Christmas Eve TV: Deck the Halls with Holiday Movies

The weather outside is frightful, your shopping is done, and the cookies are in the oven. There's nothing left to do on this Christmas Eve except to sit down and enjoy some holiday TV.

If you want to go the classic route, tune in to TCM at 9:15 am for "Meet Me in St. Louis"; the 1944 Judy Garland musical features the debut of the beloved song "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas," which was originally a deeply somber tune that pops up in an unhappy scene in the film. At 8:00 pm, TCM will air "Christmas in Connecticut," a 1945 comedy starring Barbara Stanwyck. At the same time, NBC's annual Christmas Eve showing of "It's a Wonderful Life" begins; thanks to the film's pre-emption last week in favor of "The Sound of Music Live!," this is your only chance to see Bedford Falls this year on network TV. And at 8:30 on ABC, the Whos in Whoville will teach their green-furred nemesis an important lesson in "Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas."

A big pile of more contemporary Christmas movies is on the schedule at ABC Family; the line-up for the day includes "Scrooged," "The Polar Express," "The Muppet Christmas Carol," "The Santa Clause," "The Santa Clause 2," and "The Santa Clause 3."

And if you're still awake at midnight, you can turn on the beginning of the marathon running of "A Christmas Story" on TBS. The cable network is giving us a major award as it treats us to 24 straight hours of Ralphie and his wacky family.