Christmas In the Media

   Christmas themes have long been an inspiration to artists, writers, and weavers of folklore. Moviemakers have picked up on this wealth of material, with both adaptations of literary classics and new stories. Radio and television have also aggressively pursued entertainment and ratings through their cultivation of Christmas themes.
   Many Christmas stories have been adapted to movies and TV specials, and have been broadcast and repeated many times on TV. Since the popularization of home video in the 1980s, their many editions are sold and re-sold every year during the holiday shopping season. Notable examples are the film It's a Wonderful Life, and the similarly themed versions of Dickens' A Christmas Carol, in which the elderly miser Ebenezer Scrooge is visited by ghosts and learns the errors of his ways. By contrast, the hero of the former, George Bailey, is a businessman who sacrificed his dreams to help his community. On Christmas Eve, a guardian angel finds him in despair and prevents him from committing suicide, by magically showing him how much he meant to the world around him.
   In the United States, many television series (particularly those of a family-oriented nature) produce a Christmas episode, although seldom outside of a season's production block. Stand-alone Christmas specials are also popular, from newly created animated shorts and movies to repeats of those that were popular in previous years, such as Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and A Charlie Brown Christmas. Some local affiliates provide the Yule Log, a block of time either on Christmas morning or both during the evening hours of Christmas Eve and Christmas morning showing footage of a fireplace, coupled with popular Christmas music. Some local affiliates that provide the Yule Log simulcast Christmas music from a radio station playing it. Every Christmas Day, ABC airs a Christmas parade at Walt Disney World Resort and two NBA games. Many US sitcoms or dramas like to include Christmas specials in their series. NBC airs Capital One Holiday Celebration on Ice, in which some of best ice skaters skate to Christmas music sung by an songwriter/artist.

Our staff has included here a listing of some of the all time favorite movie and television Christmas classics. Most of these are "family friendly" films with only a few exceptions. So far there are 33 film and made for T.V. selections under Christmas themes. 

1. A Charlie Brown Christmas
2. The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe
   
3. Babes in Toyland
   
4. The Grinch
5. Bells of St. Mary's
   
6. The Bishop's Wife
   
7. Christmas in Connecticut
   
8. A Christmas Story
   
9. Elf
   
10. Frosty The Snowman
    
11. Holiday Inn
    
12. Home Alone
13. Jack Frost
    
14. Jingle All The Way
    
15. I'll Be Home For Christmas
    
16. It's A Wonderful Life
    
17. The Little Drummer Boy
    
18. Little Women
    
19. The Muppet Christmas Carol
    
20. Miracle on 34th Street
    
21. The Nativity Story
    
22. Nightmare Before Christmas
    
23. The Note
    
24. The Polar Express
    
25. Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer
    
26. Santa Claus: The Movie
27. The Santa Clause
    
28. Santa Claus is Comin' to Town
    
29. Scrooge
    
30. The Snowman
    
31. The Ultimate Gift
    
32. White Christmas
    
33. The Year Without a Santa Claus
    

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