Homes are stars in Christmas movies

One common feature of Christmas movies is their décor. That often includes beautiful homes, beautifully decorated.

• Gearing up for Christmas: Check the Design Center

The home is often a key ingredient in a holiday movie. The Chicago-area house where "Home Alone" was made, for example, remains famous 21 years after the film was made. It's still for sale, by the way, with the price cut from $2.4 million when it was listed this spring to $1.95 million.

Fan of old homes wax nostalgic over the white Victorian that Jimmy Stewart and Donna Reed threw stones at on their first date and then inhabited as a married couple who never made it out of Bedford Falls in "It's a Wonderful Life." We can't update you on the history of that house because it never existed; it was created on a sound stage.

All those winter scenes were created in sunny Los Angeles, which I think is a far better setting for holiday fun than someplace with snow. I have not dreamed of a white Christmas since I had to drive in snow.

Speaking of "White Christmas," the Columbia Inn in Pinetree, Vt., where much of the action takes place, also was created on a sound stage.

• Home for the holiday movies

For those who like their Christmas without snow and chestnuts roasting on an open fire, many Christmas movies are set in Southern California. "Bad Santa" was filmed at a house in West Hills, Calif. The house was recently sold for $950,000 but Zillow still has the listing photos here.

• Home safe home for the holidays

Here are a few more Christmas movie homes that are still standing:

• The home of the Martini family from "It's A Wonderful Life" is in La Canada Flintridge, Calif., near Los Angeles. The neighborhood was new when the film was made in 1946.
• The duplex where Ralphie dreamed of a Red Ryder BB Gun in "A Christmas Story" is not in Indiana, where the movie took place but in Cleveland, where it has been restored and joined by a museum across the street.
• The house Kate Winslet swaps with Cameron Diaz in "The Holiday" is a 10,324-square-foot mansion in San Marino, Calif., near Los Angeles. You can see photos on the Zillow blog and at Hooked on Houses, where Julia also has lots more photos of homes from Christmas movies.

What's your favorite Christmas movie home, either real or created for film?