the ghost of Christmas Past, Present and Future and in a humorous yet sincere way realizes the fault of his greed.
The BEST CHRISTMAS MOVIE OF ALL TIME. Who doesn’t want an official Red Ryder carbine-action 200-shot range model air rifle with a compass in the stock, and this thing which tells time for Christmas? The narrated story of Ralphie Parker’s quest for the Red Ryder BB gun characterizes the hysterical and quirky Parker family through memorable encounters with the leg lamp, pink bunny suit and double-dared pole liking incident. A lovable movie to be enjoyed over and over again. Unless, of course, you poke your eye out.
