Community Corner

12 Days of Christmas Music: A Hollywood Christmas

Lights, cameras, action! Enjoy these holiday hits from Christmas-themed films.

Lights, cameras and action!

We've been blessed with some memorable Christmas films, from White Christmas and It's a Wonderful Life to modern staples The Polar Express and Elf. In addition to these films' heartwarming stories, the music drives the yuletide message home for viewers. 

John Williams' haunting score and some well-placed musical cues elevated Home Alone from a story about a bratty kid playing pranks on would-be burglars to an emotional family story with a ton of heart and humor. Faith Hill's "Where Are You Christmas" was perhaps the lone highlight in the ill-advised live-action remake of Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas. Going further into the vault, Bing Crosby's "White Christmas," which first appeared in the 1942 film Holiday Inn, has stood the test of time to become an all-time holiday classic. 

Then there are the humorous musical cues from some other holiday films. Take, for instance, Run-DMC's "Christmas in Hollis," featured in the Christmas-set action film Die Hard. Or think back to Clark Griswold's daydream about a supermodel bathing in his new swimming pool to the tune of Bing Crosby's "Mele Kalikimaka (Merry Christmas)."

Taking some of our favorite musical moments from our favorite (and some less-than-favorite) holiday flicks, we've put together a Hollywood-themed Christmas music playlist, which Spotify listeners can hear here on Patch. If you don't have Spotify, you can download it at www.spotify.com.

Now Spotify unfortunately didn't have a few of our additional favorites, but we've wrangled up some clips from YouTube as an added bonus. See if you can recall these scenes from Elf and Love Actually


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