It's the Season for Christmas Movies - Top Ten Christmas Movies Plus More

Whether it's a movie about Christmas or a movie with a Christmas or holiday setting, it's time to start getting the Christmas spirit by curling up with your favorite holiday movies. Here are some of my favorites. Be sure and tell me yours.

Not Necessarily the All-Time Best, But My Favorites To Watch Year After Year

Some of the very best Christmas movies ever don't appear on my personal top ten list, just because I've seen them so many times that they need a rest for a few years. But they are featured further down on this site, and I'd certainly recommend them to anyone who recently dropped on the planet, like grandchildren, as they get old enough to appreciate them.

Here are my top ten favorite movies to watch sometime (or many times) during the holiday season. Some are Christmas movies and some are movies with a holiday backdrop. These are the ones I never get tired of watching at least once a year.

1. "You've Got Mail" starts in the fall and takes in all of the holidays. I just love this movie, and Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan are so perfect in it. They're each other's "one you love to hate." The rich holiday backdrop draws you right into this film. Christmas in a westside New York neighborhood makes you want to live and breathe there.

2. The holidays are what makes "While You Were Sleeping" so meaningful and hilarious at the same time. Loneliness combined with a comedy of errors. There are so many funny yet loveable characters it's amazing how they all work together without stealing the show.

3. I still bawl every time, even though I know how it ends. The richest scenes of this movie take place with a New York Christmas backdrop, making it a holiday favorite.

4. Bet you haven't heard of this one. Filled with so many of life's truths and follies. I always ask myself, "What would I do?"

My favorite part is where Jane Wyman's children buy her a television for Christmas, thinking it will keep her company and end her loneliness along with what they consider her ridiculous infatuation.

5. Just a rich and wonderful family holiday movie. The best version of this story is only available in UK format. But the Masterpiece Theater version is almost as good. Catch it on TV if it ever makes the rounds.

6. Okay, if you lined up "It's a Wonderful Life," "Christmas Story," and "The Miracle on 34th Street," and you could only pick one, I'd choose this one. "It's a Wonderful Life" would have to win for all-time best ever, but I've just seen it too many times now. "Christmas Story" would win hands down for best and funniest, but I'm burned out on it as well. For now, this is my pick, as I still like to watch it.

7. I have to revisit Mr. Bean's Christmas segments every other year at least. And if you can find someone who's never seen it before, it's that much better.

8. I don't care what anybody says, I love Home Alone. I was surprised to love Home Alone 2 just as much, even with the repeated gags.

9. Wonderful classic Jimmy Stewart. It's a charming old film with a mistaken identity theme -- one you should see at least once in your life, and more if you're like me. "You've Got Mail," was actually a modernized remake of this movie.

10. Every year dozens of holiday made-for-TV movies vie for attention, and there are lots of good ones among the mostly forgettable ones. The Christmas Card, by the Hallmark Channel, stood out for me. I've watched it three or four times now, and keep watching each year because the characters and plot are believable and heartwarming. It has some homey dialog that makes you wince at parts, but isn't that what Christmas movies are all about?