Day 45. Holiday driving day, but thanks to my app, I’m still able to update.

Before our holiday visiting begins, I’m delighting myself by enjoying some of my favorite Christmas movies, TV shows, and other media. I’d love to hear your favorites too.

1. Emmet Otter’s Jug-Band Christmas. This is a lovely story about making music with your friends and family, and about how much better things are when we bring our different songs together. Possibly best of all: this YouTube video of outtakes is a scene of Emmet and his mom (played by Frank Oz) waiting 200 or so takes for a drum to roll properly. Oz never breaks character. I’m so disappointed that he was dubbed out of the final version (though I guess the final songs were better without him).

2. A Colbert Family Christmas: the Greatest Gift of All! Still so amazing. And any time you put Elvis Costello and Stephen Colbert together, it’s magic. Shamelessly stealing from my comment on a friend’s post of their duet and my favorite song, “There are Much Worse Things“:

Things that are great about this include, but are not limited to:

-A shout-out to the Santa Claus surveillance state

-Rhyming “Stephen” and “conceive in” with “believe in”

-Elvis Costello’s approach to fake piano playing, which I can only describe as “with gusto”

-A creeping warmth that invades this dispassionate dyspeptic’s heart as she contemplates the possibility of a “one man, four part Christmas carol waiting to be sung”

…and there are much worse things.

3. It’s A Wonderful Life. There are some messed up scenes in this movie, but the darkness and hyperbole of the Pottersville timeline always captures me. You guys! Mary is… *gasp*…an old maid!

4. Last but not least, the “Yes, Virginia” letter. Because there is a Santa Claus. Believe it.