ShopBabble

While winding down from the Thanksgiving holiday meal, and deciding whether to brave the holiday shopping sales and crowds of the day after, or wrestling with gnarled masses of holiday lights, many families take the opportunity of a long weekend with the kids to hang out in the evening with a few good holiday movie rentals. The following are a few suggestions for Thanksgiving movies that the entire family should enjoy.

A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving (1973)

This time tested favorite always appeals to children and brings the adults back to childhood times before the days of 24 hour Nickelodeon and Disney Channel cartoon, where the idea of watching Thanksgiving movies on tv at 8pm was a treat in itself. In this classic Charlie Brown gets pressured into hosting a “traditional” Thanksgiving meal for his friends. With his limited culinary knowledge and abilities, they all learn something about friendship, cooperation and the true meaning of thanksgiving.

Home for the Holidays (1995)

Home for the Holidays is one of several Thanksgiving movies where a typical dysfunctional family reconvenes for the Thanksgiving holiday. This one is a comedy starring Clair Danes and Robert Downey Jr, and is relaxing and amusing for the whole family.

Planes, Trains and Automobiles (1987)

This classic John Candy / Steve Martin comedy centers around two travelers trying to get home for Thanksgiving, amid cancelled flights and obnoxious traveling companions.

Miracle on 34th Street (1947)

The classic story of the post Thanksgiving season at Macy’s in New York, where the citizens are tested in their Christmas spirit and belief of whether the man hired as Santa Claus at Macy’s is the real thing. Wonderful, warm and enlightening, as always, and a must-have addition to the portfolio of Thanksgiving movies.

Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (1971)

Something about this movie makes it a holiday repeat classic. Although not centered at all around the Thanksgiving season, the setting of the movie and the repetitious lessons about greed and family and appreciation for what we have make it a must for family movie time.

Home Alone (1990)

Again, set in the holiday season, aside from silly antics, a comedic plot, and an extended family that seems too absent-minded to be believable, there is a sweet lesson to this film. Especially as the young boy befriends the neighborhood garbage picker who turns out to be just a pleasant, lonely old man who misses his family, this Thanksgiving movie pulls at the heart strings with the wisdom of a child’s simple statement that we should all be with our families, no matter what.