All I watch for Christmas

As far as I’m concerned, there’s hardly a better time to watch movies than in the weeks leading up to Christmas. Give me a recliner in front of a fireplace next to a Christmas tree with a glass of egg nog, leftovers from Thanksgivings feast, a wide-screen TV and remote control, and I’m set. While I’ll watch back to back to back to back of my favorites — “Elf,” “National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation,” “Home Alone,” “A Charlie Brown Christmas,” “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer,” “It’s a Wonderful Life” and “White Christmas” — I make sure to leave plenty of time for other yuletide standards like “A Christmas Story,” “The Polar Express,” “Last Christmas” and “The Santa Clause.” It’s a holiday extravaganza that is never long enough.

As a reminder, there’s only 26 days until Christmas, so don’t waste a minute of prime holiday viewing.

But I’ve noticed there are several other movies that are too often ignored when it comes to Christmas viewing, or at least get relegated to “if I’ve got time I might watch them,” and I don’t know why. Some of them even have Christmas in the title, yet they seldom make the viewing list.

So if I may, let me suggest you also consider the following before you settle in for a long winter’s nap.

• Funny Farm (starring Chevy Chase). If you’re a Norman Rockwell fan like me, this is must-see.

• Trading Places (Eddie Murphy, Dan Aykroyd, Jamie Lee Curtis). It’s set during Christmas, and Dan dresses up like Santa.

• Christmas in Connecticut (Barbara Stanwyck). From 1945, this is a heart-warmer from the Golden Age of movies.

• Holiday Inn (Bing Crosby, Fred Astaire). To me, this is just a prequel to “White Christmas,” and all the other holidays are thrown in for the fun of it.

• Die Hard (Bruce Willis). The debate is over, it’s a Christmas movie.

• Scrooged (Bill Murray). How can a movie based on “A Christmas Carol” by Charles Dickens not be a Christmas movie?

• Love Actually (Hugh Grant, Keira Knightley). This really is a Christmas movie, but it doesn’t get the recognition others receive. Maybe it’s a British thing.

• The Family Man (Nicholas Cage, Téa Leoni). Not what you first think of for Christmas, but there are plenty of gifts to be found.

• La La Land (Ryan Gosling, Emma Stone). Sure it’s in LA where it doesn’t feel like Christmas, but pianist Seb Wilder plays all kinds of little yuletide ditties.

• Office Christmas Party (Justin Bateman, Jennifer Aniston, Kate McKinnon). Christmas is in the title, so it must be a Christmas movie.

• Reindeer Games (Ben Affleck, Charlize Theron). Well, the title is something Rudolph isn’t allowed to join in on.

• Babe (James Cromwell as the farmer). It’s observed that “Christmas means carnage,” and Ferdinand the duck learns about Christmas dinner. Besides, can you really get enough of this cute little pig?

• Catch Me If You Can (Leonardo DiCaprio, Tom Hanks). OK, a bit of a stretch, but you’ve got to want it.

• Eyes Wide Shut (Tom Cruise, Nicole Kidman). This is another one you’ve got to want for it to make the cut.

• Gremlins (Zach Galligan, Phoebe Cates). How close can you get to being a Christmas movie and not be one?

• Mean Girls (Lindsay Lohan, Rachel McAdams, Tina Fey). The Plastics aren’t Radio City’s Rockettes, but who is?

While these next two are actually set at Thanksgiving, surely you’ll want to enjoy them for Christmas, too.

• Miracle on 34th Street (Edmund Gwenn, Maureen O’Hara, John Payne, Natalie Wood). Hold out for the 1947 black-and-white version.

• Planes, Trains and Automobiles (Steve Martin, John Candy). There’s no chance you’re going the wrong way with this one.

Let the Christmas binge watching begin.