Tis' the season and there are a few things that are an absolute must-have for the holidays.

Food and Drinks

It's not the holidays without a good drink.

These drinks can be adult beverages or something for all ages.

A great beverage for the holidays is the classic hot chocolate. Ciders, eggnog and lattes are great holiday drinks too. There's even a great list of non-alcoholic holiday drink recipes to try here. 

Don't forget about the fruitcake,  and candy canes this year. When it's time for dinner, the cranberry sauce is a must, as the holiday ham, and definitely cookies, and pie for dessert.

Movies

There is absolutely no way to properly enjoy the holiday season and not watch some holiday movies.

You could always watch a classic such as the 1989 classic National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation.

 

There are dozens of holiday classic movie to watch like A Charlie Brown Christmas, a Christmas Story, How The Grinch Stole Christmas, and Scrooged.

You can also opt for newer holiday movies like Jingle Jangle which features Tuscaloosa native Madalen Mills as one of the main characters.

 

Wealthy Nickel ranked the most popular Christmas movies in each state in the U.S.

To determine the most popular movie in each state, they started with the Rotten Tomatoes list of the 100 best Christmas movies of all time. After filtering the list down to the top 20 using Moz, Wealthy Nickel used Google Trends data to determine which states were searching the most relative to others for certain Christmas films.

Here are the top 20 movies by search volume in the U.S.:

  • Edward Scissorhands
  • Elf
  • The Nightmare Before Christmas
  • Die Hard
  • Home Alone
  • The Grinch
  • Miracle on 34th Street
  • Love Actually
  • Krampus
  • Jack Frost
  • It’s a Wonderful Life
  • Trading Places
  • A Christmas Story
  • Klaus
  • National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation
  • The Polar Express
  • Frosty the Snowman
  • The Santa Clause
  • Jingle All the Way
  • White Christmas

Alabama's Most Popular Christmas Movie

Believe it or not, the most popular Christmas movie in Alabama is the same as in a few other states.

According to Wealthy Nickel, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, and South Carolina all had the exact same movie as their most popular selection.

The movie is the Polar Express.

If you'd like to see the full list of Christmas favorites from around the country, click here to see Wealthy Nickel's list. 

Take a Look at Some of Tuscaloosa's Best Holiday Light Displays

To submit a photo for the gallery, and chance at the $1000 prize, make sure you click on the "Light Up Tuscaloosa" tab at the top of the page!

46th Annual West Alabama Christmas Parade

The streets of downtown Tuscaloosa were lined up with float, lights and visitors who kicked off the holiday season with the 46th Annual West Alabama Parade on December 5. The festivities began with the traditional tree lighting ceremony at 5:30 p.m. Despite the random rain showers that formed throughout the night, the parade continued on, bringing holiday joy to all who attended!

Check out the highlights from the event in this gallery of photos below!

Rising Star Character Students of the Month

During the 2022-2023 school year, Tuscaloosa City Schools, along with Townsquare Media Tuscaloosa and Legal Services of Alabama, will highlight Rising Star Character Students of the Month from each school in the district, highlighting two to three students each month.

Here's a recap of the previously recognized students!