A recent Yahoo/YouGov poll asked people which Christmas movies they watch regularly. The top three were Home Alone, A Christmas Story, and A Charlie Brown Christmas.

Below are those and the rest of the top ten. Plus, I included six I watch year after year. I love how some of these have not only become part of the Holiday fabric, but some cross generational lines. It was always special to watch some of these classics as my kids were growing up. It was almost magical. Back then if you liked a movie, you had to buy some sort of physical copy of it, or wait for it to come on TV. Now, you just stream away with your faves. I’ve already started watching a few, like I mention below.

What are you Christmas viewing habits like? Are there mandatory movies you have to watch?

• home alone

  The classic stars Macaulay Culkin, Joe Pesci, Daniel Stern and many others. Home Alone hit theaters in November of 1990.

• a christmas story

  This has to be one of my favorites too. I’ve been to the actual Christmas Story house in Cleveland a handful of times. This movie came out in mid-November 1983. Yes, it turned forty this year.

• a charlie brown christmas

  This classic debuted on network TV on December 9, 1965, and has become a generational favorite.

• Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer 

  Another favorite, Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer came out in 1964.

• elf

  What a great Christmas movie. Hard to believe it turns twenty this year.

• christmas vacation

  I wish I had a dollar for every time I watched this one. I still laugh watching it all these years later. Christmas Vacation made its theatrical debut on December 1, 1989.

• it's a wonderful life

  I had never seen this movie until I was well into adulthood. It’s obviously a classic, but I always that it was a touch morbid. It came out in January of 1947.

• the santa clause

  This one from 1994 stars our own Tim Allen.

• miracle on 34th street

  From 1947, this one has played on TV for years.

• die hard

  I worked at a movie theater when this one came out in 1988. I watched it several times while I was “working”. Yippee Ki Yay….

• the ref

  OK, here’s where my picks start. Man, I LOVE this movie. Shot in Niagara on the Lake just north of Niagara Falls, Ontario, it is a movie I watch every year!

• trapped in paradise

  Another one that slipped under the radar for many people. Starring Nicolas Cage, Jon Lovitz, and Dana Carvey, it was also shot at Niagara on the Lake. It sort of bombed, and even the guys who were in it didn’t say good things about it, but I loved it.

• violent night

  I watched this in the theater twice last year, and I’ve already watched it this year.

• bad santa

  I try to squeeze this one in each year as well. Dark comedy at its finest.

• krampus

  With my love of all things horror, I need to watch this one again. I loved it the first time I saw it.

• office christmas party

  I’m sorry, but I’ll watch anything with Jennifer Aniston in it. Well, except Friends.

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