Top Five Family Holiday Movies

At the end of the year Cartoon Network, Nickelodeon and the Disney Channel showcase classic flicks that are family friendly. On the regular networks you can find Charlie Brown specials along with the Grinch and Winnie the Pooh.

Here is the listing of the top five that we have enjoyed over the years and are now family favorites that get viewed over and over. There is no particular order for these movies as they are all worthy of being number one.

Annabelle's Wish - shows children that wishes can come true if you believe in yourself, which is the song by Randy Travis. He also narrates the story and plays the older version of Billy at the end of the movie. You will hear the voice of Rue McClanahan as the horse. Jim Varney plays the neighbor. Jerry Van Dyke is the Grandfather and Cloris Leachman is Aunt Agnes.

Annabelle's Wish starts off on Christmas Eve where the legend began. Santa Claus gives the animals of the barn voices for twenty four hours. Annabelle arrives this first night as shown on the video. Santa leaves a note for Billy that the calf is his Christmas present.

Billy has been unable to talk since the fire in the barn that left him in the care of his grandfather. His Aunt is the sister to his father, from what I can tell. It is love at first sight for Annabelle and Billy and off they go to play in the snow. Agnes brings Charles, the grandfather imported bon bon's from Paris for his present. Agnes and Charles go into the barn to see what Billy got from Santa Claus.

Agnes wants to get custody of William for no apparent reason than to have him in the city and out of the country. She proceeds to see her lawyer a few times to find loopholes for her.

Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer - can be seen on the Cartoon Network and is a joy watch again. This movie also has a mean spirited family member, cousin Mel is out to take control of the family store.

Santa Claus wants to read a letter from someone who cares about the spirit of Christmas, which leads to Jake Spankenheimer asking Santa to find his grandma. She was last seen on Christmas eve with a batch of her famous fruitcake. No one knows that cousin Mel has changed the recipe to attract Reindeer, which causes Grandma to be run over by the reindeer and lose her memory.

An elf comes to bring Jake to the North Pole to meet up with the grandma who is staying there and not sure who she is. There are twists and turns with cousin Mel stealing grandma once she is brought home and Santa arrested for leaving the scene of an accident.

Mickey's Once Upon A Christmas - can be seen on the Disney Channel. This is the favorite for my twelve year-old son. There are three movie shorts within this movie with the first being Donald Duck and his nephews. After the Christmas celebration the nephews find a shooting star. They wished for Christmas to be every day.

The next movie is about Goofy and his son Max. Max and Goofy still believe there is a Santa Claus. Pete the neighbor tries to persuade Max to no longer believe in Santa Claus.

The remaining short is with Mickey and Minnie Mouse trying to get each other gifts, but they have limited funds. Mickey spent all of his money on his harmonica and traded with a store owner for a necklace to give to Minnie. Minnie gave her watch to Mickey.

Olive The Other Reindeer - is a delightful animated holiday movie. Anyone familiar with The Simpsons will enjoy the humor in Olive, The Other Reindeer, as well as the animation and witty dialogue that passes quickly in this forty-five minute movie.

The neighborhood mailman is the only one who does not want Christmas to happen. He breaks into a solo song that adds its own animation portraying the heartache a Mailman goes through for several weeks each year. This is due to strain on his shoulders from the heavy bags carrying catalogs, cards and gifts.

Olive is not your typical dog that barks or digs holes, instead she has a pet flea that cannot hear very well and mistakes an announcement over the radio that sets the journey for Olive, The Other Reindeer. While moving the dial around on the pink radio Olive is wrapping the slippers she is giving her owner Tim for Christmas. Tim is upset because Santa just cancelled Christmas because the reindeer Blitzen has broken a leg and Santa cannot fly with only seven reindeer.

Spot's Magical Christmas - is a short thirty minute animated movie packed with songs in an adventure that shares the fantasy of Christmas with kids. Spot's Magical Christmas begins by showing the snow coming down outside with Spot hanging up ornaments on the tree as his mother is finishing the wrapping on some packages.

Spot cannot reach the tree to attach one so moves a piece of furniture close to stand on but instead falls over startling his Mother. She decides at this time that Spot should go outside and help his father.

After wrapping up for the cold, Spot finds his father to offer assistance on gathering logs for the fire. His mother had told him he was getting too excited and when his father asked him about the tree he said the tree was too excited.

Two reindeer lean over the fence inquiring if Spot and his father have seen a big red sleigh that is lost. Once Spot realizes it is Santa's sleigh he follows the reindeer to ask more questions. Then the reindeer go into a song and dance explaining how they lost the magical sleigh on Christmas Eve when they took it out on its yearly test.

Any of these movie picks will make a great addition to the holiday movie viewing and good to watch as a family event. These are also suitable for all age groups as well.