Merry Christmas (in a few weeks), everyone! It’s time to break out the Christmas tree, ornaments, candy canes and — of course — the best Christmas film ever made.

 I make no exceptions when it comes to Christmas films: I only love “Die Hard.” Beyond the just slightly inconspicuous timing, beneath the machine guns, air-duct crawlings and high-scale theft plot, “Die Hard” is one of the films that really encapsulates the teachings of Christmas. In the movie, NYPD officer John McClane must protect a $640 million vault from terrorists during a Christmas party.

 For my family, Christmas is one of the few times a year when we all get together. Is there always that one weird relative no one wants to see? Sure. Is there usually a slightly heated argument about what’s going on in the rest of the world? Yeah. But that’s the point of the holiday. Christmas celebrates the birth of new life, bringing people together, smoothing over old issues and forging a new future. It’s not just Amazon sales and wrapping paper and piles of money.

“‘Die Hard’ and its predecessor remind me to cherish the holidays, cherish the people, cherish this season of light.”

 So, when McClane reunites with his wife, when he desperately crawls over broken glass, when he plays with fire, when he jumps out of broken windows and smears one of the most iconic lines of the ’80s in blood (“NOW I HAVE A MACHINE GUN, HO-HO-HO”), it’s really just the McClane family coming together as a family would only on Christmas. It’s a brutal film, but I think that’s why it’s the best Christmas film: “Die Hard” so jarringly juxtaposes greed and brutality with the tenderest moments of family.

 “Die Hard” is actually based on a mid-1970s thriller novel, “Nothing Lasts Forever.” It’s a way less romantic version of the movie — rather than the younger, buff and ironically more mild-tempered McClane — protagonist Joe Leland is a brutal, out-of-shape man. Where McClane is bloodied, Leland is cut to shreds. And where McClane is the knight in shining armor, Leland watches as his daughter is killed before him, and the author leaves it to our imagination whether or not Leland makes it out alive. Why? To show that those people crowded around the table every year won’t always be around.

 “Die Hard” and its predecessor remind me to cherish the holidays, cherish the people, cherish this season of light. Other films smash you over the head with this message, but “Die Hard” lands like a perfectly caught football in the breadbasket. I want to remind myself that each day comes only once, and nothing lasts forever. Each day and relationship should be appreciated. So, as soon as I finish this column, I’m going to give my dad a call while he’s working late.