I was thinking about this as I began watching Christmas Vacation last night.

Anyone have any interesting traditions or films they consider Classics in their family?

Aside from Vacation (which is hilarious), Im in the camp that considers Diehard to be a Christmas Classic.

We have done Bad Santa followed by Vacation every year for a decade now, among our group.

 

For me, personally, I'm a huge fan of Christmas specials, so I have to watch Charlie Brown, Rudolph, both Grinch's, Garfield, and this year I actually found Merry Christmas, Mr Bean! on TV, so I watched that for the first time in awhile. Always great. The girlfriend is obsessed with Tim Allen's "The Santa Clause" trilogy, so we watch all 3 of those every year as well. 

 

As soon as December arrives, our house is like Christmas puked in here...

Gotta listen to Bob & Doug 12 days of Christmas. Every year.

Is it just me or are there less Christmas specials on TV?  Maybe its that we have way more channels but as a kid, it seemed every night there was a Christmas movie/special/cartoon.  And about 8 different versions of A Christmas Carol.  I havent seen one "A Christmas Carol" on TV this year....am I just not looking?

Some of the cable channels have been running nothing but Christmas movies since end of November. We were chuckling because the Women's Network is around the same place as TSN/Sportsnet, so we scroll by it in the guide, and they've had nothing but Christmas movies on since American Thanksgiving...

 

So, they're there, for sure...and on YTV and stuff.....just gotta hunt for 'em.

1 hour ago, Noeller said:

Some of the cable channels have been running nothing but Christmas movies since end of November. We were chuckling because the Women's Network is around the same place as TSN/Sportsnet, so we scroll by it in the guide, and they've had nothing but Christmas movies on since American Thanksgiving...

 

So, they're there, for sure...and on YTV and stuff.....just gotta hunt for 'em.

And I swear my wife has PVR'd every damn one of them. Good thing I added the 1tb drive to the PVR.

Watch Christmas Vacation every year as well.  Same with Elf and Ernest Saves Christmas.

Also watch all of the ones Noeller mentioned as far as TV goes.  Frosty, Rudolph, Charlie Brown, Garfield, Grinch, etc...

Bad Santa is the only thing I watch every year around Christmas (besides the  World Juniors).  Vacation & A Christmas Story are regulars too, just maybe not every year.

Love the Garfield Christmas.

Love Actually is my wife's favourite Christmas movie. That, along, with Home Alone, Scrooged, & Christmas Vacation are our must watches each year. I also like Elf & Charlie Brown, but they're in the "only if we have time" category.

How about traditional drinks?

Im not a big drinker and the gf doesnt drink at all so I dont partake when Im home.  But I've often spent Christmas Eve at a buddies place with his family and we'll just have the usual Egg Nog and rum (Last year it was Crown and Nog or as we called it Eggnog Royale).

Audio books. We listen to Patrick Stewart's reading of A Christmas Carol every year - usually while we're on the road. It's fantastic.

It's a Wonderful Life is my man cave movie - wife doesn't like it.

Drinks: can never go wrong with scotch on the rocks. Or any decent whiskey on the rocks...

Any food traditions beyond the usual turkey or goose? I make a steak dinner for the whole family at some point during the holidays. This year it'll be on Dec. 23rd. 

my holiday drink (be it Christmas, Easter, or Thanksgiving) is Rye n Ginger. There is nothing that says holidays to me like sitting around a table playing cards with family and a glass of rye n ginger. 

Not much for food traditions, except making pancakes and french toast...the old man always did that when we were growing up, and I've tried to keep it rolling a bit over the years.