The Five Best Christmas Specials

You won’t find "A Christmas Story" on my list of top picks. That’s the 1983 movie that has Peter Billingsley getting his tongue stuck to a frozen metal pole.

I’ve never sat through that entire movie, even though it plays ad nauseam this time of year. If I want to hear a movie narrated, I’d rather listen to Boris Karloff.

No doubt there will be others on this list you disagree with, so tell me what you think is missing.

Here’s my list:

5. "Scrooged" (1988) A cynically selfish TV executive (Bill Murray) gets haunted by three spirits bearing lessons on Christmas Eve. This Richard Donner take on Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol” puts a more adult spin (PG-13) on the classic tale. A little over the top at times, but it makes the same old  transformative story fun and funny.

4. "Elf" (2003) After inadvertently wreaking havoc on the elf community due to his ungainly size, a man raised as an elf at the North Pole is sent to the U.S. in search of his true identity. Though it strays into the ridiculous now and again, overal,l it is simply hilarious and perfectly cast with Will Ferrell, Ed Asner, Bob Newhart and James Caan. 

3. “Rudolph, The Red-Nosed Reindeer” (1964) A misfit reindeer and his friends look for a place that will accept them. Rudolph is like the “Doctor Zhivago” of stop-motion animation. Narrated by Burl Ives – as Sam the Snowman – I can’t think of any other show that packs so many characters and subplots into 47 minutes: Rudolph, Hermey, Yukon Cornelius, Charlie in the Box, the Abominable Snowman and all those misfit toys.

2. “A Christmas Carol” (released as “Scrooge” in 1951) An old bitter miser is given a chance for redemption when he is haunted by ghosts on Christmas Eve. I’ll take Dickens in any form around the holidays, but there’s only one version of “A Christmas Carol” that epitomizes that old-timey feeling. You can almost smell the London smog.

1. “The Grinch Who Stole Christmas” (1966) A grumpy hermit hatches a plan to steal Christmas from the Whos of Whoville. Boris Karloff’s voice adds a bit of irony to the narration of this Dr. Seuss classic that epitomizes the Christmas spirit and makes your heart grow at least three sizes.

I know there are a lot of holiday movies, but if I don't watch any of those above, it just doesn’t seem like Christmas to me. If I’ve skipped any on your list, let us know in the comments!