There are a few holiday traditions that, for more years than I can count, truly "make" my holidays-- Without them, this time of year feels a little like pizza without pepperoni, hot chocolate without mini marshmallows, or Christmas morning without snow.
They may be small, silly traditions that have little to do with the "true meaning" of the holidays, but they light me up brighter than the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree and I look forward to them every year.
My favorite traditions are simple-- The A Charlie Brown Christmas special, White Christmas and It's A Wonderful Life on late night television, and Adam Sandler singing The Hanukkah Song are my holiday "must-haves".
With Hanukkah kicking off on December 1st, I get a bit of a head start on the holiday cheer which means it's time for a little Sandler serenade....
What's your favorite holiday movie or song that puts you in the spirit?
Welcome to www.TheFiftyFactor.com - Joanna Jenkins
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I actually am not a fan of Adam Sandler, and his songs really grate on my nerves. I saw "The Holiday" for the first time last year, and fell in love.
ReplyDeleteAlso love, "Love, Actually."
Fun stuff. I don't think I've ever actually heard the full song before this.
ReplyDeleteWishing you a Chappy Chanukkah, and many menorah. ;)
I'm with you...there are just some things that usher in the holidays. Merry Christmas Charlie Brown is one of them!
ReplyDeleteI loved seeing the gingerbread creativity that you and godson had. I can smell the gingerbread over here!!
I love this!
ReplyDeleteI've had to get used to Christmas without snow here in Hawaii. It still seems weird to be walking around in shorts with Santa Claus decorations everywhere. However, you have to make the holiday special for yourself no matter where you are and create your own traditions. I'm working on it.
I love the old Christmas movies like White Christmas and Miracle on 34th and It's A Wonderful Life. xo
ReplyDeleteI like A Christmas Story. . . The kid brother all wrapped up for the snow, "you'll shoot your eye out," and that lovely leggy lamp that the father won.
ReplyDeleteHow extraordinary, I wrote about Christmas traditions yesterday too.;)
ReplyDeleteAnd oh yes, I remember Adam Sandler doing this on SNL when I lived in NC.;)) Thank you for bringing this great memory back.;)))
xoxo
I hate to say it but my celebrations now feel like pizza without pepperoni. The traditions that I enjoyed so in my childhood just cannot be brought back or duplicated. So my celebrations can be overwhelm with feelings of nostalgia.
ReplyDeleteThank you JJ, for the welcome cheer. I thought I mistakenly visited my own blog!:) And it is really nice to be able to visit again.
I watched It's a Wonderful Life first thing on Thanksgiving! I usually watch both of the A Christmas Carol versions too.
ReplyDeleteMiracle on 34th, I have no idea how many times I have seen it. hugs.
ReplyDeleteScrooged, National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation, Wonderful Life, Miracle on 34th street and most all the versions of the Christmas Carol!!
ReplyDeleteAnd I like most all the Christmas songs...I just love hearing them play all day long on the radio!!
Hugs
SueAnn
melakalikemaka...totally misspelled but its the right way to say merry christmas to you...smiles. christmas vacation is a riot...
ReplyDeleteI love the original Grinch.
ReplyDeleteElf
and Go Tell it on the Mountain, Mahalia Jackson, to name a few...
Love them all.....my favorite now is ELf! Decorating today and gonna jam to Christmas music! Have a great day!
ReplyDeleteit would be Miracles on the 34th street and "I dream about white Christmas" ... happy holiday season time!!!
ReplyDeleteLove me some Adam Sandler -
ReplyDeleteHe really is a very smart actor!
I would say.... almost enlightened!
our movie traditions have shifted entirely....we now always watch 'love actually" and "elf" as our must see again christmas movies.....
ReplyDeleteoh, and we have added in the "the holiday"
Not a Sandler fan either, although the song is sort of clever if you can stand to listen to him.
ReplyDeleteWhite Christmas does it for me!
I've already started listening to the "all Christmas, all the time" radio station. The music gets me in the spirit and my grankdids excitement keeps it going. I enjoy see my kids establish their own traditions with their families.
ReplyDeleteI'm getting more sentimental as the years pass so I always look for "old fashioned" Christmases. Walking down an old town main street that has Christmas music playing and festive window displays, old english tea & coffee shops and holiday home tours all usher the holiday spirit in for me. BTW, I enjoyed the song. LOL!
ReplyDeleteOMG I LOVE THAT SONG!!!
ReplyDeleteI will do this topic soon
I love this silly song; I imagine I'd like it even more if I were Jewish!
ReplyDeleteMy favorite Christmas song is the Carol of the Bells, but just hearing Bing Crosby crooning any holiday song will get me in the mood. And my favorite CD of Christmas music is the soundtrack from Charlie Brown's Christmas! (just wish it weren't so SHORT!)
I think it is so cool that you celebrate both Hanukkah and Christmas.
ReplyDeleteThis was my first time to see the Adam Sandler video. You are so cool. Enjoy your holidays, JJ, I am thinking that every day is a holiday in your house and in your heart.
A Charlie Brown Christmas is a must.
ReplyDeleteFor music, I love the Bing Crosby/David Bowie version of Little Drummer Boy and Louis Armstrong's "Is That You, Santa Claus?"
It's time, Joanna, and Minneapolis certainly looks the part...
Pearl
I am seeing a live stage performance of It's a Wonderful Life on friday!! I cannot wait!!!!
ReplyDeleteI'm a big fan of the Mariah Carey Christmas album, and Bing Crosby and Andy Williams play in our house while we do the tree. White Christmas is such a sweet song.
ReplyDeleteI agree completely! I love all of the Christmas movies, too. It just wouldn't be the holiday season without them.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite Christmas tradition is going to the tree farm to cut down our own tree. We go to the same farm every year. They have a big bon fire surrounded by benches where you can sit and warm up. I always get a nice family picture there.
Oh I adore The Holiday!! Everone must see it!!
ReplyDeleteBe sure to Come and Enter my $200giveaway from Fifi Flowers!
xoxo
Karena
Art by Karena
Watching this video put a smile on my face. Of course, it does every year.
ReplyDeleteI like to watch the Christmas cartoon specials each year. Yes, just like a kid.
Loooove this song too. My favorite holiday things are pretty much the same as yours, with the addition of Ernest Saves Christmas. :)
ReplyDeleteI love Adam's song!! I've enjoyed its extra special goofiness for years.
ReplyDeleteAnother must see for our family is Pee Wee's Christmas special....we can recite it by heart. And of course the Charlie Brown Christmas, and Rudolph (the original). All great memories!
It's great that you have Christmas traditions. Well, I've been listening to a lot of Xmas music on the radio and am going to get David Archulata's Christmas Album this year.
ReplyDeleteI like hearing "Feed the World" for the first time every year.
ReplyDeleteDitto on all the movies but add miracle on 34th street
ReplyDeleteA Christmas Story.
ReplyDeleteWarms the cockles of my heart.
:)
But I have always loved Snoopy and the gang.
:):):) yes i thin it is now official.
ReplyDeletesending you warm hugs joanna!
Two movies for me: Its a Wonderful Life and Love Actually. The first time I saw IAWL was when I was a teenage girl, on Christmas Eve. My family tradition was to have pizza on Christmas Eve. It was a big deal (except for the sausage on it, which I did not enjoy) but we got a cheese pizza too.... I was hooked on that movie from that day forward.. the exuberance of Jimmy Stewart is so contageous as is the screenplay.
ReplyDeleteAnd Love Actually takes place during Christmas season, I love Allan Rickman and Emma Thompson, especially the moment when Emma Thompson realises she did not receive the jewelry... heartbreaking scene.... Love the ending too where everyone hugs. Gets me every time! xoxo
Happy Hanukkah
ReplyDeleteIt's hard to pick just one or two things. Sometimes the Christmas spirit just sneaks up on me.
Being in S.Cal. you chances of Christmas morning snow must be very slim.
"Do They Know It's Christmas" is my favourite song to mark the beginning of the season...it really puts things in perspective for me.
ReplyDeleteand the Polar Express movie...oh, and the Grinch ;)
one love
I just adore it all. This is my favorite holiday and I milk it for all it's worth. I watch Fa~La~La Lifetime and Hallmark Christmas movies, decorate out the wazoo, play Christmas music, attend Christmas plays...and make tons of fudge baby!!! :o)
ReplyDeleteGod bless ya and have a blast enjoyin' your holiday season!
I had to laugh at your comparisons since pepperoni and marshmallows are both meat based and so I always have y pizza and hot chocolate without them.
ReplyDeleteThe Grinch, for me. And the Kingston Trio Christmas album. But also decorating a live tree and filing my kids' stockings - that really feels like Christmas.
It's Bing Crosby and Burl Ives for me. My favorite memories are wrapped around those old Christmas LP's.
ReplyDeleteIt's the most wonderful time of the year!
OK, I never knew Adam sang! He kinda yells more than sings though.
ReplyDeleteI would love to experience a 'white christmas'... I would have to leave my country to do so though.
YOu know, maybe I'm getting older and nostalgic, but I always hated the Charlie Brown Christmas special. And yet, this year I feel it necessary to sit and watch it with my family.
ReplyDeleteThanks for reminding me of these traditions.
I love me some Charlie Brown Christmas to start off the holidays...along with some of the other traditional Christmas shows that go way back...love the shows you mentioned also...there is just something about snuggling and watching these with my little's that makes everything right with the world...looking forward to seeing Elf and Christmas Vacation at least once. :)
ReplyDeleteIt's a Wonderful Life - one of the best films ever made.
ReplyDeletethis video always makes me smile. lol
ReplyDeletelove ya!
I really love the group, Il Divo, and their Christmas albums. They send chills up my spine as no one else does with their rendition of the carols. It's what I imagine an angel choir must sound like. I also cry whenever I hear them sing "Mama"!
ReplyDeleteJJ- so glad someone asked! Watching Miracle on 34th street is my very most favorite tradition.
ReplyDeletedriving around at night seeing all the christmas lights puts me in good spirits ~ a neighbor who i've never seen, was out the other night at 11pm, wearing ripped jeans & smoking a cigarette, while carefully weaving lights on his railing ~ he was so not the type i expected to take the time to do so... love that the holidays brings out many sides of us ☀
ReplyDeleteFew years ago I came across "Casper's Haunted Christmas" - is not a traditional movie, but may discover laughs, mildly scary scenes and thematic elements.
ReplyDeleteI love "Scrooged". And my favorite Christmas song is "Mary Did You Know". My favorite hymn is "Ave Maria."
ReplyDeleteI adore the Adam Sandler Hanukkah song and I am also a fan of the Charlie Brown boxed holiday set which we own (although we're Jewish). Love Actually is also one of my favorite movies....must find & watch it!
ReplyDelete;-)
I love Steven Pasero's guitar holiday songs AND half his album is available for free download from Amazon (Sugo Music) right now (wow - I bought mine). The Charlie Brown CD is another I can leave on without feeling that someone is dragging nails across a chalkboard (after awhile some holiday music can be tiresome at best :-) .
ReplyDeleteI love Steven Pasero's guitar holiday songs AND half his album is available for free download from Amazon (Sugo Music) right now (wow - I bought mine). The Charlie Brown CD is another I can leave on without feeling that someone is dragging nails across a chalkboard (after awhile some holiday music can be tiresome at best :-) .
ReplyDeleteI have always liked "It's a Wonderful Life" and watch it every year. It's more special now as my now-wife and I went to see it in play form on our first date two years ago.
ReplyDeleteWe watched It's A Wonderful Life last night and blubbbered like babies.
ReplyDeleteI'll Be Home For Christmas always makes me cry. I called my mom and sang it to her 9 years ago. It would be our last Christmas together.