My desire to opt out of Christmas has not in any way dampened my desire to watch All the Christmas Movies.

I mean, a year without The Bishop’s Wife just ain’t worth livin.

There are so many good ones. And no one ever seems to bother with them. Yes, A Christmas Story is hilarious, but how about that scene in Holiday where Cary Grant and Katharine Hepburn are hiding out from the fancy party in the nursery? Lovely and heartbreaking.

Two that I particularly love:

A Holiday Affair: In general I am no fan of Robert Mitchum and his Two Magic Facial Expressions – eyebrow up and eyebrow down. But this story of a young widow (Janet Leigh) and the carefree dude wot melts her heart is GREAT. My favorite scene makes use of Christmas Movie Trope 17: Kindly Department Store Owner (see also Miracle on 34th St.). The widow’s young son, having found out that Mitchum’s character is poor as a spring squirrel, walks downtown by himself to try to return the train that Mitchum gave him for Christmas. And it’s totally entertaining to see tough ol’ Mitchum in a romantic comedy, for god’s sake.

Christmas in Connecticut: Why is it that I hate modern renditions of the “I got in trouble because I won’t tell the truth” trope but love old ones? Anyhow, I have never understood why everyone doesn’t love this movie. Barbara Stanwyck is a fake Martha Stewart whose publisher sends her a war hero sailor for Christmas dinner  at her farm, except that she has no farm, no husband, and no baby, and she can’t cook. Hijinks ensue, including the phrase “hunky dunky,” pancakes stuck to the ceiling, wayward cows, runaway sleighs, and more velvet evening gowns than you can shake a stick at.

Gosh, apparently you can watch the whole thing on YouTube starting here.

For my money, the movie to  end them all is White Christmas. My sister and I have sung the “Sisters” song in many airports, grocery stores, and Vermont fields.

But oof, it’s the end that really gets me. I start getting teary right around “What Do You Do with a General,” and then by the reprise of “We’ll Follow the Old Man,” I’m sobbing like a baby.

I suppose maybe because that actor’s face reminds me a little of my Gogo.