The best part of the holiday season, for me, isn’t presents or even seeing if you can outdo the neighbors with an exorbitant number of Christmas decorations. It’s about spending time with your loved ones. Sappy, I know, but true. The best holiday memories I have are things like decorating the tree with my family or cooking the Christmas Eve meal with my mom. Gifts are nice, but those are the important things.

With that said, here are some of my favorite holiday movies.

It’s a Wonderful Life: In my opinion, there is no greater testament to how great life actually is than It’s a Wonderful Life. It’s a lesson we all need to be reminded of from time to time. George Bailey is a lot like all of us in this day and age – down on his luck and struggling to make ends meet for his family. But when he sees just how life would be if he hadn’t been born, he realizes that despite the ups and downs, life is worth living. And that’s what the holidays are all about – being thankful for what you have and giving back to others.

Love Actually: At Christmas, you tell the truth. And to me, this movie is perfect. It’s a blend of several storylines about various kinds of love that all come together on Christmas day. There is new love, fading love, unrequited love and even love between friends. If you look for it, love actually is all around. Oh, and it has a rockin’ soundtrack. Christmas is all around me – and so the feeling grows …

A Christmas Story: My brother always wanted a Red Ryder BB gun. And to this day, while celebrating on Christmas Eve at my mom’s house, it’s not a Yule log DVD or cheesy Christmas music that plays softly in the background. Instead, he immediately turns it to the annual 24-hour marathon. Every year, I roll my eyes. But I secretly love it, and it really does make me laugh. I mean, who doesn’t want a leg lamp as part of their holiday décor?

Elf: My nephew was very young when this movie came out. And in his young understanding of Santa Claus and his yearly visit, this movie about a giant elf would make him cackle. So, we still watch it each year. This movie captures that unbridled joy of the holiday season like no other. Buddy the Elf makes me feel like a kid again – staying awake to see if I could catch Santa and then making that excited, fevered rush downstairs on Christmas morning to see what was under the tree.

Bridget Jones’ Diary: Clearly, when I think of the holidays, I immediately think of Hugh Grant and Colin Firth. OK, not really. But much like Love Actually (which also stars the two British actors), this movie is all about, well, love. Specifically, falling in love and learning to love yourself. As Bridget laments, the holidays are meant to be spent with loved ones. Even if it’s at an awful Christmas party wearing horrifically unfashionable reindeer sweaters. What counts is that, in the end, nice boys really do kiss like that.

Merry Christmas! Feel free to leave a comment!

Tags: A Christmas Story, Bridget Jones’ Diary, Elf, It’s a Wonderful Life, Krista Richmond's Christmas Watch List, Love Actually