Following on from my top Halloween film picks, I couldn’t resist sharing my top films for Christmas. Christmas can be a very difficult time for people with chronic illness due to the various activities, communications and heightened visual and audial disturbances, but watching films can be a great activity to do with others or alone. It is just a case of picking the right one so let’s get started….

Let’s get right to the crunch and dive straight in with proper xmassy films: The Santa Clause and Elf.

The Santa Clause is one of my most favourite Christmas films of all time. Starring Tim Allen the movie is about a father who transforms into Santa. This is a great watch if you enjoy seeing the north pole in all its glory and love the magic of believing. Keep a look out for the various elves in particular Judy who makes the perfect hot cocoa.

Elf starring Will Ferrell is a must see for Christmas fanatics. The movie is centred around the story of Buddy – a human who was raised by elves – who after discovering he is not an actual elf goes on a journey to New York City to find his biological father. This film is filled with festive cheer as Buddy explores this new world with an elf mentality. – Son of a Nutcracker!

Ok so I know not everyone loves a Christmassy film at Christmas so let’s take a look at my top non-Christmassy films that are considered Christmas films – if you catch my drift: Bridget Jones’s Diary and Home Alone.

Bridget Jones’s Diary is a romantic comedy that definitely resonates with me. Starting at a Christmas party with that disastrous Christmas jumper and Bridget trying to combat single life. That soon changes however when she has two men vying for her affection in the form of Daniel Cleaver and Mark Darcy. The movie has some great scenes and funny moments especially in the form of Bridget’s friends alongside a very catchy soundtrack.

Home Alone is the ultimate Christmas comedy about a young boy being left you guessed it – home alone. I think most people probably know the story by now and if you don’t I really recommend you watch it. There are some great performances especially by a young Macaulay Culkin and is definitely a great pick if you want a few laughs over the festive period.

So we have the Christmassy and the not so Christmassy films, but now I want to share some shorter stories for my fellow chronic illness warriors who may find viewing longer films too much on their bodies. I give you Raymond Briggs’s The Snowman and Father Christmas.

The Snowman – This Raymond Briggs’s classic is a visual masterpiece and so beautifully crafted. It is also the story that brought us Walking in the Air and a lot of flying snowmen. For such a short story it sparks the magic and excitement of Christmas as well as a slight tearjerker at the end (I won’t spoil it for you).

Father Christmas – Again this Raymond Briggs’s classic has the same visual beauty, but this time follows Father Christmas on his year from one Christmas eve to the next. This has a funnier element to it then The Snowman, with Father Christmas getting up to all sorts of adventures.

For the eagle-eyed viewers amongst us you may notice that both short stories give cameos to each other with The Snowman featuring in Father Christmas and Father Christmas featuring in The Snowman, so it is a lovely nod to each story. If you want something short that gets you in the festive mood I strongly recommend this picks to make you smile.

Here we have it my top picks for Christmas – of course there are many others, but I wanted to keep it simple. So what will you be watching this year?