The Ten Best Holiday Movies Ever

2. Love Actually (2003) Its Christmastime in contemporary, multicultural London, and eight couplesyes, eightare making their way through the different stages of love: the first meeting, the first kiss, the proposal, the breakup, the heartbreak. Director Richard Curtis, who also made Notting Hill and Bridget Joness Diary, has a deft way with glossy London comedies. The stellar cast includes Emma Thompson, Keira Knightley, Liam Neeson, Hugh Grant, Colin Firth and the British comedian Rowan Atkinson as a maddeningly fussy gift-wrapper.

3. Christmas in Connecticut (1945) Barbara Stanwyck is Elizabeth Lane, the Martha Stewart of her day. She has a perfect husband, a perfect baby and a perfect house in Connecticut. Well, not really. Miss Lane has a boyfriend, lives in Manhattan and gets her famous recipes from her friend, a grumpy chef. When her publisher and a handsome unmarried war hero come to the country house her boyfriend owns, shes got to come up with a dinner and a baby really fast. Plus, she has to convince the war hero that shes not really married. Stanwyck, whos played a lot of fearsomely dramatic roles, turns in a charming, uproarious performance. The baby is good, too.

4. The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992) Kermit the Frog as the lowly clerk Bob Cratchit? Believe it or not, it works. Jim Hensons rowdy posse stays faithful to the classic Charles Dickens tale of greed, ghosts and redemption. Kermits plaintive voice is actually perfect for Bob, who wants the day off so he can spend Christmas with his family. And his wife Emily, played by Miss Piggy, has the shrill, aggrieved tone of a woman who really wishes that her huband would stand up for himself once in a while. Michael Caine makes for a very intimidating Scrooge, if only because hes so much bigger than the Muppets. And then theres Beaker, Gonzo, Fozzie Bear and Bean Bunny. God bless them, every one.

5. Home Alone (1990) Well, you could never call this movie sentimental. But its endearing anyway, because of nine-year-old Macaulay Culkin s portrayal of Kevin McCallister, whos accidentally left behind as his family heads for a Christmas vacation in Paris. Kevin gets to eat all the pizza and ice cream he wants, but the fun really starts when two klutzy burglars show up and Kevin battles to keep them out of the house. Somehow, you know hell win. Its Christmas, after all. Special added attraction: the zany Catherine OHara as Kevins understandably distraught mother.

6. Miracle on 34th Street (1947) Does Santa Claus really exist? And if so, is he working at Macys? See Miracle on 34th Street and find out. A man named Kris Kringle (Edmund Gwenn) is hired to play Santa at the famed Manhattan department store and though hes doing a spectacular job, keeps insisting that he really is the man from the North Pole. That makes his employers, including special-events director Doris Walker (Maureen OHara), kind of nervous. Eventually, Kris must go to court prove that he really is Santa Claus. What could have been a sentimental movie is poignant instead, because of the frightening circumstances in which Kris finds himself. Hes shut up in a mental hospital and he ends up in the middle of a bitter courtroom battle. But his message gets through to his persecutorsand just in time, because its Christmas Eve and hes got some work to do.

8. White Christmas (1954) Bing Crosby and Danny Kaye are two ex-servicemen whove made it as a song-and-dance act. They fall in love with two sisters and follow them to a Vermont inn that turns out to be owned by the guys former commanding officer. Hes in bad financial shape, so the four entertainers decided to put on a show to raise some money. There isnt any big drama here; just a series of Irving Berlins instantly memorable songsWhite Christmas. Blue Skies and Sisters sung by Crosby, Kaye and Rosemary Clooney. (The other sister, actress Vera-Ellen, had her voice dubbed.) Best scene: When the stars, dressed in red velvet and white fur, take to the stage to sing the best holiday song ever written.

9. Elf (2003) Buddy (Will Ferrell), an infant being brought up in an orphanage, accidentally stowed himself away in Santas bag and got taken to the North Pole. There, he was taken in by elves and raised as one of their own. Now,though, its thirty years later, and Buddys tiny family finally realizes hes way too big for the North Pole and needs to return to New York City to look for his father. Ferrell manages to be charming, goofy and poignant as he stumbles around the city, seeking the man who never even knew he was born. Buddy finds him, but is his father ready for a son?