When I was a kid my Mom would stay up late to set up all of the Christmas gifts for me and my brother.  She would fall asleep at an early hour and be exhausted.  Then a mere hour later my brother and I would wake up all excited to see what Santa Claus had brought us.  Of course, we would wake up Mom and then she would have to get through one of the busiest most demanding days of the year on no sleep.  All along the tradition was that the gifts Santa brought could be opened and played with immediately.  Anything else though, like from parents, grandparents etc had to wait to be unwrapped until Mom was up to see our reactions and to see what the gifts were.  A couple years into this tradition Mom got the idea that one of the Santa gifts would be a brand new VHS movie.  Something like Star Wars or Batman or a new Disney film.  This usually guaranteed her a good two hours of sleep.  Thus the tradition of watching new VHS (and now DVD or BluRay) on Christmas morning was born.  What titles would you like to watch Christmas morning to get you or your geek on the list into the holiday mood?

The Muppet Christmas Carol

Muppet fever is in the air and chances are that your geek does not own this movie already.  Its the classic Charles Dickens tale but with some great Muppet twists, cameos and humor.  “There’s only one more sleep til Christmas” is a great song and one that children will love (and love to sing too much, to your annoyance).  I think my favorites are the Bean Bunny appearances and the piggie children of Bob Kermit and Mrs Piggy.

A Christmas Story

I mean you can buy it.  But chances are it will be on TNT or TBS or both for 24 hours.  That’s usually enough for most people.

A Charlie Brown Christmas

To my dismay, these classic cartoon Christmas specials are now played closer to Thanksgiving than Christmas.  Also, they are dumped on TV without the build up that I remember in my childhood.  Unless you have a geek obsessed with programming his/her DVR this special is most likely missed every year.  But play it on Christmas, have some kids around, and its a magic time again.

Don’t forget other classic cartoons like How the Grinch Stole Christmas and Mickey’s Christmas Carol.

Emmet Otter’s Jug Band Christmas

Some of the best music to ever come out of the Muppets (and that’s saying a lot).  This is like the Gift of the Magi but with adorable animal based puppets.  Plus the awesome-ness that is the River Bottom Nightmare Band.

Miracle on 34th Street.

True story.  My friend and fellow Hellion, Sweet Matty Treats, was sitting down with me one day discussing story ideas.  He said he had a great story idea.  Then, with no sarcasm or irony he tells me the following story:

So picture this movie where a mall Santa thinks he’s the real Santa.  But it turns out, he actually is Santa Claus!

Totally serious.  He thought he came up with this idea on his own.  He still claims to this day that he has never seen Miracle on 34th Street, nor that he had ever even heard of it before I mocked him.  To ensure that you don’t promote a similar gap in knowledge buy this movie today.  The original in black and white is the best, but if you have to get another one due to a lack of availability on the classic then I suppose that is acceptable.

There are so many other great options.  Elf, Nightmare Before Christmas.  Hey if you want to broaden the traditional Christmas list throw on Gremlins.  Maybe not for the children but teens and up will love it.

Leave comments for your own Christmas movie suggestions and expand the list!