and so this is christmas

Seasons Greetings, dollies! Hope the wonder of wintertime has touched all of you. It's weird because even without the religious aspect of it, you can still get so much out of this time of the year. There's a happiness and hopefulness that comes around now. A thankfulness for the year that is coming to an end and a resolve that the year to come will be even better. I, for one, am totally  affected because I am an absolute nut about this time of year. I love baking cookies, finding the perfect gifts, singing seasonal-themed songs, decking the halls, and all that lot. Most of all, I love watching holiday movies, whether with my actual loved ones or my beloved ones on the screen. With Christmas just a few days away, here are a few of my favorite moments to be merry about. 

Here is my celebritee, the result of a lack of ornaments and a surplus of unread gossip mags around the house -- and since it is the season of giving, I gave equal importance to my musical faves (like the Beatles) and reality T.V. hot messes (like the Real Whoevers of New Jersey up there)

The Beatle boys gets into the holiday spirit 

John Lennon's hand drawn Christmas card (apparently the entire letter clocked in at eight pages!) to his then-girlfriend Cynthia in 1958 

Esther Williams

If you don't adore this scene (or everything about Love Actually in general), here's a New Years resolution: find a soul, because you obviously don't have one

F. Scott, Zelda and Scottie Fitzgerald step into the holidays in 1925 Paris

This meeting between First Lady Nancy Reagan and A-Team star Mr. T is probably one of my favorite moments in all of history

The cast of I Love Lucy

President John F. Kennedy and his wife Jackie celebrate at the White House in 1961

Audrey Hepburn (in the images on the L and R) poses with Santa Claus after helping him tie the bow on the biggest Christmas package in New York in 1953, in honor of the New York Heart Association

This is just genius -- Bill wishes you a Murray Christmas

Of course Jayne Mansfield looks so va-va-voom while decorating her tree

The holidays are always magical, and this very Bewitched Christmas is no exception

The infamous reindeer sweater that Mark Darcy (aka Colin Firth) wears to inadvertently snare the heart of Bridget Jones

The lovely ladies of the silver screen: (top) Martha Hyer, Natalie Wood, Ann Sothern, (bottom) Shirley Jones, Susan Hayward, Debbie Reynolds

John Waters, I dig it

Deck the halls with boughs of Holly(wood), like bombshells Diana Dors, Ava Gardner, and Betty Grable

National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation defines my holiday season, and the Griswold family is eerily (and unsettlingly) similar to my own fam

Charlie Brown and the Peanuts gang

Let's take a moment to appreciate this weird and wonderful endorsement deal that Sammy Davis Jr. had with Alka Seltzer

Elvis Presley by his tree

It was in Home Alone 2 that the truest sentiments of the holiday season were most beautifully expressed

Let's just take a moment and appreciate that the Destiny's Child Christmas album is out there and this song has been heard by five million people (and counting!)

Title: "Happy Xmas (War Is Over)" (John & Yoko/The Plastic Ono Band)