Christmas: A time for holiday cheer, great movies

Christmas Day in 1966 was a special time for this 9-year-old. I got the Stingray bicycle I so desperately wanted from my mother and a fishing rod from my grandfather.

Back then, gifts were more about the delight of giving. I miss those days.

That year, my grandparents left their farm and drove 40 minutes to our house to treat us to the movie, “The South of Music.”

We dressed up like we were going to church. My brother and I wore a tie. My sister and mom put on their Sunday dresses.

The movie was incredible. I still hum, “I am 16, going on 17,” while grilling outside.

Movies, especially at Christmas time, were better back then. They told fascinating stories with heart-wrenching plots and satisfying endings.

That’s why, nearly 60 years later, “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” with Burl Ives singing the title song, “A Charlie Brown Christmas,” “Santa Claus is Coming to Town,” “Little Drummer Boy” and “Frosty the Snowman” are still classics. I watch them every year, and I fondly remember the Norelco electric shaver commercials with Santa Claus riding one down a ski slope.

It’s certainly hard to imagine a Christmas without hearing Bing Crosby singing in “White Christmas,” or seeing Susie, Doris and John suddenly stopping at an empty house to find Kris Kringle’s cane against the fireplace in “A Miracle on 34th Street.” That scene still gives me goosebumps, especially since my late wife and I always went to New York during the first week of December to see them turn the lights on the Christmas tree at Rockefeller Plaza, and for her to see “the real Santa” at Macy’s.

Admit it, you still chant, “Stink. Stank. Stunk,” when you think of “How the Grinch Stole Christmas!”

I have to admit, I still haven’t watched “It’s a Wonderful Life,” and I really don’t know why.

I still have a miniature leg lamp from “A Christmas Story” in storage. It must be from Italy because it’s "frageelay."

“March of the Wooden Soldiers” is curiously funny and scary when Laurel and Hardy rent a room in Mother Peep’s Shoe in Toyland. When she can’t afford her mortgage payment, the comic duo convinces the Wooden Soldiers to fend off an attack from the banker’s bogeymen. Who thinks of things that clever?

I certainly don’t want a lump of coal in my stocking, so I must admit there have been some good Christmas movies in the past 30 years.

“Home Alone” highlights the genuine love between family. “Elf” is a winsome tale of a delightfully uncomplicated and gullible man who travels from the North Pole to New York City. How can you go wrong with Buddy the Elf’s four-group food pyramid – candy, candy canes, candy corn and syrup?

Despite sewage spewing from Eddie and Catherine’s motorhome and getting a year-long Jelly of the Month Club membership, “National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation” was amusing. Who hasn’t blown a fuse from too many outdoor lights?

Along those same lines, Bill Murray’s “Scrooged” is a modern adaption of Charles Dickens’ 1843 classic, “A Christmas Carol.” It’s also the only time four of the six Murray brothers – including Joel, Brian-Doyle and John – appear in the same film.

Although it’s the season to be merry, some Christmas movies are like getting socks and underwear under the tree. They don’t inspire a lot of joy.

Take all the Christmas movies on Hallmark. Please. They all have the same storylines. It’s as if the writers created one script and stretched it into 25 movies. I can’t wait until the holidays are over and reruns of “Monk” return.

Because the story happens during Christmas, you can hardly call “Trading Places” or “Gremlins” a holiday movie.

Under no circumstance should “Die Hard” and “Bad Santa” be considered Christmas movies. The season shouldn’t include flicks with the seven words you can’t say on television or assault weapons. So to all of you “Die Hard” fans, stop it. Take a sip of eggnog and step away from the remote.

Yippee Ki-Yay and Merry Christmas to all.