This is primarily directed at the atheists and agnostics among BT participants but everyone is welcome. I am just curious about atheists at this time of year. Do you watch or boycott seasonal programs? If you watch do you have a favorite; Charlie Brown Christmas, Rudolph, Grinch - the Boris Karloff one, you get the idea, and why.

No controversy, no arguing, no judgement, just your preferences and maybe that jewel we have not heard of before.

thanks.

The Grinch of course!

Even without the boxes and bows, love for your family and friends still shows.

It is amazing that after 44 years How the Grinch Stole Christmas still enchants. My 4 year old grand daughter loves it and so do I.

We have another one we like. Years ago I recorded A Christmas Memory broadcast. It is the story of a young Truman Capote living with his spinster cousin. This is the version with Geralding Page with Capote narrating. It is fun to watch and the commercials from 20 years ago are a whoot.

How about Scrooged?

It's gotta be "It's a Wonderful Life" for me. Very little competition with this classic Jimmy Stewart flick, IMO. I also like "A Christmas Story," largely because of the warning given the kid that he'll shoot his eye out with a BB gun. I actually did that to myself as a second-grader with my Christmas BB gun (although the eye wasn't actually "out.")
But the Grinch is great, too (Boris Karloff, not Jim Carey).

ouch.

Even as an adult I like to watch Frosty the Snowman, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, and all the cartoons and old-style Christmas shows. They bring back memories and make me long for my childhood where the magic was real and Santa was just waiting for me to fall asleep so he could bring me presents. Even this year my wife and I plan to watch some of the Christmas specials. We just love them.

But like DWill I absolutely love the Christmas classic "It's A Wonderful Life." Every year my wife and I go to Tampa Theater and watch this movie. It's a tradition for us. Check out the photo of the theater. The place is gorgeous.

Well Stahrwe, this may surprise you but my favorite is "The Bells of St. Mary's" I used to watch this every Christmas time. I also love the Christmas shown in "Fanny and Alexander" which is a very beautiful movie. I am too old to have become familiar with the cartoon Christmas movies and in general I do not like animated films (although my grandson who wants to become a movie director, tells me it is a "legitimate art form!" I am a fan of Truman Capote's writing and if I remember correctly this story is very poignant. He did have a very sad childhood.

Our family is very movie oriented and have watched "A Christmas Story" which is o.k. It bothered me because the hairdo's were from the time the film was made not from when it was set. The part about the kid being stuffed in his snowsuit was funny though.


I'm not too crazy about "Its a wonderful life" as I find George Bailey a little too whiney. However it reminds me too of my childhood with the simpler trees etc.

We do not boycott anything about Christmas. In fact when my Mom was alive I used to go to church with her Christmas Eve and one year I remember we had a drink with a Catholic priest (My boss at the time) before crossing the street to the Episcopal Cathedral. (My mom had to use his bathroom and came out and told me. . . "that priest wears red pajama's" like it was a scandalous thing)

Also Stahrwe it angers us that our city calls the tree a "holiday" tree and my husband wrote a letter to the editor about that saying it should be called a Christmas tree. Just because we do not believe does not mean that we think others should be silenced who do believe, esp when our same city has a menorah on the city hall steps!

Stahrwe, this isn't the point of your question but maybe will explain a little more. Just because we are atheists does not mean we do not appreciate all the very great beauty that has been created because of Christianity. In fact I collect religious art and have a copy of Raphaels' "Madonna of the Chair" hanging in my bedroom.

Once we spent 3 weeks in Winchester England and went almost daily to the Cathedral. To ignore all this great art and architecture would be as silly as I think other things are. BTW they have a vellum Bible there (think it is two volumes) that was incredible, since of course it is hand done and the illustrations are very beautiful.

Well, I am writing too much but back to
Its a wonderful life

This movie, I think, depicts very believably the dilemma that George finds himself in about the missing money and the desperation he feels as he contemplates suicide. To me that is the most truthful thing in the movie.

Wow, you are right! The last movie I saw was at a megaplex with 8,000 screens. The theater I was in was slightly larger than a shoe box and had a postage stamp for a screen.

When I was a kid Rudolph was presented by Norelco, reimagined for the show as Noelco and Santa Claus would ride across the now on an electric razor.

It's a Wonderful Life is great. Some trivia. It lost $0.5million in its first release.

One of the stars was a real bird brain.
His name was Jimmy. He appeared in all of Frank Capra's films.
Anyone know what made him different from the rest of the cast?

Thank you for your post and comments. Very interesting. I remember seeing the Bells of St. Mary's a few times but it isn't a staple with me. I will have to check out Fanny and Alexander as I am not familiar with it.

There is also a sappy old movie called, Tenth Avenue Angel that we try to catch every year. It is about a little girl named Flavia whose mother will die unless Flavia can see a cow kneel at midnight on Christmas Eve (I know)

In a broader category, I love the Trans Siberian Orchestra's Ghosts of Christmas Past DVD

And then there are the real sentimental Christmas movies like:

Die Hard,
Long Kiss Goodnight
Silent Partner

I can't get over that theater in Chris' post.

You're making me drool.
Thank you for the post.

First one is National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation. The second one would be the old cartoon ones with the Heat and Cold Miser brothers. I have a big list of Christmas movies I watch every year. I like Home Alone 1 and 2 (the other ones were dumb without McCauley Culkin in them). Christmas with the Kranks is really funny and the one with Arnold Swartzenneger, Jingle All The Way is one of my favs as well.

Marx Brothers' "Duck Soup"

Die Hard is the best Xmas movie ever.