December is one of the most magical times of the year. The fluffy snow and creamy hot chocolate are the perfect accomplices to the wonderful and festive holidays. In addition, there are many fun and exciting activities. Sledding down huge hills and decorating houses are common in filling the spare time and bring lots of smiles and laughter. However, there is one thing that may just suck the magic out of your holidays:

Christmas movies.

Christmas movies are pretty much the only thing about Christmas that is bad. Overall, Christmas movies are a good idea and there are a select few classics that still represent the title of Christmas well, but there are thousands of Christmas movies that take the special holiday and drag it through the mud.

Romcom (romantic comedy) Christmas movies are the worst offenders when it comes to Christmas movie crimes. The movies have incredibly unreasonable plots that become almost laughable.

Companies such as Hallmark even goes as far as having a Christmas in July marathon; the movies seem much worse when there is no snow on the ground.

One particularly bad Romcom Christmas movie is titled A Boyfriend For Christmas. In this movie, a 13-year-old girl wishes for a boyfriend from Santa, and 2o years later her wish comes true in the form of a lawyer. At this point in her life, the girl has been divorced and has lost custody of her kids, eventually the lawyer–who is still basically a stranger–is found out to be lying to her, but she still gets together with him anyway. Insane.

Air Academy sophomore Karis Boonzaaijer also took a negative stance on Hallmark Christmas movies. “Christmas movies are sappy, especially Hallmark… they just seem unoriginal,” she said.

Boonzaaijer much prefers regular movies altogether; she dislikes the humor in most Christmas movies and opts for less predictable year-round movies.

Unfortunately, the madness does not stop at Romcom Christmas movies. Many movie producers who make successful movies will often try to make more money, which leads to the dreaded sequel.

According to a study by Amy Watson, the first Home Alone made 285.76 million dollars in box office sales. This is the highest-grossing Christmas movie ever, but Home Alone 2; Lost in New York only made about half of that and Home Alone 3 only made 79.1 million dollars in box office sales. Proving that producers should not make any more Christmas sequels because no one can make another The Grinch. 

While this statistic shows the decline in interest in the Home Alone sequels, it also attests to the popularity of the first one, but is that popularity misplaced?

The movie depicts a rather crazy plot following Kevin, a young boy who has been forgotten home during the holidays. While at home, the kid is faced with two burglars trying to break into the house. The movie continues with Kevin doing many things to injure and deter the burglars.

Although it is a little unrealistic, it is filled with slapstick humor that attracts the enjoyment of many people, but not everyone likes it.

“Home Alone is awful,” AAHS senior Natalie Girvin said, “Kevin is a brat; he’s so close to the dark side. Also, who leaves a child home on an international vacation and doesn’t realize until they are on the plane? How did Kevin end up with a gun and why is he trying to commit murder so many times? The bandits should have been dead and the child in a mental hospital.”

However, not all Christmas movies are bad. Classics such as The Polar Express, Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer, and other animated movies seem hard to critique. Maybe it’s because they carry a deeper meaning or allow a bit more of personal interpretation. They are ones that will add joy to these special holidays, but there is no ignoring the awful ones.

Christmas movies are often unreasonable, unrealistic and just plain crazy. They bring down Christmas and create a false expectation of what it is supposed to look like.

So this year, make sure you do anything but sit down and watch a Christmas movie and everyone will be happier.