TCM considers this a Christmas film. I guess because of the segment with the snow and the holiday song Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas. It also had a segment about Halloween which was almost deleted as the film was a bit too long.
shareI watch this movie every year on Christmas Eve after I get back from my family's house late at night. It's one of my own little Christmas traditions I have. =) But you're right it can be something to watch anytime of the year.
shareWhile the film is barely about Christmas, it does contain the song Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas, which is the reason it was shown on Dec 23. Little Women and Susan Slept Here were shown as well, and I wouldn't consider those "Christmas films" even if they do take place in late December and mention Christmas, but TCM shows so many films, they can't just show The Bishop's Wife and A Christmas Carol over and over (although they seem to).
TCM also showed MGM Parade Show #15 7 times in the month of Dec, including on Christmas night, because it contains a clip of Garland singing that song from this film.
I always considered it a Christmas film primarily because of the song and because it is shown at Christmastime. It has become one of my Christmas traditions.
shareI watch this every Christmas and I've been doing just that for at least 12yrs.
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The song, "Have yourself a merry little Christmas," was actually introduced in this film. The original line, "until then we'll have to muddle through somehow," fit the tone of the film and in fact, in its bitter-sweetness and mixed emotions, is an appropriate counterweight to all the schmaltzy Christmas songs out there. Unfortunately, the lyricist, on the insistence of Sinatra, permitted that line to be changed in the early 50s to "hang a shining star upon the highest bough." That's the way most singers say it now, and now it's just like all the other schmaltzy Christmas songs. How sad to ruin a song that was such a nice corrective.