Fr. John's Favorite Christmas Movies

by Fr. John Granato  |  01/14/2024  |  Words from Fr. John

My Dear Friends,

With last week’s weather, many of you did not hear about one of my favorite Christmas movies, The Three Godfathers, with John Wayne. It is a very underrated John Wayne western but one with much heart. The three rustlers, played by John Wayne, Harry Carey, Jr. and Pedro Armendariz, have an encounter with a newborn baby in the desert and promise the baby’s dying mother that they would be his godfathers and take care of the baby. This encounter changes the three men, just as our encounter with the Christ child is meant to change us.

Speaking of Christmas movies, some of my favorites are special because they remind me of my father and of my family in general. It was a much simpler time. These movies, in no particular order, are: It’s a Wonderful Life, Miracle on 34th Street (the one with Natalie Wood and Maureen O’Hara), Holiday Inn, White Christmas, The Bishop’s Wife (with Cary Grant), March of the Wooden Soldiers, a.k.a. Babes in Toyland (Laurel and Hardy), Christmas in Connecticut, Scrooged, The Shop around the Corner, and, of course, the cartoon Christmas shows, A Charlie Brown Christmas, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, Frosty the Snowman, Santa Claus is Coming to Town, The Year without a Santa Claus, Dr. Seuss’s How the Grinch Stole Christmas, ‘Twas the Night before Christmas, Emmet Otter’s Jugband Christmas, Nestor the Long Eared Christmas Donkey and The Little Drummer Boy.

Of course we are now moving very quickly from Epiphany to Ash Wednesday, and the joy of Christmas will be replaced by the penitential atmosphere of Lent.