Christmas movies!
(see Thanksgiving viewing choices down below)
My holiday picks 😜
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Christmas films with a spiritual dimension
Black Nativity (2013)
The Christmas Candle (2013)
It’s a Wonderful Life (1946)
The Star (2017)
A Truce in the Woods (1977, 36 minutes - on YouTube)
All time classics
Classics : all ages
A Charlie Brown Christmas (1965)
A Christmas Carol (1947, HBO)
The Christmas Chronicles
Christmas in Connecticut (1945)
Elf
Ernest Saves Christmas (1988)
The Grinch (2018)
Home Alone (1990)
Home Alone 2: Lost in New York
How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2000)
It’s a Wonderful Life (1946)
Miracle on 34th Street (1947)
National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation
The Polar Express (2004)
Scrooge (1951)
White Christmas (1954)
While You Were Sleeping (1995)
Solid : keep in rotation every few years
Arthur Christmas
Christmas with the Kranks
Dear Santa (2024, Jack Black, Hulu)
Eight-Bit Christmas (2021)
The Family Man (2000)
The Family Stone (2005)
Fred Claus (2007)
Four Christmases (2008, uneven, but some hilarious scenes)
Get Santa
Jingle All the Way (1996)
Klaus (2019)
The Man Who Invented Christmas
Miracle on 34th Street (1994)
The Nightmare Before Christmas
Santa Claus: The Movie (1985)
Not classic, but hey…it’s Christmas!
A Christmas Prince (2017)
A Christmas Prince: A Royal Wedding (2018)
A Christmas Prince: The Royal Baby (2019)
Almost Christmas (2016, Danny Glover, Hulu)
Christmas Inheritance
Deck the Halls (2007) Matthew Broderick and Danny DeVito as hyper-competitive holiday decorating neighbors
The Christmas Train (Prime, Dermot Mulroney)
Dolly Parton's Christmas on the Square (2020)
Falling for Christmas (2022, Lindsay Lohan, resort, my father-in-law loves this)
The Knight Before Christmas (2019)
Love Hard (2021)
Midnight at the Magnolia (2020)
The Noel Diary (2022)
Office Christmas Party (R)
Our Little Secret (Lindsay Lohan’s 2024 requisite Christmas entry - two exes at their SO’s)
The Princess Switch (2018, and the sequels)
Your Christmas or Mine? / Your Christmas or Mine 2? (2022, Prime, 12-3-23 - for Jeremy)
Classics and a couple others for older audiences
Bad Santa
Dash and Lily (2020, Netflix 8-episode series)
Die Hard
Die Hard 2
Fatman (2020, Mel Gibson in a dark turn as Kris Kringle facing down assassin Walton Goggins)
A Very Harold & Kumar Christmas
The Holiday
Home for Christmas (2019 Swedish series, Netflix - recommend for Jeremy)
Love, Actually
Serendipity
Trading Places
Not Clunkers, not Classic, but, to quote Jeremy: “Hey, it’s Christmas” : Older Audience version
Happiest Season
Let the kids watch on their own
A Christmas Mystery (the town bells are missing!)
Frosty the Snowman
Home Alone 3 (with a very young Scarlett Johansson in a supporting role!)
How the Grinch Stole Christmas! (1966)
Mickey’s Christmas Carol (Disney)
The Muppet Christmas Carol
Prancer
Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (1964)
The Santa Clause
Tom and Jerry : A Nutcracker Tale (HBO)
Haven’t watched yet
8 Women (2002, R, Catherine Deneuve murder mystery)
12 Dates of Christmas (2011, Freeform, Paramount+)
A Christmas Carol (1984, Hulu)
A Christmas Tale (2008, Catherine Deneuve, AMC+)
A Midnight Clear (1992, R)
Almost Christmas (2016, Kimberly Elise, Danny Glover)
Babes in Toyland (1934 - Laurel and Hardy)
Babes in Toyland (1961)
The Bishop’s Wife (1947, HBO)
The Christmas Classic (2023, Hulu, Malin Akerman)
Christmas Survival (2018, Freevee…with Joely Richardson, okay, I’ll try it)
Christmas With You (2022, Netflix, Freddie Prinze)
Eloise at Christmastime
The Family Stone (2005, HBO)
The Great Rupert (1950)
Gremlins
Holiday Affair (1949)
I’ll Be Home For Christmas
It Happened on 5th Avenue (1947)
Joyeux Noel (2006)
Last Holiday
Let It Snow (2019)
Lost Holiday (2007)
Love the Coopers (2015, Alan Arkin, Hulu)
A Merry Friggin’ Christmas (2014)
The Night Before (R)
Not So Merry Christmas (2022, Netflix, repeating day)
Nothing Like the Holidays (2008, HBO)
Nutcrackers (2024, Hulu)
Over Christmas (2020, Netflix, 3-episode series)
The Preacher’s Wife (1996)
Remember the Night (1940, Barbara Stanwyck, Fred MacMurray)
Scrooge (2022, animated musical, Netflix - started, haven’t finished)
Scrooged (1988)
The Shop Around the Corner
Silent Night (R)
A Storm for Christmas (2022, 6-episode Norwegian series)
Surviving Christmas (Ben Affleck & James Gandolfini)
Sweethearts (Max)
Trapped in Paradise (1994, HBO)
Clunkers (don’t waste your time)
All is Bright (2013, HBO, Rudd and Giametti). Watched Dec 2020. Two actors who can verbally spar and entertain with the best…but not with a script that never quite manages to strike a consistent tone. If you’re gonna capitalize on Christmas as a genre, then you gotta bring a certain amount of heartwarming, feel good, or funny. Melancholy is okay, up to a point, but then there has to be some additional meaning, or motivation, or feeling that we’re learning or feeling something new, as opposed to simply being mired in someone’s unfortunate reality. Does this belong in ‘clunkers?’ Not necessarily - but I’m too lazy to create another category, and too afraid to recommend as a ‘Christmas film.’ So there ya go. 😬
El Camino Christmas (2017, Netflix). Watched Dec 2019. Another ‘Christmas Eve hostages in a liquor store’ genre story. A promising lineup of characters, but the stars just don’t align.
Holidate (2020, Netflix, adult) Started Dec 2020. Turned off. Terrible. And ‘terrible’ in the sense of giving unlikeable characters from the get-go, along with irredeemably bad dialogue and forced attempts at humor. Couldn’t stand. Am I wrong? Did I miss something magical by not finishing?
Last Christmas (2019)
Mixed Nuts (1994)
Pottersville (2017, Netflix). Watched Dec 2019. Even Michael Shannon can’t make another ‘Bigfoot in a small-town at Christmas’ movie worth anything more than a once-see.
Violent Night. Did not find the humor, charm, or enjoyment in this ultra graphic violence David Harbor Die Hard wannabe.
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Additional recommendations : Episode Classics
Arrested Development (Netflix)
S2E6 “Afternoon Delight”
Black Mirror
”White Christmas”
Boston Legal
”The Nutcrackers”
S4E10 Green Christmas
”Holly Jolly Xmas”
Curb Your Enthusiasm
S3 Mary, Joseph and Larry
Everybody Loves Raymond
S3 “The Toaster”
The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air
”Christmas Show”
”Deck the Halls”
S4 “‘Twas the Night Before Christening”
Friends (Netflix)
S7E10 "The One With the Holiday Armadillo”
The Middle (HBO Max)
note : The Middle episodes were assembled from the Wifetime of Happiness blog - thank you!
Season 1: Episode 10 (Christmas) - great
Season 2: Episode 10 (A Simple Christmas) - so good
Season 3: Episode 11 (A Christmas Gift) - so good
Season 4: Episode 9 (Christmas Help) - ok
Season 5: Episode 9 (The Christmas Tree) - very good
Season 6: Episode 9 (The Christmas Wall)
Season 7: Episode 10 (No Silent Night)
Season 8: Episode 9 (A Very Marry Christmas)
Modern Family
S1 ”Undeck the Halls”
S3 “Express Christmas”
S5 “The Old Man and the Tree”
S7 “White Christmas”
S10 “Stuck in a Moment”
S11 “The Last Christmas”
Monk
S5 “Mr. Monk Meets His Dad”
The Office (Netflix)
S2E10 “Christmas Party”
S3E10, 11 “A Benihana Christmas, parts 1 & 2”
S5E11 “Moroccan Christmas”
S6E13 “Secret Santa”
S7E11,12 “Classy Christmas parts 1 & 2”
S8E10 “Christmas Wishes”
S9E9 “Dwight Christmas”
Parks and Recreation (Netflix)
”Christmas Scandal”
S4E10 “Citizen Knope”
Scrubs
S1 “My Own Personal Jesus”
Seinfeld (Hulu)
”The Strike”
S4E13 “The Pick”
The Simpsons
S1 ”Simpsons Roasting On An Open Fire”
S11E9 “Grift of the Magi”
Ted Lasso (Apple TV)
S2E4 “Carol of the Bells”
Twilight Zone
S2E11 “The Night of the Meek” (1960)
S1E13 ”The Night of the Meek” (1985 remake)
S3E14 “Five Characters in Search of an Exit” (1961)
S3E37 “The Changing of the Guard” (1962)
Veep (HBO)
S5E8 “Camp David”
THANKSGIVING MOVIES!
My holiday picks 😜
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Thanksgiving films with a spiritual dimension
All ages
coming soon
All time classics
Classics. : all ages
A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving (1973)
Freebirds
You’ve Got Mail (1998)
Classics : older audience
For Your Consideration (2006)
The Oath (2018)
Pieces of April (2003)
Planes, Trains and Automobiles (1987)
Rocky (1976)
Pretty solid
Home for the Holidays (1995, Starz)
The Ice Storm (1997)
Haven’t watched yet
Funny People (2009, Starz)
What’s Cooking? (2000)
Clunkers (don’t waste your time)
**
Episode Classics : The Middle
note : these were assembled from the Wifetime of Happiness blog - thank you!
Season 1: Episode 8 (Thanksgiving) – Thanksgiving
Season 2: Episode 9 (Thanksgiving II) – Thanksgiving
Season 3: Episode 10 (Thanksgiving III) – Thanksgiving
Season 4: Episode 8 (Thanksgiving IV) – Thanksgiving
Season 5: Episode 7 (Thanksgiving V) – Thanksgiving
Season 6: Episode 7 (Thanksgiving VI) – Thanksgiving
Season 7: Episode 8 (Thanksgiving VII) – Thanksgiving
Season 8: Episode 6 (Thanksgiving VIII) – Thanksgiving