Six Best Christmas Songs That Came From Movies

It was ten years ago I talked about how sometimes a song from a Christmas movie may be more popular than the movie itself. Today I want to take a different approach, when a song that premiered in a movie does so well it becomes a timeless standard. It's easy for a movie to use a song that's already a classic, for the movie to produce the classic is a little harder! Here are five of my favorite Christmas songs that just happen to have started out on the big screen.

"Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas"

Judy Garland is awesome, and no matter how many cover this (even Frank Sinatra) her's is the best version of the song. From the movie "Meet Me in St Louis" Garland has proven that she has more to remembered for than just "Somewhere Over the Rainbow".

Top 5 Favorite Christmas Elves

Santa Claus can't do it alone. So of course, he had elves to help make the toys and other things around the workshop. Apparently, elves began being associates with Santa in the mid 1800's, and just kind became part of the folklore as the years went on. Apparently, they didn't so much make the toys as keep an eye on kids to see who was naughty and who was nice. Kind of sounds like a certain elf on the shelf we have these days.

It was probably movies and TV that took the legends and make the elves a regular part of the holiday. Though some movies don't portray them great. Polar Express made them annoying jerks. The TV movie Santa Baby made them dumber than rocks. On the other hand, Disney's Prep and Landing shorts were one of the only time Elves were the show and Santa was the side character. Not only were they competent but Santa needed them to operate! Some movies or shows make them such good characters, they almost steal the show! Oh and just to be clear, I am only talking about Christmas elves. Of course elves exist outside the holiday as seen in everything from Lord of the Rings to Harry Potter to some horror movies I could mention. But for today the one rule they have to help Santa at the North Pole. 

#5.Buddy (Elf)

Of course this movie had to be here. Even if I do have issues with it. Though he's at the top since he is really an honorary elf. But man, is this guy positive and exuberant! He has so much love and excitement you can't help but be affected by it. Will Ferrell of course played the character perfectly and made the movie a classic. But I prefer the animated version from NBC a few years with Jim Parsons in the lead role. 

Top 8 Everybody Loves Raymond Christmas Episodes

There aren't many series which have the amount of Christmas episodes Frasier had. Friends sort of did, but I talked about that already. Home Improvement did, but again I already went over those episodes. Family Matters comes close but a few of them I haven't even seen. The only one that compares that I haven't talked out is Everybody Loves Raymond which also had eight. Since I ordered Frasier from best to worst, I think it's time to sort these the same way. And this will be harder!  

"The Christmas Picture"

Ok if you've been around for awhile then you know I had some issues with this episode. And I will not give that rant again, let's just say what Debra does is appalling. While the situation of trying to do a family picture is relatable, it's kind of empty as far as Christmas is concerned. 

Top Nine Frasier Christmas Episodes

Frasier was one of the best sitcoms ever made, and like any good show they did a far amount of holiday episodes. I decided to rank them based on how much I like them, omitting the two Thanksgiving shows because I've discussed them elsewhere. I am including the New Year's Episode.

High Holidays

This episode makes the top of the list by default since it's really not a Christmas episode. Aside from the Decor, this could have been an episode set anytime during the final season. It's not a bad episode, but it is a bad Christmas episode. 

We Wish You a Merry Trek-Mas

 I have been putting this one off for a few years now, for a few reasons. One is that it has been done, a lot. Another being that there really aren't that many examples to pick from. However with all the talking I have done about this franchise it would only be right to do this subject. So...

Star Trek has often dropped mention of holidays, especially in the early days. One episode had a clear Thanksgiving call out and another was a full-blown Halloween episode. Christmas has also had a few nods here and there. 

Here now are five examples of Christmas in Star Trek.

My Next 12 Favorite Christmas Commercials Ever

 So I was watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade when this ad came on:

It got me thinking, they don't make Christmas commercials anymore like they used to. There was a real charm and quality to those old ads. So, since it's been ten years since I discussed favorite Christmas commercials, it's only right to do another 12.

I did a whole article discussing Coca Cola's Christmas commercials. So it's about time Pepsi got some love. And is one of their better holiday ads. 

Santa Lore Explained By Movies/TV

Originally Santa Claus was just a cartoon used to sell Coca Cola products. But as he became more popular, his lore had to be fleshed out. First we had "Twas the Night Before Christmas" which gave us a lot, including his belly being like a bowl full of jelly. Then we as "Santa Claus is Coming to Town" which added things like the "he sees you when you're sleeping, knows when your awake". However, there are still lot of questions about how Santa operates. And over the years, movies have gone a long way to fill some of those gaps. 

Here ae five examples of what I mean.

"How Does Santa Deliver to the Whole World in One Night", Santa Claus:The Movie

This movie is basically an "origin" movie so it makes sense that it would explain some things. The one part I like is when Burgess Meredith's character, "Ancient Elf" I guess, explains that the time continuum breaks down when Santa is in his sleigh and "time moves with you". Meaning that Santa is moving super fast from our point of view. This is something that stuck, it gets mentioned in The Santa Clause and even the much more recent "The Santa Chronicles" used this.

Five Things I liked in Santa Clause 3:The Escape Clause

And now for a challenge. As you guys know, I kike to take a bad movie and find good things about it. Since it’s Christmas, I knew the perfect choice for this. The problem? I really hate this one. But can I find five positives anyway? Let’s discuss:

 

I heard Tim Allen say that he was going to make this on The Tonight Show and my reaction was, what the heck is the plot going to be? Twelve years after the first movie, we got this unnecessary sequel, The second movie managed a premise that made sense. Enough sense anyway. This one was pushing things but to be honest, I was in on the premise. It sounded like a neat idea. Santa gets disgruntled and wonders if he should have ever become Santa at all. Ok, not original but it had promise.  It didn’t work out quite that way,

The Sets

With the stupid Canada joke we get a good look at the sets for the north pole here,and they are very well done. Of course the Hall of Snow Globes is amazing, and they did a real good job changing the set in the alternate tine lime so that it almost doesn’t even look like the same place.

Top 10 Home Improvement Christmas Episodes

I love Christmas episodes and some series really go above and beyond, like this one…







The reason I am focusing on this show is that it did something which was kind of unqiue. It managed a Christmas episode every single year. I was going to say this was the only show that did that, but there are a few others that did especially “The Middle” which I never watched. I thought it would be fun to go over these episodes and see which was better. Oh you may be wondering, if Home Improvement had 8 seasons how can this be a top 10? I’ll explain the two honorary episodes as we go.

 

#10.”No Place Like Home” (Season 6)

Ok ok, I have talked about this episode before and how awful it is. And not just as a Christmas episode either, it’s one of the worst episodes of the series. I honestly think they threw the Christmas elements in there because felt they needed a Christmas episode again. Even though Christmas is barely in it and it has none of the elements that make the other Christmas episodes so memorable. I think they meant the Thanksgiving episode that year to be the official Christmas episode in heart, since that episode mentioned the lighting contest and had a tribute to the old Rankin/Bass stop motion shows.

Christmas Movie Anniversaries in 2019

I spent a lot of time this year discussing some big anniversaries that happened to be this year. One area I missed was Christmas movies. And believe it or not, a few have notable anniversaries in 2019.


Let’s run them down:




Christmas with the Kranks-15th

Ok this isn’t the best Christmas movie ever made, by far!, but it’s still worth a mention. Where many films fade away (anyone remember Deck the Halls?) this one has managed to stay alive in people’s thoughts. Maybe because it starts Tim Allen? Flawed, but not as jaded as some other movies that have come out in the last 15 years that were really detestable.

Ten Memorable Coca-Cola Christmas Commercials

12 Movies About Santa’s Extended Family

Disney+, yes I have it too, has a new movie coming out with Anna Kensrick about Santa’s daughter. When Santa’s son disappears before he’s supposed to take over, she has to find him. Nice idea but…Wait a minute, when did he have children?? Yeah for about twenty years now creators have realized that they have done all the stories they could about our favorite man in red. Where to go next? His family of course!






One of the first was in the 90’s. CBS had a TV movie about Mrs. Santa Claus which was so boring it put me in a coma. And of course Santa Claus 3 had a plotline about Santa having a child, who we didn’t see until the very end. I can’t figure out exactly when it was but at some point people must have started to wonder, what if Santa had kids? Or even a brother or sister? And these days there quite a few movies out there abut that very thing. For some reason we just put aside how disturbing the idea of Santa having sex is, and accept the premise. I guess I gotta admire creators coming with something different, but like everything else Christmas related it’s been done to DEATH at this point. Are any of these good? Let’s check them out. And one rule here is that the Santa in the movie has to be the “real” Santa.







Fred Claus

This wasn’t the first, by any means, but I figured since it was one of the few that wasn’t made for TV I would mention it first. There are these two brothers, Fred is the troublemaker and Nicholas is the saint. And, well, hijinks. This isn’t considered a great movie, although Paul Giamatti does a fair job as Santa, and I’d be lying if I said I’d even seen it. From what I’ve heard I think I’ll keep it that way.

15 Favorite New Year’s Eve Sitcom Episodes

I’ve talked about my favorite sitcom episodes based around Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. There is one holiday I have sadly overlooked. Well, two. But we have a few more weeks to dive into Valentine’s Day. No what I want to discuss is the popular New Year’s Eve episode.

       

New Year’s may not be the most popular holiday to devote a sitcom episode on, but there are still plenty of them out there. They usually always revolve around making resolutions or finding a date for the night. Or both. What I love is that these are all almost all honorary Christmas episodes, since most of these shows decorate the sets with Christmas decorations seeing how the episode is set days later. And the theme of the holiday season is still very much present.

Here are some of them. And since it seems like every list I see forgets that TV shows happened in the 70’s, 80’s or early 90’s, these are mostly from that era.




Laverne & Shirley, “New Years Eve 1959”

Penny Marshall was the best. I failed to find a clip of the Christmas episode last time, but this episode I did find. And there isn’t much to it. It’s just the gang finding dates for New Year’s. Which doesn’t end well for poor Laverne. But give Garry Marshall credit that final scene of them all singing Auld Lang Syne is pretty cool, he really knew how to hit the sentimental button.

Merry Christmas From the Variety Specials

There a lot of things that were huge on TV at one time that have vanished over the years. Believe it or not there was a time when Westerns were huge. When was the last time you saw on of those on TV? Another example are the old variety Christmas specials. And to be honest, these are so passe that even I barely got to see any of them. Except for Bob Hope I never watched Bing or Perry Como or any of those others.




It’s hard to really discuss these without video clips but these specials were so awesome. They had celebrity guests, sketches, and lots of singing. Can you imagine a time when people performed rehearsed numbers? Good times. Were they corny? Oh my yes. But there was also something so great about them. It’s really hard to explain. Since it’s Christmas very shortly I thought it would be fun to dig through YouTube and share some clips from these specials.





Judy Garland
Man does this one go back a aways! I mean, black and white? I think this was her only special but thought it would be fun to mention it. It’s also funny to see Mel Torme so young. Here is a classic clip of him singing his biggest Christmas song along with Judy Garland

Five Favorite Disney Christmas Shorts

I’m really quite shocked I never covered this one. I guess it feels like I did because I’ve commented on great blogs done by others.

Thirty-five years ago Mickey’s Christmas Carol premiered in theaters. But since I’ve talked about that many times before, I decided to do something different. Disney has been doing Christmas shorts for ages. Even more if you include Silly Symphonies. But which one’s are my favorite that I still watch every year, despite my advanced age?






Here are my five favorite Disney Christmas cartoons. And to be clear, I mean shorts featuring Mickey and the gang not full length episodes and/or movies. Oh, and you may know my gripe about how Disney somehow seems to think snow and ice automatically equal Christmas. No, these have to be CHRISTMAS cartoons. And no Christmas Carol does count it’s a short not a movie. When it premiered in theaters it was accompanied by other Disney cartoons to make it long enough for a theatrical release.



Santa’s Workship

While I have issues with the follow up to this, ‘The Night Before Christmas”, this one is more tolerable. Yeah the Santa is still kinda xcreepy but at least teh scenario makes more sense. It’s Santa getting ready for the big sleigh ride. The animation and music are really nice.

“It’s a Wonderful” Sitcom Episode

 

This is one I have been putting off for awhile. We all know the classic movie “It’s a Wonderful Life” where George Bailey gets to see what the world would have been like without him. It’s a great premise, so great pretty much everyone has done a take on it inducing Tiny Toons, SNL, and The Muppets. And of course, sitcoms are no exception.



While not quite as common as the “Christmas Carol” episode, there are still a few out there. And they don;t all follow the exact same structure either, the only criteria is some sort of angel (for most) and seeing what everyone would be like if something did or didn’t happen. One reason I have not discussed this yet is because it doesn’t need to be a Christmas episode for the premise to work. Though very often it is. I’ll be honest I am a major sucker for this particular plot device. Possibilities are always fun to see, especially with characters you have gotten to really know. Seeing what they could have been like if things were different, and while some shows play it more seriously than others these episodes are always fun to watch.




Here we go, buckle in folks!




Benson, “Home for Christmas”

One of my favorite episodes of anything ever. For the longest time it was just a memory, I had only seen it once, and killed to see it again. Thank you TV Land for finally re-airing it so I could record it! Benson is injured and in heaven, his mother shows him what life would be like for his friends if he left them then. And the picture above is not from the episode, all I could find.

Five Things I liked in "Scrooged"

Yep, another classic Christmas movie has an anniversary this year. There are lots of variations on A Christmas Carol set in modern day, but very few that clicked. This is one that definitely did. In 1988 we saw this movie in theaters, and loved it. This is the movie that made people realize Bill Murray was more than just SNL or Ghostbusters, and this would my favorite holiday movie I’ve ever seen in a theater. Until The Santa Clause came along anyway.  Now normally when I do these kind of articles I nitpick flaws in good movies. But since it’s the 30th anniversary, here are five reasons I love “Scrooged”.

Direct by Richard Donner and released November 23, 1988 this movie is a real surprise. I should hate it, but I don’t. Why? Let’s see….

10 Movies Set at Christmas But AREN’T Christmas Movies

This year marks the 30th anniversary of THE greatest Christmas movie ever made. Of course I am talking about…

 

 

 

Wait, what? Die Hard?? Yeah I know this is kind of an accepted thing now but I still don’t get it. What makes this a Christmas classic? Don’t get me wrong, it’s a fantastic action movie. I loved it in 1988 from the awesome action to the effective comedy to the amazing Alan Rickman as the villain. But aside from the fact it’s set at Christmas, how is it a Christmas classic? Ok they play Let it Snow at the end, but…really? A few years I decided to finally check it out myself, and watched the movie after several years. And to be fair, it does kinda start out Christamassy. You’d never guess what the movie would turn into. But then it becomes an action flick, and…Christmas? (FYI yes it still mostly holds up)

But there are tons of people who watch it every Christmas and who am I to argue with them? But the thing is, this isn’t the only movie to have nothing to do with the holiday but be set on it anyway. A couple years ago I discussed movies which will have a random Christmas scene, but otherwise have nothing about the holiday in it. But what about movies which are specifically set during the Christmas season..even though the plot has no connection to the holiday? Oh sure elements of the holiday may pop in, but the story is unrelated and in some cases even dark or disturbing! Yeah I know you’re all thinking of a few, but for fun let’s run some of them down.

Die Hard may have started the trend, but it sure wasn’t the last! Here are a few more:





Lethal Weapon

I honestly forgot about this one. But yeah it definitely takes place at Christmas. I guess I can see why people who don’t particularly care for the holidays may enjoy a movie where the lights and decorations are either being blown away or used to hurt people.

My 10 Favorite Christmas Movie Moments

A long while back I talked about Christmas movie moments that were a tad..out there. But one thing I never discussed were my favorite Christmas movie moments of all time. Not the whole movie, just a scene. It’s a scene I have to see when watching the film always brings a smile to my face no matter how much I watch it

Here are my favorite Christmas movie moments. No specific order and in this case, theatrical films only.

The Santa Clause
I’ve gushed about this movie before, but here I give you my favorite scene in the film. It’s beautifully staged, as we see the wonders of this Santa’s Workshop while Scott and Charlie make their descent. The best part is that choir singing. This movie doesn’t have the strongest soundtrack but damn I love that Christmas Bell Carol. Sadly, this is the best clip I could find.

And while the second movie was hardly awful there aren’t to many memorable scenes. Here is one sweet one.

The Quintessential Songs of Christmas

Remember the other day when I talked about Burl Ives and how he owned Holly Jolly Christmas? I don’t care how many versions of the song are out there, this is the first and best one in my book!

Well he’s not the only artist identified with a Christmas classic. Anyone can record a Christmas song, and almost everyone has, but it takes something special for a song to be synonymous with the artist. So much so that no matter how many cover the tune, it’s this one artist who everyone thinks of first when the song pops up.Either because they released the song first, or because they just had such a perfect take on it that it’s become the beloved version.



Here are twelve more Christmas songs which have been covered to death, but these are the versions everyone thinks of first. In my opinion anyway.



Santa Claus is Coming To Town by Bruce Springsteen
Love it or hate it, we’ve all heard this version and we all think of it when the song gets mentioned. Yeah Frank Sinatra probably sang the best version, but not the most recognized one. And yes I know people are screaming “JACKSON 5!!!” at their screens but c’mon, is that one really that good the way Jackson keep screaming the title of the song?