The Columbia College Student Experience: We ask the hard questions here: What’s your favorite holiday film?

I think that the best gift that Santa could give me this year would be the following: for all of my tution issues to be taken care of, my astranged younger brother to come back home, my mom not to have to carry the weight of our families entire world on her shoulders and for my family and my life to feel whole and happy again. I know that I am asking for more than one gift from Santa but I think that any of these things would truly make a HUGE difference in my current life. And if these worries were resolved then I think that I would not only have a little bit more hope in the world and my future, but I also think that it would also reassure me that both my brother and my mother will be around to enjoy next christmas.

Dear Santa,

Please bring me a futon. Since I moved away from home, I've missed my charmingly uncomfortable convertible bed-couch like a little brother.

I don't want another little brother, just a futon, thanks.

I would love it if Santa could bring me my parents home for the
holidays from Greece. But if not, maybe some cool stationary to send them some holiday cheer?

I am burnt out on such classics as "It's A Wonderful Life" or "White Christmas" etc.
-Not that they aren't great movies...they are--

But my favorite holiday movie?

Simple:
Die Hard.
The first one.
It was my dad's favorite movie. Now that he has been gone for nearly 10 years, christmas-time watching Die Hard brings back a number of great memories watching it with him.

Can Santa hook me up with a desk? It would be really helpful.
Or some cash to help pay the rent :)

even though i'm pretty jewtastic, i've always been a huge santa fan.. oh yeah.
so if santa would like to smile on a jew or two, i suppose santa could provide me with an air mattress. or a ton of christmas lights, because no dorm room/apartment is complete without them.

or a huge animatronic reindeer. i had one of those once. it was so awesome.

If I don't get a chance to watch at least 10 hours of "24 Hours of A Christmas Story" on TBS every year, I get so cranky!

Santa can bring me a bomb photon gun, or if he's out of photon guns then I guess I'll understand if he only has telepathy in stock, i'd take that fore sure. An unlimited supply of RIPS candy would due just fine. I'm pretty flexible.

If there was a Santa (sorry to all you college students who still believe in him), I would want him to bring me a big wad of cash this year. Haven't had a job this semester and have an awesome trip planned for January, but it's going to suck if I don't have any spending money. I NEED $$$!

My ideal Santa gift this year would be a secured job after I graduate this Spring! Oh, and did I mention A's in my classes and recommendations from teachers? Yea...that'd be a nice bonus :P

My ideal present from Santa this year would probably be getting a job close to home so I could be close to my family, new nephew and boyfriend along with a secure career!

The ideal gift Santa could bring me this year would be magical super powers spanning the gamut from X-Men to Harry Potter. That would certainly be the gift that keeps on giving so I could help myself and countless others.

If Santa could keep my cat alive for another five years (she's nineteen now), that would be swell.

My ideal gift would be the brain of Marc Wilkinson so I could have a better response when asked what my ideal gift from Mr. Claus would be.

My ideal gift from Mr. Clause the Holiday season would most definitely be a Stilt-Walking River Beast. Stilt-Walking River Beasts, as I'm sure you know, mainly inhabit dried out riverbeds in Northern Texas, Oklahoma and surrounding states. They look like shaggy dogs with comically over sized yellow eyes that can see three miles in the dark. Their most noticeable feature, besides their story-tall legs, is their finely groomed, and in some cases, braided hair.

I would of course name my Stilt-Walking River Beast Jacob Marly, since it is Christmas after all. Jacob Marly and I would go around trowing lake bottoms for sunken treasure, and spend our nights breaking into abandoned industrial complexes. Eventually we'd get a spot short spot on "Mysterious Mysteries of the Pentaverse", and all the media attention would go straight to our heads. I'd start wearing an unfortunately flamboyant fur jacket, and Jacob would hit the bottle again after three years sober. Our relationship strained, we would part ways, and he would return to his native lands, wealthy in currency and possessions, but morally and spiritually bankrupt.

My loneliness would turn to anger, and eventually hate. I'd arm myself to the teeth, load up on ammo and fruit-by-the-foot, and spend the rest of my days tracking Jacob through the wilderness and around the world.

Of course, near the end of my life, we would finally meet again on some distant hill top at dawn, where Jacob, elder and wiser, will surrender to me. I, however, will choose to let him live, and as I die of natural causes with the rising sun, Jacob would tell me my mercy would not be forgotten, and that he would remember it his entire life. Since Stilt-Walking River Beasts typically live in excess of 7,000 years, I would take that as the highest compliment.

This final meeting would become the cornerstone event of a new world religion once Stilt-Walking River Beasts reveal themselves to be the true masters of the universe, and, after a long and bloody war, are able to live in peace among humans.

Well, among and above.

If santa could bring me anything it would be a report card from Columbia with all A's on it plus recommendations from all my professors for a kickass job.

They forgot Die Hard! Now that's a Christmas movie.

I know it sounds boring, but I sure could use a mattress. The one I have now is used, and its springs jab into my back and shoulders. It can make it pretty hard to get to sleep. Getting regular sleep is priceless.

The best thing that Santa could bring me would be a single wish. I would use it to wish for more wishes. It is the gift that keeps on giving. I could wish for world peace and all that trite nonsense, and still get all the BB guns and video games and shiny new bicycles I wanted.

If Santa were to give me a fantastic gift for Christmas this year--assuming that he is not actually capable of solving hunger or creating world peace--I would want whatever effort or money he would spend on my presents to be made into donations for food banks around the city and environmental charities (like the Snow Leopard Trust and World Wildlife Fund).
Because, let's face it, I don't need any more stuff but there are plenty of people out there who do.

and yes, I'm completely serious. It may seem sappy or a little like a beauty pageant speech, but it's what I want.

A Pony.

Its hard to say what I would want "Santa" to bring me, being someone who enjoys the holidays mainly be being with friends and family the only thing I could really think is a good movie that I can enjoy with family and friends.

I think that is something that we, as a generation have moved away from, we no longer care about family and friends this time of year, let alone our fellow man (Wal-Mart in New York on Black Friday is all I should say). We really should return to enjoying our time with those we love because how little time we have on this earth to spend with those we care about and those that care about us.

Happy Holiday's to everyone,

Mike H.