Favorite Christmas Movies

Every year there is a new holiday movie (or two or three). I enjoy these movies, but not all of them. I've been thinking this week about the ones I like, and the ones I don't, and why... I guess it would be fair to say that I'm a movie snob to some degree--I can be hard to impress (with my theatre/acting training background and all that), but really it's not about the quality of the acting so much as the quality of the message.

I LIKE

1. Scrooge (with Albert Finney). It's an awesome rendition of "A Christmas Carol" in fact, it's the first version of that story that I ever liked. I also happen to enjoy all the songs--so far as I can recall, I like every single one. That's pretty rare for me!
   
2. The Santa Clause. It's cute, it's fun, and it puts the magic in Christmas. The sequels are pretty silly, but I really like the original one.
   
3. It's a Wonderful Life. It's a little bit cheesy, but such a good message...and frankly it's become a piece of our culture's history, so you need to see it if you want to be culturally literate.
   
4. Miracle on 34th Street (the old black & white one...I've never seen the new one, so I can't say if it's any good or not) Answers some age-old questions about Kris Kringle (yes, he speaks Danish), Let's just say, "I believe!"
   
5. Dr Seuss's How the Grinch Stole Christmas (the old animated one of course) How could anyone not love Boris Karloff's singing and the Dr's original art?!
6. Muppet Christmas Carol. Because Kermit Cratchet sings the coolest syncopated song ever, and it's funny when the little peons in Scrooge's office bust out a luau.
   

I DON'T LIKE
(as in, I will go to some length to avoid seeing it)

1. A Charlie Brown Christmas. This is because I don't like Charlie Brown. I think he's depressing
2. A Christmas Story. Can we just say dysfunctional family? How can this be considered a classic? Again, depressing.
3. The Grinch (Jim Carrey). Rude, crude, and just really really pathetic. I was excitedly hoping for something that would live up to the first movie...this didn't live up to anything.
   
4. White Christmas. I was really really bored
5. Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer (the stop-animation one with Burl Ives). Um, I just think it's annoying from one end to the other.
6. The Nightmare Before Christmas. I didn't even make it to the end. Dark, depressing, creepy...oh wait, it was Tim Burton. No wonder I hated it.
   
7. Elf. I had hoped it would be nice--the premise was cute...but EWWWWW. I should know better than to think that Will Farrell would make a clean or quality movie.
   

What Christmas movies do you love?
Which ones do you not love?
Why?

I'm sure I'm forgetting some, but those are the first ones I thought of (I reserve the right to edit the list a bit if someone comments about a movie I have strong feelings about!!)
This year I want to see Fred Claus. I'm prepared for it to be pretty dumb, but ya always gotta see the new one, you know?