Meg's Top Ten Favorite Christmas Movies, Number Four: Home Alone

It's time to grab a mug of cocoa and cozy up with some of the greatest holiday films of all time. I'll spotlight one of my favorites each day until we reach #1.

Meg's Top Ten Favorite Christmas Movies

Number Four: Home Alone (1990)

Kevin, upon realizing that he has the house to himself

It is a well-known fact that it is not officially Christmas until I have watched Home Alone at least three times. I have done so every Christmas since this film was first released to theatres. As a kid, I had a huge crush on Macauly Culkin (which is funny now, because woah, he turned out to be wierd), so I had so sate my obsession by watching Home Alone so many times our VHS copy broke.

Home Alone is just as funny to me as an adult as it was during my childhood years. If you've never seen it (what cave have you been living in?), the movie centers around Chicago suburban kid Kevin McCallister who finds himself abandoned during the holidays when his family takes off to Paris without him. Kevin's left defending the family home from some sketchy theives and manages to MacGuyver his way to a happy holiday.

Buzz! Your Girlfriend? Woof!

Favorite moments in Home Alone: Kevin's failed attempts to secure a cheese pizza, his epic sugar consumption and subsequent tummy ache, the iconic face Kevin makes when he tries out his Dad's aftershave, going through Buzz's room, grocery shopping-with coupons!- a visit to Santa Claus, talking with Mr. Marley about the importance of family, fending off the Wet Bandits, that scene with the blowtorch (I cry every time), Marv and the spider, John Candy's cameo, and the moment Kevin's mom walks through the door.

Home Alone is one of the highest-grossing comedies of all time, so it's obviously a funny film. I love it for the laughs, but I also love it for its sweetness, too. Kevin learns a lot about what his family means to him while they're away, and that lesson has stuck with me throughout the years. Watching Home Alone will, oddly enough, always make me homesick.

Next up on the countdown: We leave the Windy City and head to the Big Apple...