Gobble Up These Thanksgiving Movies For Viewing!

With the Thanksgiving holiday season, you know that it’s going to be busy! Busy! Busy! Lots of families are in the middle of preparations for this coming Thursday’s meal and you know how crazy that can be! And there’s a chance that it’ll be even crazier if you haven’t gotten the much-needed items for your turkey day! If not, there’s going to be a lot of grocery shoppers piling into the stores getting last minute items, food prepping and the noise of the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade coming from your living room.

Of course, these kind of things happen to my family at least every other year and it’s not exactly one of the better moments of the holiday either, no matter how thankful I am when turkey day comes. But even with the hectic week of Thanksgiving finally here, sometimes the best thing anybody can do is just sit back and relax without any worries.

That’s what I do every year: plop down on the couch, take a deep breath and do something less constructive like watching some television or movies. Every single day of November, my family sits down to watch a movie or TV special to give us the Thanksgiving spirit we already have a bit of a boost. Most of the time we cater our visual pleasure to movies specialized around the holidays either on ABC Family or the Hallmark Channel which have become a sort of tradition nowadays.

Speaking of tradition, have you ever watched that one movie when you were a kid and couldn’t wait to watch it over and over again the following year? Yeah, that’s how it is for some families. Seeing it again and again on the same holiday season sort of becomes a tradition for every year afterward. And everybody knows a holiday wouldn’t be right without a tradition of some sort.

Tradition in my family always has to include the movies and I want you to check out my favorites to enjoy with my family before, and on, turkey day when we can:

“A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving” – Charlie Brown is ready to head to his grandmother’s for a Thanksgiving dinner when Patty calls and invites herself over to have dinner, too. Charlie is bewildered about what to do until Linus shows up stating two dinners would be a good thing, recruiting Snoopy and Woodstock to help out. When Patty and her friends show up, she finds it not a suitable meal and complains. Once Patty is told that she can’t complain cause she invited herself, apologies are made and they have a meal. When the time comes for Charlie and Sally to go to their grandmother’s, it becomes a problem and the grandmother invites them all for a feast where they have a Happy Thanksgiving.

This is an old favorite and tradition on Thanksgiving. It tells a story about friendship and being grateful for what you are about to receive no matter how it’s given. Plus, it’s an all-ages special you and the kids can enjoy.

“Planes, Trains and Automobiles” – This PG-rated comedy tells the story of a marketing executive named Neal Page who makes plans to head home to Chicago for Thanksgiving. As he is ready to go, he meets Del Griffith, an extremely outgoing shower curtain ring salesman who takes Neal’s cab heading for JFK Airport. The two meet again on a flight to Chicago only to have the route diverted to Witchita because of a blizzard. Needing to get home, a three-day series of misadventures begin from the plane, to a train and automobiles just to get home for Thanksgiving.

This is a great movie to watch as it’s one of the most hilarious films out there! Plus it stars two great comedians, Steve Martin and John Candy! A classic, but a great one to enjoy with the entire family!

“Mouse on The Mayflower” – This is a 1968 animated classic that tells the story of the First Thanksgiving. It tells the story from the viewpoint of a church-mouse named Willum who is aboard the Mayflower ship. He begins the tale by speaking of life on the ship. As a storm approaches, the ship is ready to sink, only to be saved by an idea from this tiny mouse and landing safely in America. Willum then tells of how the Pilgrims built a new colony, planted crops and celebrating a huge feast in autumn.

Not many people seem to know about this animated classic for some reason, but it’s a good one to watch to tell the children about the First Thanksgiving.

“Alvin & The Chipmunks: Alvin’s Thanksgiving Celebration” – A Thanksgiving play is in the works and Alvin wants a part in it. He invites friends and relatives to check out the play, but becomes a bit upset when he doesn’t get the part he originally wanted.

There’s no way everybody don’t know about Alvin &  The Chipmunks! They have a lot of specials out there for holidays and this one was a great one! Check it out!

“Free Birds” – A turkey named Reggie is very afraid of Thanksgiving due to his knowledge of the traditional turkey on the menu. As he tries to warn his turkey community, they don’t want to listen to what he has to say. After he’s “turkey-napped” by someone from a “Turkey Freedom Front”, he is told that he must go back in time to the First Thanksgiving and stop this turkey madness from happening. A series of craziness ensues as turkeys begin to fight back.

Oh a fantastic laugh this one is! This is definitely one film for you and the entire family!

“Garfield’s Thanksgiving” – Garfield is in a panic! A trip to the vet causes our favorite fat cat to become uneasy once he’s told to go on a diet to which Jon agrees. The big panic? Thanksgiving is the next day and you know Garfield and his food. Unfortunately, Garfield’s not the only one having issues about Thanksgiving. Jon has no clue as how to prepare a turkey dinner and the vet Liz is supposed to be coming over to help celebrate. With a still frozen turkey and garlic-covered vegetables, Garfield convinces Jon to call Grandma who immediately comes over and helps them recover from Jon’s dinner plight. A good meal is had by all.

Another fun animated film to watch with the family. Garfield has some fun adventures and this is one of them. I can’t imagine having Thanksgiving without watching!

So, there we have it! Check out my recommendations in a fun movie marathon while gobbling down your Thanksgiving feast. And please share your own favorite movies to watch on this holiday! We’d love to hear them!

Happy Thanksgiving!