Holiday Movie Night Recommendations
After eating the turkey itself, there’s nothing better than curling up as a family in front of a warm fireplace and watching a classic holiday movie. It’s even better when there’s snow outside and you have nowhere to go for a few days. So sit back, relax and enjoy our list of classic holiday shows you just have to see.
5. A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving
I remember watching A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving every year on my family’s old VHS player. We didn’t have TV when I was growing up, so old Charlie got a lot of watching even when it wasn’t Thanksgiving. I’ve probably seen this over a hundred times and I still look forward to seeing it on TV nowadays. It really is that good.
And it is a fun tradition for me and my family to watch Charlie even though we have seen him so many times. If you have young kids and grandparents at your Thanksgiving, this is a great choice. All the old fogies will get to feel nostalgia and the kids will be entertained.
Now for older kids, Charlie Brown makes for a great Thanksgiving if you haven’t seen him yet. But these modern kids with their game boys and smart phones get bored a lot more easily than we did. In that case I’d reccomend a more modern pick like the next choice.
4. Bart Vs Thanksgiving
The Simpspons have done everything. And I mean everything. Homer was a freaking astronaut and an opera singer at some point. So it is surprising that they have only one Thanksgiving episode.
This is a pretty good one as far as Thanksgiving episodes go. Older kids and adults will find it super funny while younger kids will learn that it is wrong to hurt other people to become the center of attention.
In the end, the message of being together as a family wins out and everyone has a happy Thanksgiving.
3. Everything by Dr. Seuss ever
I don’t care if the Grinch didn’t steal Thanksgiving. You could watch this on Cinco de Mayo and it would still make sense. This is America! Christmas starts somewhere in October these days.
Regardless, How the Grinch Stole Christmas! and The Cat in the Hat are some of the best kids programmin available that is still watchable by adults.
Be honest, aren’t you thankful that we don’t all sit around watching Pokemon as a family. Have you ever watched that show? The dialogue is litterally the characters repeating their own names at different speeds.
Just FYI, this scene won a day-time Emmy in Japan.
Location : Spaceship floating above Earth
Pikachu: Pikachu. Pikachu!
Meowth: Meowth?
Pikachu: Pika Pika. (Brief Pause) Chu.
(The background fades to a single color, anime-pop song fades in, Pikachu destroys village with Lightning)
Yeah, the Grinch can steal Christmas whevever he wants to.
2. The Smurfs
The Smurfs movie was a smash hit. Kids loved it. And who wouldn’t? The little blue munchkins are super-cute after all. Who woulda thunk that the Belgians could come up with something so endearing?
Now the Smurfs movie wasn’t where it all began, the little smurfs have been on TV since the 60s. And in that time they managed to get some good holiday specials out there.
I would reccomend The Smurfs’ Christmas Special as well as ‘Tis The Season to be Smurfy. They’re both pretty sweet. As you’d expect, the Smurfs do a great job of teaching kids the importance of sharing and being grateful for what you have.
And the dialogue is a step above Pokemon, even if they do say Smurf a lot.
1. An American Tail
In my opinion, the greatest family Thanksgiving movie of all time.
An American Tail follows the story of Fieval Mousekewitz and his family from Russia to America where they hear that the streets are paved with gold.
It has everything that is needed to close a perfect Thanksgiving. Non stop-adventure, memorable songs and classic animation by Don Bluth, An American Tail shows us how important your family is. And in those dark times where you don’t have a family to rely on, that the kindness of strangers can lift us up.
Not only will this movie teach your kids some good life lessons, it might even teach them something about the history of America and what it meant to be an immigrant in the 19th century.
So there you have it, the definitive list of what to watch during the holidays. A lot of these shows will be on your TV so check your local listings, but if it’s not and you really want to see them, you can probably find them on DVD without too much trouble.
And if you wait til the day after Thanksgiving I bet you can get them for a really good price too. Don’t worry they’ll still be just as good next year.
