Five Christmas films we love watching as a family (even when we can’t agree)

Christmas 2020 is shaping up to be rather different from the festive season we’d imagined. With restrictions changing, plans up in the air and a four-year-old who doesn’t particularly care about government announcements, I’ve decided we’re going to make the most of the holidays at home. Frankly, after the year we’ve had, the prospect of putting my feet up with a coffee, some popcorn and a few Christmas films sounds rather appealing.

Cyrus is four, and Christmas is still wonderfully exciting for him. There’s Father Christmas to look forward to, presents to wonder about and an endless supply of energy that H and I can only envy. I’m rather less interested in organising educational activities or finding new ways to keep him occupied. We’ve spent enough of 2020 adapting to changing circumstances, and I think we all deserve a few afternoons doing absolutely nothing productive.

Of course, choosing what to watch is another matter. Cyrus has his favourites, H has his opinions and I tend to gravitate towards the films I remember from my own childhood. Three people, two generations and one television remote can make for a surprisingly lengthy negotiation.

Christmas in our house is also a mixture of cultures. H grew up in Iran, where the celebrations and traditions were different from those I knew as a child. Cyrus is growing up with both sides of his heritage, and I love that our family life includes everything from Christmas decorations to Persian New Year celebrations.

Here in Newcastle, December has brought Tier 3 restrictions and continuing uncertainty about what we’ll be able to do over the holidays. I’m not particularly keen to spend Christmas glued to the news, wondering which plans might need changing next. There are only so many government announcements a person can absorb before deciding that the sofa is a perfectly reasonable destination.

So, with the kettle on and the popcorn ready, here are five films that have made our Christmas viewing list.

After the year we’ve had, an afternoon on the sofa sounds like a perfectly respectable family outing.

I can’t imagine Christmas without Home Alone. Kevin McCallister, his enormous family and the two burglars who seem capable of surviving almost anything have become part of the festive furniture.

The story is ridiculous when you think about it. Eight-year-old Kevin is accidentally left behind when his family flies to Paris for Christmas. At first, he’s delighted. He has the house to himself, nobody is telling him what to do and he can eat whatever he likes. Then Harry and Marv arrive, and Kevin turns the family home into a collection of traps that would probably invalidate the buildings insurance.

When I watched this as a child, I thought Kevin was brilliant. I loved the idea of having the house to myself, making my own rules and staying up as late as I wanted. I certainly wasn’t thinking about the practicalities of leaving a child alone in a large house over Christmas.

Watching it now, with a four-year-old of my own, is rather different.

I find myself paying far more attention to Kevin’s mother, played brilliantly by Catherine O’Hara. The moment she realises she’s left her son behind is enough to make any parent feel slightly ill. I can barely leave the house without checking whether Cyrus has his coat, never mind accidentally flying to another country without him.

And although the burglars are still hilarious, there’s something rather touching about Kevin eventually realising how much he misses his family. At the beginning, he wishes they’d all disappear. By the end, he can’t wait to see them again.

After spending so much of 2020 together, I suspect plenty of parents have occasionally wished for an empty house. Just for an afternoon, mind you. I wouldn’t recommend Kevin’s arrangement.

Of all the characters in Christmas films, I probably have more sympathy for the Grinch than I should. I’m talking about the 2018 animated version, with Benedict Cumberbatch providing his voice, rather than the live-action Jim Carrey film.

The Grinch lives on Mount Crumpit with his dog Max and would happily spend December avoiding everybody. Unfortunately, the residents of Whoville are determined to celebrate Christmas with as much noise, colour and enthusiasm as they can manage.

After the year we’ve had, I can understand his desire to be left alone, although I suspect most of us have already spent quite enough time in our own company.

The Grinch is irritated by Christmas and everything that comes with it. The decorations, the singing, the cheerful neighbours and the general expectation that everybody should be delighted about the festive season. He eventually decides that the only sensible solution is to steal Christmas altogether.

It’s not a course of action I’d recommend, but I can see why the character appeals to adults as well as children.

What I particularly like about this animated version is that we discover more about his childhood. The Grinch’s dislike of Christmas comes partly from feeling lonely and excluded, and the celebrations in Whoville remind him of what he never had.

For a four-year-old, much of that will probably pass unnoticed. There are funny characters, colourful scenes and plenty of things to laugh at. But as a parent, I appreciate that the story encourages children to think about how other people might be feeling.

Then there’s Cindy-Lou Who, whose Christmas wish is to help her overworked mother. She’s not asking for another mountain of toys. She wants her mum to have an easier life.

As somebody who’s spent much of 2020 juggling work, motherhood and life at home, I find that rather touching. If Cyrus develops a sudden desire to help with the housework after watching it, I certainly won’t discourage him.

Arthur Christmas is one of those animated films that deserves more attention. It’s funny, beautifully animated and manages to turn the business of delivering Christmas presents into something resembling a military operation.

Forget the traditional image of Santa travelling around the world in a sleigh. In this version, Christmas is run using an enormous spaceship, sophisticated technology and an army of highly trained elves.

Santa’s eldest son, Steve, is obsessed with efficiency. He’s organised, ambitious and convinced the operation is running perfectly. His younger brother, Arthur, is rather less impressive. He’s clumsy, nervous and not particularly good at anything practical.

But Arthur genuinely cares about the children receiving their presents.

When one little girl is accidentally missed during the Christmas Eve deliveries, the rest of the family seems prepared to accept it as an unfortunate mistake. After all, billions of presents have been delivered successfully.

Arthur isn’t prepared to accept that one child doesn’t matter.

I rather like that. We spend so much of our working lives being encouraged to meet targets, work efficiently and get things done that it’s easy to forget the people behind all those numbers.

Arthur isn’t particularly organised or confident, but he’s determined to make sure that one little girl doesn’t wake up on Christmas morning thinking Santa has forgotten her.

Having a four-year-old makes that part of the story particularly touching. At this age, Christmas is still wonderfully magical. Cyrus is young enough to enjoy the excitement of Father Christmas, and I’m in no hurry for him to grow out of it.

After a year in which children have had so many ordinary experiences interrupted, I’d quite like Christmas morning to feel special.

I have a particular affection for The Muppet Christmas Carol. There’s something wonderfully absurd about taking one of the most famous stories in English literature and filling it with singing puppets.

Michael Caine plays Ebenezer Scrooge with complete seriousness, which makes the whole thing even funnier. Kermit plays Bob Cratchit, Miss Piggy is Mrs Cratchit and Gonzo narrates the story as Charles Dickens.

Published in 1843, A Christmas Carol follows a wealthy businessman who has spent most of his life caring about money and very little about other people. Scrooge is miserable, suspicious and convinced that Christmas is a waste of time. Then three spirits arrive to show him what his life has been, what it has become and what might happen if he continues behaving the same way.

When I was younger, I enjoyed the ghosts, the songs and the Muppets. These days, it’s the story of regret that stays with me.

Perhaps it’s because becoming a mother at 40 has made me more conscious of how quickly time passes. I don’t want to spend years worrying about things that won’t matter in the long run, particularly when Cyrus is growing up so quickly.

And after everything that’s happened in 2020, the idea of appreciating the people around us feels particularly relevant.

Scrooge has spent decades accumulating wealth while neglecting his relationships. It takes a series of supernatural encounters for him to realise how much he’s missed.

Fortunately, most of us can reconsider our priorities without being dragged around Victorian London by three ghosts.

I also like the fact that Scrooge is allowed to change. He isn’t condemned to remain the unpleasant person he’s become. He recognises his mistakes and decides to behave differently.

That’s not a bad thought to take into a new year, particularly after one that hasn’t gone according to anybody’s plans.

Klaus is one of the newer Christmas films on our list, having been released on Netflix last year. It’s beautifully animated and offers a rather different interpretation of how some familiar Christmas traditions might have begun.

The story follows Jesper, a spoiled young man who’s sent to work as a postman in Smeerensburg, a miserable, isolated town where the residents have spent generations arguing with one another.

Nobody seems particularly interested in making friends, and Jesper is more concerned with escaping his situation than improving anybody else’s life.

Then he meets Klaus, a reclusive toymaker who lives alone and has a workshop full of handmade toys.

What follows is a story about how small acts of generosity gradually begin to change the town. The residents have spent so long disliking one another that they’ve almost forgotten how to behave differently.

I rather like the fact that the characters aren’t particularly pleasant to begin with. They’re selfish, suspicious and unwilling to put aside their differences. It takes time before things start to improve, and not everybody has good intentions from the outset.

After the divisions and arguments we’ve seen throughout 2020, it’s a rather comforting story to watch.

The film also makes me think about the traditions we create within our own families.

H grew up in Iran, where Christmas wasn’t part of his childhood in quite the same way it was part of mine. Persian culture has its own celebrations, including Nowruz, the Persian New Year, which marks the arrival of spring and brings families together.

I love that Cyrus is growing up with traditions from both sides of his family. He doesn’t need to choose between them, and I don’t see any reason why he should.

Our family celebrations aren’t identical to the ones either H or I grew up with. We’ve taken elements of our different backgrounds and gradually developed our own way of doing things.

And I suspect that’s how many family traditions begin. Something happens once, everybody enjoys it, and before long, it becomes something you do every year.

One of the things I love about our family is the mixture of cultures Cyrus is growing up with.

Christmas has always been familiar to me, with its decorations, festive films and the annual question of whether we’ve bought enough presents. H brings his Persian background into our home, along with customs and celebrations that were unfamiliar to me before we met.

I don’t think children need every cultural difference explained to them. Much of what they understand comes from everyday family life.

Cyrus is only four, but he’s already growing up with different foods, languages, celebrations and family traditions. In our house, those differences aren’t something we have to make a particular effort to explain. They’re simply part of our lives.

And this Christmas, when we’re spending so much time at home, I’m glad we’ve got these little family routines to look forward to.

We might not be able to do everything we’d usually do over the holidays, but we can still enjoy the things that don’t require tickets, travel arrangements or worrying about which restrictions might change next.

Sometimes an afternoon on the sofa is quite enough.

There’s a temptation to find an educational benefit in almost everything children do. Films must teach something, games should develop skills and even a family walk can become an opportunity to discuss exercise, wildlife or the environment.

After the year we’ve had, I’m not particularly interested in turning the Christmas holidays into another learning opportunity.

Cyrus is four. He’s spent enough time this year adapting to changes he doesn’t fully understand, and I think he deserves a few afternoons when nobody expects anything of him.

If he watches The Grinch and starts asking questions about why people feel lonely, that’s lovely. If Klaus makes him think about kindness, even better. But if he spends the entire afternoon laughing at Harry and Marv falling down the stairs, I’m perfectly happy with that too.

I don’t need him to finish the Christmas holidays having learnt something new every day. I’d much rather he enjoys himself.

Besides, children don’t stay little forever. There will eventually come a time when Cyrus would rather do something else than sit on the sofa watching animated films with his parents.

I’m in no hurry for that particular stage.

So this Christmas, I’ll put the kettle on, find the popcorn and prepare myself for another family debate over the television remote.

And if we end up watching Home Alone for the umpteenth time, I won’t complain.

Are you introducing your children to the ones you loved growing up, or have they found some new favourites? I’d love to hear what’s on your Christmas viewing list for 2020.

Occasional stories, experiments, discoveries and questions from Saffron & Cyrus.