Also, “Elf” is wonderful. I don’t know how Will Ferrell pulled that out of his usual horrible choices, but Elf was really funny, clean, and although devoid of any Christian message about the reason for the season, quite sweet. James Caan looks as pained in that film as I feel when watching it. You can almost hear him thinking: "Just keep thinking about the money..."
And any film that casts Ed Asner as Santa... well, that is sufficient cause to condemn it.
What bothers me most about Elf is that USA network insists on repeating it for days at a time. My brother thinks it's the best Christmas movie ever made; so when I'm at his house on Christmas, he has the tv set tuned into Elf for the whole day. Ugh!
Now I know why there is at least one case every year of some family argument on Christmas where someone ends up stabbed or shot.