With December comes Christmas music and movies a plenty, but let's face it, some classic holiday pop culture has beaten us over the head for far too long. There are only so many times you can watch the same movies over and over ad nauseam. I'm hoping to combat that by counting down my top 5 Christmas movies of which you've probably never heard. You're welcome. (Warning: LOTS of cheesiness ahead)
5. Sing Along Songs: The 12 Days of Christmas (1993)
(Ignore the Anna and Rapunzel title of the video, they didn't even exist yet. But this is one of the best songs from this VHS.)
So this video is a part of the Sing Along Songs video series. Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, Donald, etc. sing songs about Christmas as the words scroll across the screen. Along with popular Christmas songs like "12 Days of Christmas," "Jingle Bells," and "Deck the Halls," there are a few original songs in the mix. In one, Goofy sings about getting an elephant for Christmas and in another the elves just want to take a dance party break. In the one above called "He Delivers," Huey, Dewey, and Louie get excited about how Santa delivers presents. To this day it's still a catchy pop song and watching all of them as a kid was always a highlight.
4. A Muppet Family Christmas (1987)
This is personally my favorite Jim Henson outing ever. It not only has the Muppets, but it also has the Sesame Street gang, the Fraggles (including Doc!), and a tiny appearance by Muppet Babies. Fozzie invites the whole Muppet crew to his mom's for Christmas, but she was planning on going on vacation so she rented it to the guy from Fraggle Rock. A freak snowstorm keeps everyone stuck in the house including the Sesame Street characters who visited while Christmas caroling. It's a wonderful, feel good crossover special that I wish would actually come out on dvd.
3. Jim Henson's The Christmas Toy (1986)
This is Toy Story before Toy Story existed. It revolves around a stuff tiger named Rugby who thinks he has to be his owner's Christmas present again this year. He stubbornly ventures downstairs to get into what he thinks is his present box while a doll named Apple follows to try to talk him out of it. In a kind of darker twist on Toy Story, if the toys get caught moving or out of place by humans, they are no longer sentient when the humans leave. As it's a kids' Christmas movie, everything works out in the end, but it tugs on the heartstrings. Also another movie that is only in VHS format.
2. A Diva's Christmas Carol (2000)
Originally airing on VH1, A Diva's Christmas Carol is my favorite version of A Christmas Carol, cheese and all. Vanessa Williams is the Beyonce of an 90s group that breaks up when she goes solo and becomes a major diva. Her Marley is played by Chili from TLC. Vanessa's Ebony Scrooge is every version of an entitled, snobby diva and her ghosts of Christmas Past, Present, and Future set her straight before her life heads in a horrible direction. The 90s inspired pop song that her group sings in a flashback is particularly awesome.
1. Three Days (2001)
Three Days is about a husband, Andrew, who loses his wife, Beth, in an accident on Christmas Eve only minutes after they have an argument about him cheating. An angel appears and lets Andrew go back in time 3 days so that he can prove he loves her. Andrew tries to make the best of those days convinced that buying things and giving her experiences will keep her alive. In the end is it enough to save her, though? This is another cheesy holiday movie (although it aired on FOX Family and not Hallmark), but 11 year old me adored it. Kristen Davis is lovely as Beth.
Hope these bring back long forgotten memories of simpler times. Happy Holidays! <3
