How to Find the Best Christmas Movies

Whether you stage a full-scale videothon for family and friends or curl up in front of the TV with your dog and a bowl of popcorn, nothing beats a feel-good holiday movie. Hollywood learned this more than 50 years ago and, as a result, you could spend the better part of the season just reading the titles ' much less find the one flick that will make your season.

Instructions

Difficulty: Easy

Things You’ll Need:

• VCRs
• Blankets
• Pillows
• Popcorn
• Videocassettes

1. Think back to the movies you liked best as a child. Chances are your own kids will find them just as captivating.
2. Ask older friends and relatives what their all-time favorites are.
3. Visit the film department of your local library or art museum and ask a mature librarian for recommendations. People in their 50s and beyond can cast farther back in their memory archives, and if they're pros, they'll be just as up-to-date on new releases as the youngsters on the staff. Ask if you can view snippets of a few likely choices.
4. Call a local television station and ask its film librarian for ideas.
5. Go to the video store, peruse the shelves and read the synopses on the boxes.
6. Watch for reviews of new releases and old favorites in newspapers and magazines beginning in November.

Tips & Warnings

• If you're planning a movie-watching party around an unfamiliar flick, watch it yourself before you show it to guests ' you'll avoid unpleasant surprises.
• There are no right or wrong movie choices, but here's a highly subjective list of ideas to get you started: "The Bishop's Wife" (1947 version, Cary Grant, Loretta Young and David Niven), "Christmas in Connecticut" (1945, Barbara Stanwyck and Sydney Greenstreet), "Miracle on 34th Street" (the original 1947 version with Maureen O'Hara and Natalie Wood), "It's a Wonderful Life" (1946, Jimmy Stewart and Donna Reed), "The Lemon Drop Kid" (the 1951 version with Bob Hope), "White Christmas" (1954, Bing Crosby, Danny Kaye and Rosemary Clooney).
• If you really want to appease the kids, rent "A Charlie Brown Christmas" (1965), "Dr. Seuss's How the Grinch Stole Christmas" (1966) or "Christmas Eve on Sesame Street" (1979).

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