Tonight is Christmas Eve. Families gather, share a meal, enjoy a glass of eggnog and bask in the warmth of each others company. There are as many Christmas Eve traditions as there are families and here a few that you might identify with.
Although the favorite holiday film in the Greg "Splashin'" McShea household is "White Christmas", number two on the list is "National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation". Clark, Cousin Eddie and the whole Griswold Christmas clan will be on ABC Family TV tonight at 7:00 p.m. And if the kids can stay up late enough, it's followed by "Polar Express" at 9:00 p.m.
Although there was a more recent production of the film, "Miracle On 34th Street", tonight the original 1947 version airs on AMC at 8:00 p.m. This classic version stars John Payne, Maureen O'Hara, Edmund Gwenn as Kris Kringle, a man who claims to be Santa Claus. And look for a very young Natalie Wood.
It started early this year, October 22 to be exact, when TBS ran a "Home Improvement" episode called "Home For the Holidays" and the pace will be be picking up quickly starting this weekend. I'm talking about Christmas TV, specials, movies and holiday themed episodes of regularly scheduled shows. Not only will favorites like "A Charlie Brown Christmas" and "It's A Wonderful Life" return but, yes, "National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation" will pop up from time to time. Check out the full schedule.
We all have our favorite Christmas movies most of which are classics. "It's A Wonderful Life", "Miracle On 34th Street" and the hilarious "National Lampoon:Christmas Vacation" come to mind. However there have been some pretty bad Christmas movies and the website Fandango.com has come up with a list of the worst with "Santa Claus Conquers the Martians" at the very top. What were the others?
You know the story of Ebeneezer Scrooge, the main character in Charles Dickens' "A Christmas Carol". Through the years, there have been numerous movies, TV presentations and live productions of that haunted holiday story. In fact, just last weekend The Players of Utica presented "Scrooge - The Musical" at the Stanley Center for the Arts in downtown Utica, with Richard Enders reprising his role as Scrooge.
We all have a favorite Christmas movie. Some like the comedies such as "National Lampoon Christmas Vacation" while others prefer more traditional fare like "Miracle on 34th Street" or "It's A Wonderful Life". But what does our taste in Christmas movies say about us? A lot according to Shine from Yahoo.
We all have our favorite holiday movies, and that's the case in the McShea household. This time of year, the TV networks start airing those classic features just about every night. One of the all-time favorite holiday movies is the Jimmy Stewart/Donna Reed film, "It's a Wonderful Life", but that's not our favorite.
