It may be so obvious and often-stated as to have become cliche', but Frank Capra?s classic film It?s A Wonderful Life is one of my all-time favorite films, whether the season is Christmas or not. First of all, I love Jimmy Stewart. I love his looks, which are not those impossible, Hollywood, leading-man kind of looks but more like the looks of a nice guy I had a huge, unrequited crush on all through college. I love his voice and the way he sort of sputters, "I don?t want a bag for one night, I want one for a hundred and one nights!" I love that his character, George Bailey, is not bigger than life, but a real, hard-working, flesh and bones kind of guy who never gets to live out his dreams, but watches while his brother and friends realize their own, and he still ends up "the richest man in town." I love that, at any time of year, this film celebrates and elevates the story of an honest man working hard to do what is not always appealing or easy, but right. I love that despite all of that it is not saccharine sweet; George is sometimes bitter and resentful, but he never wallows in it for long. I love that while George Bailey represents, on one level, the ideal, he is also recognizable as a real, fallible man. Maybe that is why, although it was not created as such, it has resonated for so long as a "Christmas movie."

An entirely different kind of Christmas movie that keeps me laughing all year long is that gem from 1983, A Christmas Story. This one I love for reasons that have nothing to do with ideals. I love that the main character, Ralphie, holds onto his dream of owning a "genuine Red Ryder Carbine Action Two-Hundred Shot Lightening Loader Range Model Air Rifle" despite constant disapproval from a variety of people who assure him that "he?ll put his eye out" with it. I love his father, who mutters unarticulated obscenities under his breath, yet recoils in horror when Ralphie uses "the mother of all swear words." I love his little brother, who hasn?t "eaten voluntarily in years," and who submits to such layering of winter clothes by his mother that his arms can?t hang down at his sides. What I enjoy most about this film may be its comfort in its own skin. It doesn?t pretend to be anything but what it is, and that is a satiric, Christmas comedy.

What these two films have in in common is not much. Except this: both are highly quotable, both leave me feeling exceptionally happy, and both are films my husband, children and I can all agree upon watching together. Who could ask for a better Christmas gift?

Sue "Mom on Film" Harvey is a mother of three who shares her passion for film with bi-weekly, family-friendly movie recommendations.

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