By Joseph Orovic
The holiday season can often be defined by movie standards. Major networks will hit the loop of “It’s A Wonderful Life,” Charlie Brown, The Grinch and go to sleep. But there are other holiday flicks outside the canon worth examining. So if you want “Miracle on 34th Street” just turn on the TV. You won’t find it here.
Here are other films you can queue up on NetFlix to fill the time not spent shoving food down your gullet.

Elf (2003) – An orphan escapes his crib into Santa’s sack of toys and returns to the North Pole, where the elves name him Buddy and decide to raise him as their own. Raised by Papa Elf (played by ever low-key Bob Newhart), Buddy continues life thinking he’s just a really, really big elf.
Finally, as a full grown adult (played by the master of aloof, Will Farrell), Buddy heads to New York City in search of his biological parents.
Hilarity playing upon the strange-in-a-foreign-land theme ensues.

It’s A Very Muppet Christmas Movie (2002) – Collide “It’s A Wonderful Life” and the goofiness of Kermit and Company and you’ve got a goofy take on the standard. (That’s if you don’t find Jimmy Stewart screaming, “Merry Christmas Bedford Falls!” hilarious enough).
The pratfalls and slapstick humor are on par with anything the Muppets have touched. While it may be somewhat predictable, considering it mirrors the holiday standard, knowing the source material makes the departures funnier.

The Santa Clause (1994) – Tim Allen (remember him?) plays Scott Calvin, a big toy company executive trying to avoid a lackluster relationship with his son and former spouse.
All changes when Santa sustains an injury on his roof, and Calvin puts on his suit to cover for him on Christmas Eve. The only trouble is, a clause stipulates Calvin accept Santa duties when donning the suit.
Now unwillingly saddled with being Kris Kringle, Calvin has to quiet down his rambunctious son and keep his ex-wife from thinking he has gone nuts.

The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993) – The residents of Halloweentown get a jolt of Christmas spirit when its Pumpkin King Jack Skellington brings the holiday home.
The rest of the movie finds Jack and his neighbors in a struggle to find a balance between their scary roots and the jolly day of giving.
It’s a Tim Burton movie, so it can be dark at points, but the stop-motion clay animation gives the story a cartoon feel that makes it bright enough through the (naturally) happy ending.

National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation (1989) – Easily the funniest installation in the Vacation series, this comedy classic aptly makes a big joke of the entire holiday ritual.
From the overly-decorated home to picking of the Christmas tree, no Christmas habit is too sacred to make fun of. Starring Chevy Chase in the prime of his career, no one has deadpanned their way through hyperbole so effortlessly.
It’ll leave you feeling silly to even celebrate the holiday and only appreciate it more.

Jingle All The Way (1996) – The Terminator + Christmas = a camp comedic classic, beloved because it’s just so so so terrible.
The plot revolves around desperate father Howard Langston (Arnold Schwarzenegger) doing anything to please his disappointed son by trying to buy the hottest toy of the year, Turbo Man.
Langston encounters a disgruntled mailman (Sinbad) who is also searching a Turbo Man. The pair creates a rivalry as they bound around trying to grab the last action figure.
Every parent who has wrestled for a Cabbage Patch Kid, gunned for the Tickle Me Elmo section and hunted for Furbies, we present your tribute.
For those into the irony of cringe-inducing bad movies, nothing on celluloid has come close in destroying the holiday movie genre.