Day 1: Our Christmas Kickoff Movies - 12 Days of Christmas Artwork

The Movie Club

TMC: Raw, unfiltered talk from two dudes and a few badass chicks. No filters, just laughs as we dive into the best, worst, and most obscure movies ever made. If you’re ready for brutally honest, laugh-out-loud takes, this is your kind of podcast.

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Day 1: Our Christmas Kickoff Movies - 12 Days of Christmas

December 04, 2025 • TMC • Season 2 • Episode 7

0:00 | 12:20

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We sat down and recorded 12 episodes all about Christmas. Our favorite Christmas movies, our favorite Santa, our worst Santa, the soundtracks we love. A little insight into who we are and what we actually care about this time of year.

Every family has that one movie that flips the switch from normal life into full holiday mode. It isn’t always logical. It isn’t always classy. But once that movie hits the screen, the season officially starts. Day 1 is where we own that truth and admit the film that tells each of us it’s finally Christmas.

Home Alone
Katie drops Home Alone and everyone already knows Ryan’s riding with the same pick. No coordination, just the universal Thanksgiving-night tradition kicking in. Dinner ends, plates hit the sink, Home Alone goes on.

Katie’s locked on the classics… the paint cans, the mac-and-cheese countdown, the aftershave scream. Ryan’s angle is the traps. The marbles, the strings, the whole “eight-year-old running a demolition side hustle” energy. Naturally the group lit him up for admitting he used to build traps as a kid. Fully deserved.

Christmas Vacation
John and Erica are basically the Griswold's at this point because they both lead with Vacation without hesitation. No backstory, no buildup. It’s just the movie that flips the holiday switch for them. Erica watches it the moment she feels the Christmas energy hit. John saves it for the whole family so he can do the “everyone sit down, it’s time” moment. They both agree it’s the movie that officially declares the season has started.

LISTEN TO ALL OF "THE 12 DAYS OF CHRISTMAS"

Day 1: Christmas Kickoff Movies

Day 2: Bad Christmas Movies We Love

Day 3: Our Best Santa's

Day 4: Funniest Christmas Movies

Day 5: Most Romantic Santa

Day 6: Best Animated Christmas Movie

Day 7: Best Christmas Soundtrack

Day 8: Best Non-Christmas, Christmas Movie

Day 9: The Christmas Movie We Want to Live In

Day 10: The Christmas Family Most Like Our Own?

Day 11: Which Christmas Character Would You Grab a Beer With?

Day 12: Christmas Movie Trivia

Speaker 4 (00:00.276)
What is up everybody? This is Ryan from TMC, the Movie Club podcast. You are listening to the 12 Days of Christmas. We sat down and recorded 12 episodes just for you. All about Christmas. We talk about our favorite Christmas movies, our favorite Santas, our worst Santas, the soundtracks that we love. You kind of get a little insight about us and what we love at the holidays. Anyhow, we hope that you enjoy it and we hope that you will share it.

This is episode one.

The Movie Club. podcast for people that love movies. Keep the whole year.

the

gift that sound given

Speaker 4 (00:42.604)
Don't get too...

Speaker 4 (00:52.462)
you

Christmas episode guys. I think this is like my favorite.

You

Speaker 3 (01:01.806)
Christmas 2025. yeah.

But we're gonna do it a little differently than we did last year and we're gonna do many episodes for the 12 days of Christmas. We're gonna do a different topic for each day. So we're gonna start off with our first day of Christmas. This is our kickoff movie. So our movie that we like kick off the Christmas season with.

Ask your mom if we introduce ourselves at any point.

Nope, never. Sorry.

I'm Ryan

Speaker 1 (01:33.909)
I'm just curious.

The America.

I'm Katie.

and I'm John.

And there you go, that's the end.

Speaker 3 (01:39.886)
So who wants to go first? How do you get your Christmas season started?

Are you first? Okay. So I have a little bit of a backstory behind mine. Mine is Home Alone. And growing up, like Thanksgiving, we would go to my grandparents and when we would come home, we just, that was the movie that my parents had us watch like every single year. So now I do that with my own kids too. And weirdly,

I Katie goes first.

Speaker 2 (02:10.538)
I was like looking up like information about it came out the year I was born. Is that weird? I don't know. I felt like was symbolic. yeah. So fun.

So you watch that after Thanksgiving.

After Thanksgiving, yeah, we watch it like Thanksgiving night and it kicks off the holiday season. Yeah, and it's like one of my favorites too. Like, I don't know, of Home Alone. I mean, the robber scene is just like amazing. It's just.

Just watched it?

Speaker 4 (02:34.794)
scene. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (02:42.552)
I still picture that can of paint coming down the stairwell.

Ha ha

I think it's funny that he's like, I don't know, he like, it's like this little man, like when he's getting it ready, and then he has this little mac and cheese and milk. Like he's sitting at the dining room table. And the clock like strikes like nine and he's like, like, it's time.

He tried shaving?

Speaker 4 (03:04.43)
Yeah, yeah, I picked home alone as well

Really? nice!

That's your backstory,

feeling that it's gonna be different.

No, I don't have a backstory on this. I just like the movie. I'm not weird. I like the movie

Speaker 3 (03:22.604)
That gives you the... That gets you in the Christmas spirit?

I'm in the shower.

Home Alone for me is like the kid, right? So it's like as a kid you've always wanted to, I don't know, put marbles on the floor and make people trip. You never did that? You never tried to do that? I did. You never tried to put marbles on the floor and make

No. I ask you a question? What? Did you get this idea from Kevin? Wait, wait, is this who you named Kevin after, your AI? It's all making sense now.

No!

Speaker 4 (03:55.81)
No, but you know what's funny when you said that I didn't even think I just thought you meant like Kevin from Yeah

my god, it all makes sense now.

All makes sense. No, but it never come on. You never like as a kid wanted to set up all the like traps in the house and things like that to catch people and.

Did ever set up like a trap to try and catch a squirrel and put nuts underneath like a milk crate? Anybody else do that? No, but that's like the most of a trap I've ever did. was like trying to catch a squirrel and I put some nuts underneath a milk crate.

Acorns? Yeah, let's-

Speaker 1 (04:33.934)
Just like, I don't know, whatever nuts we had in the city. didn't have access to that many nuts. You know, we got to the cheap nuts, but we'd put like a stick and a milk crate. I'll never forget this. My neighbor looked at us and we were like four and she just went, that'll never work. And we're like, you know.

Store brand.

Speaker 2 (04:58.635)
Or Thor?

Ish? Did you get, did you get what? Did you get a squirrel?

No, we never caught a

I called a pigeon. That was that was the closest I got. And then I then I had like trained it to like go out and messages out.

god.

Speaker 4 (05:17.336)
But you never tried to set anything up. I remember as a kid we set up... Booby traps? Yeah, and I told you this story. We made a big dummy, human dummy, and had it on a string. So when my parents came in the back door, it came down at them like it was... I did it with my uncle, yeah. And my dad jumped

But that's like a lot of effort.

Did you use like a sex doll for this?

It was, it was. We used the bolsters on the couch, we put them in jeans and the whole bit. And then my dad like jumped in and-

Speaker 2 (05:48.844)
Like I feel like you are Kevin.

Oh my god, I was terrified my sex that was attacking me when I came in it came in the house What the hell Ryan? I told you not to play with that thing

Good lord. Erica, what was your movie?

you

Speaker 2 (06:05.794)
What was your movie? My reason? It just was so much more wholesome.

He's involved,

Prudish? Not prudish. What was your movie? Give us your movie.

My go-to

Same here, by the way.

Speaker 2 (06:25.888)
Wait, this is like again, it's the Neils and the Dells.

I'm you, I'm telling you, this is happening.

Bad high five

Speaker 3 (06:42.69)
We can try again later.

Don't break your wrist.

You're never allowed to make fun of us ever again.

Yeah. No, I can't just give yourselves a high five. I'll make fun of you right now.

Why why Christmas

Speaker 3 (06:54.274)
Vacation it is it just is I don't have a back story. It's the movie that Nobody has a back story

That was not a requirement by the way.

no.

God, calm down.

She's a big backstory kind of person. Wait, every time we go through these bad movies we love, let me give you the backstory.

Speaker 4 (07:14.818)
hahahaha

No, no. Is this, I talk like this.

I mean maybe you do, maybe you don't. That's how I do it. So, all right, Erica, tell us about vacation and why it's what your kickoff movie is.

It's just my favorite. It's probably my favorite movie. And when I'm ready for like when I'm feeling the spirit, that's why I want to watch. When I'm like, it's time to watch Christmas movie. I know, because Thanksgiving was just yesterday. I can't do Christmas before Thanksgiving.

Well she has a watch-

Speaker 1 (07:41.774)
So, my kick-

Speaker 1 (07:49.418)
Agreed. My kickoff movie is Remember the Titans because I think we're going to f*** all movies.

Speaker 2 (07:58.734)
Like I gave it up for Lent so like I have to kick off Christmas with that movie.

Thank God I never had to give that up for Lent. Thank God I never watched it that much to have to give it up for Lent. you know what I mean. Wow. That's what I'm saying. Wow.

Actually, yesterday, when we were at my parents for Thanksgiving, my, they're always playing like music and there was, there was my stepdad put, I remember the Titan song on and everyone just immediately like eyes on me. Like, remember that one time you gave that up for Lent? Like, we, we all remember this time. It was really difficult. Like,

They brought that up?

Speaker 4 (08:35.128)
I that.

The number of times you've seen that movie in your life, estimate it, like is it like over a hundred?

Mmm, it's pretty close. Oh, I love. it's good

Okay.

It's good.

Speaker 4 (08:45.646)
There's no movie that good to watch a hundred times

I am a person who like I'm working or doing like homework and I'm like have a movie or a show on and it's like my comfort like movie, you know what I mean? That I've seen a million times. Maybe I'm not like fully paying attention to it.

I watched the movie a hundred times because

Speaker 3 (09:05.048)
Thanks

Speaker 1 (09:08.43)
If I know him Like if I know a movie so well that I don't have to pay attention to it and I can throw it on and not have to watch it I will it'll be like a background thing for me. I will do that. Yeah

And movies.

Speaker 3 (09:21.43)
I always pick the radio. I like music in the back.

In the background, yeah.

So my kickoff movie is also vacation. I had no idea.

This is so funny that we. We should say that too, like we did not tell each other. This is total surprises.

We totally crossed streams by the way. cool. You guys were both, call them all on and- but if they knew how we were-

Speaker 2 (09:41.538)
You're sitting. know. So Ryan and I are diagonal, Erica and John are diagonal. So yes, we did cross.

Will say by the way, I went back and forth on this one because Home Alone and Vacation. Home Alone and Vacation to me are like 1a and 1b like they are equal movies to me So but I felt I was thinking this through and I was like Christmas starts for me when I watch Christmas Vacation. Yeah. Yep, and that identifies the season Yeah, not yet. It is seriously like the day after Thanksgiving. I haven't watched anything. Yeah, not

Okay.

Speaker 4 (10:11.054)
Would you watch it?

Speaker 4 (10:17.666)
But you're wearing the shirt.

Well, yeah, yeah, not actually true. Because we had to do a little bit of homework for this.

Right. I didn't watch it yet because this is one I save for the family. Yeah. We all will watch this one.

Speaker 4 (10:34.7)
too.

But I do think, I think most people would identify with those two.

Speaker 4 (10:44.458)
I thought for sure somebody was gonna choose L for, you know, Miracle on 34th Street or some sh-

Stop fucking pointing at me.

Yeah

You know,

Don't Miracle on 34th Street.

Speaker 4 (10:59.865)
There.

Miracle on 34th Street will be making an appearance. you just wait.

Pretty soon actually. Look at the minutes.

in the bathroom.

Stop it's

Speaker 4 (11:23.47)
John just googled anything before 1920.

Stop.

I never saw a miracle in 34th Street.

you

Speaker 3 (11:40.386)
Now you got it.

No one

Speaker 4 (11:49.464)
Jingle bell, jingle bell

Jingle Bells Jingle Bell Time Dancin' and Prancin' in Jingle Bell Square in the frosty air