By Susan Spisak
Tis the season! Get into the spirit by watching holiday movies with your buds like we do. We light the fi re, pop popcorn, and turn on our favorites guaranteed to make us smile. Teddy and Banx snuggle with us and are especially delighted if they hear barking or see fourleggeds prancing across the screen. Here are some movies we like – you may enjoy them, too. The zany Christmas Vacation starts our seasonal binge-watching. Clark Griswold wants things perfect for his family and visiting relatives. Everything goes wrong, especially when his uninvited Cousin Eddie shows up with his wife, kids, and Rottweiler, Snot. The Rottie creates havoc by drinking the Christmas tree water, and the pine eventually goes up in smoke. Snot gets into the trash and hacks up a bone.
He chases a squirrel who, of course, has gotten into the Griswold house, leaving it in shambles. There’s much more comical drama but by story’send everyone’s festive, and Clark basks in the moonlight with Snot. The 2005 remake of The 12 Dogs of Christmas was shot mostly in Bethel and Portland, Maine and Conway, New Hampshire. (Tidbit: Filmed in May, snow was trucked in for authenticity.) The Depression era story is about 12-year-old Emma O’Connor who lives with her aunt in a small town. She finds herself embroiled in a battle with the mayor and dog catcher who’ve banned dogs. Attempting to overturn the no-dog law, she garners the help of an area sanctuary owner. Then she brings together classmates, adults, and countless canines for a holiday pageant. It’s cute, heartwarming, and as the tagline says, “You’ll cheer for the underdog.”