Charlie Brown. . .

[maxandgeorgia]

I wonder how many others are watching A Charlie Brown Christmas rigiht now? Our family has watched this family classic for SO many years! Just a few measures of the theme music recreates Christmas for us. What is your favorite Christmas holiday show?

[tin sista]

Great thread topic Georgia!
Charlie brown is great!!
I love the all seasonal repeaters, Alice's Restaurant at Turkey day,
Burl Ives in Rudolph the rednosed reindeer,
A Christmas Carol, that old one with the alternating black/white and color
and that cute one with the boy and beebee gun and everyone telling him he'll shoot his eye out... A Christmas story. We used to hear that the hockey pucks will break your teeth out if you don't wear a mouth guard... Course I think there's something to that one...
Oh they are all good!!

[TinShack]

I like that dorky animated claymation type show with Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer. The one with the abominable snow man and the dentist. It's been around for about 50years now.

The Christmas Story is a classic...especially when the kid sticks his tongue to the frozen pole

[JimGolden]

Those are all great! The old Rankin / Bass (sp?) claymation ones were great. And Charlie Brown is good. I always liked the cartoon of the Grinch, and the new one with Jim Carry is pretty good too.

Have you all seen The Polar Express? I think its awesome and destined to become a great classic just like the others above. The computer animation is utterly scary in how real it is. I soon forgot that they weren't real actors. My kids (ages 2 and 6) just love that movie!

We took a ride yesterday on the Western MD railroad. They had the "Santa Express". It was pretty cool. It wasn't quite as big as a Baldwin 2-8-4 Berkshire locomotive, but Mountain Thunder is a 2-8-0 honest-to-goodness-steam-engine (diesels---yuck!) and it blew smoke and coal dust all over us. It was great! I asked Santa (he was on there with his elf giving out candy canes and talking to the kiddies) for a helicopter again. He didn't say yes. Been asking for one of those for thirty years and still haven't gotten it. Probably get socks again

[LoydBonifide]

In our house it's Christmas Vacation (on TBS tonight).

http://www.wilstar.net/midi/misery.wav

Keith and Ellen

[azflycaster]

We enjoy several holiday season classics.

• It's a wonderful life. (1946 Jimmy Stewart classic)
• Miracle on 34th St (old & new version)
• Bad Santa (my personal favorite)

[hendrie42]

we enjoy charlie brown here in new mexico

[ArtStream]

Christmas Story, and Charlie Brown, and a thing that tells time in the stock.

Hoo, Hoo, Hooo

Michael

[streamer23]

Without a doubt for me the Holiday movie of choice is 'It's a Wonderful Life' with Jimmy Stewart.
Ding,ding,ding...I think an angel just got her wings.

[camperski]

I love all the classics at 41 i even feel "its a wonderful life" a yearly must see!

But my kids 2 and 9 Can't get enough of the Polar Express!

Oh yeah..Spencer N.C. is the home of the N.C. transportation musuem. They've got a PILE of locomotives the 1925 Shay being my favortie.

Jim dont count the diesels out...I rode a '58 GM this summer and it was awesome... and my 2 year old and I rode with the engineer in a '54 yesterday for an hour. My daughter and wife enjoyed time in a pullman with Santa...but we blew the whistle at every road crossing.
Welcome to the North Carolina Transportation Museum
if your ever around and like trains...its a good time!

[overlander64]

My must sees during the season include:

1. Yours, Mine, and Ours -- Lucille Ball and Henry Fonda -- 1968
2. Miracle on 34th Street -- David Hartman, Sebastian Cabbott -- 1973
3. Timepiece -- Richard Evans -- 1996
4. The Christmas Box -- Richard Thomas -- 1995
5. The Homecoming -- Richard Thomas, Ellen Corby -- 1971

Kevin

[enduroryda]

We just watched Polar Express last night on Disney for the first time. ..it was excellent!

I loved it when the kids are told to "just believe"....it's magical.....

another line which stuck with me is when the conductor...voiced over by Tom Hanks says, "It not about the destination.....but whether or not you get on and go for the ride".... I think that hits home with alot of folks here.

I still love the already mentioned classics though.......Oh ya ....can't froget the Grinch!!

[silverhawk]

Love the cartoon Grinch.
Still love Rudolph with Burl Ives.
My all time favorite hands down, no comparison is Mr. Magoo's A Christmas Carol. Very rarely see it on the tube these days though.

[JimGolden]

Well, there is one diesel I really like...off Thomas the Tank Engine, it's Diesel 10! Those with small kids will know about him. Diesel 10 hates steam engines and wants to turn them all into scrap iron. He has this big steamshovel claw mounted on top, called "Pinchy". Diesel 10 likes to come up beside steam engines and use Pinchy to chop them all up. He's kind of the bad guy My two year old is almost afraid of him. I have to laugh!

Forgot how much I liked trains 'til I had a son. They're all pretty cool. I've been an engineer for 13 years now and they still haven't let me drive one yet

Maybe one of these days

[tin sista]

Hey Jim,
We have a 4 year old boy and have been in thrall to Thomas for about 2 years now.... I understand it wears off at about age 7...then the lionel trains kick in...Have you been to the thomas the train visit at your local transportation/train musum..its fun...
Oh ho ho, Diesel 10 is not on Santa's nice list!! Alec Baldwin did his voice in the movie didn't he? Now that Sam's older he plays with his diesel 10 and puts on the scary voice too, he used to be afraid of diesel 10 too.
Happy Holidays to steamies and diesels alike!

[Silvertwinkie]

It's a must if you have the time.

[maxandgeorgia]

What a trip down Christmas lane! Silverhawk, I didn't believe anyone but us still remembered Mr. Magoo's (Jim Backus) Christmas Carol! In fact, we think he may be the absolute best Scrooge we have seen. We used to hunt all through the published holiday specials hoping it would be rerun, but we haven't seen it for years. We always serve "Razzleberry dressing" at Christmas time, but Max and I are the only ones that make the connection. Oh, I would love to see that again. I wish we had hijacked a "copy" of it long ago. As for Brio and Thomas trains, our tradition began with our oldest grandson who is 17 this year, starting the set when he was two. Our two youngest, 5 and 8 (yes, even the 8 year old still has fun creating layouts) love hauling out all the pieces and generally making a trainyard out of Grandma's house! I think they are going to "do me in" this way! Will our soon-to-be-born granddaughter (Due in January) enjoy the trains like the boys? Tell me it is so! Isn't it all good fun? ~G

[JimGolden]

Hey Sista,

We rode Thomas the Tank Engine a couple months ago. Brought him in special to our local railroad. It was kinda lame...it wasn't a real engine at all. Just a car that made some noise. They had a diesel on the other end moving the train. I understand the Strausburg railroad in PA has a real steam engine Thomas. I thought that was the one we were going to ride in Cumberland, MD, but we got snookered. Kids didn't care though

"Mountain Thunder" is a real 2-8-0 steam engine though. It was cool. In the spring I want to take them down to Cass WV to ride the old Shays locomotives up the mountain to the old logging camps. That is a cool ride. The Shays were built for steep grades and have some kind of jackscrew drive going to the wheels. More torque I guess. Anyway, it's very visceral and raw there. The trains are much shorter, like only 5-10 cars, and some are open. You get coal dust blown all over you and breath in the sulfur. Yeah, it's great in a messy kind of way!

I think Alec Baldwin may have done the voice of Diesel 10. He was the conductor in that one. Sir Topham hat was off on "holiday" and so Baldwin was filling in. Man, crazy that I know all this...

[str8strm]

We're both CB fans. Unfortunately we missed it a couple of nights ago . Forgot all about Mr. Magoo. That's a classic also. Another that you don't see much anymore is George C. Scott as Scrooge in "A Christmas Carol". I used to have it on tape, but the tape player ate it one Xmas. He is my favorite Scrooge. Ron

[rseagle]

Since the first time I saw it in the early '60s, I have to see "Ol' Bing sing White Christmas in the movie of the same name to get in the Christmas spirit. I also like Holiday Inn. Anybody elso like those movies?