With the holiday season in full swing, it’s time to have the fireplace going as you fill the space underneath that beautiful Christmas tree with delightful presents. That also means it’s the perfect time to dive back into some of your favorite Christmas movies. Favorite Christmas movies is a topic that is obviously incredibly subjective and has as much to do with films you grew up with as it does with movies you’ve recently seen. While 2024’s movies were up for consideration (and there are some lovely ones this year), none of them cracked the top 7 all-time list. That said, we still wanted to give some love to 2024’s new holiday films as well as some other wonderful films that weren’t in the top 7.
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Hallmark’s annual Countdown to Christmas would take an entire list of its own at this point, and this year’s offerings include Holiday Touchdown: A Chiefs Love Story, All I Need for Christmas, and Following Yonder Star. Netflix is also going big this year with several new Christmas films, including Lindsey Lohan’s Our Little Secret, Hot Frosty, and the Chad Michael Murray starring The Merry Gentlemen.
Disney+ has the must-see animated short An Almost Christmas Story, and if you love animation, you also might love Netflix’s That Christmas. There’s also the animated The Night Before Christmas in Wonderland (on Hulu and Prime Video) which features Emilia Clarke and Gerard Butler as the Queen of Hearts and Santa respectively.
As for some great movies that didn’t make the top 7, there are too many to list them all, but a few that stand out are The Holdovers, The Grinch (both the original animated film and the 2018 Illumination version), Candy Cane Lane, Home Alone, Jingle All The Way, The Holiday, A Christmas Story, National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, The Bishop’s Wife, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, Love Actually, Klaus, Scrooged, Spirited, Olaf’s Frozen Adventure, Mickey’s Once Upon A Christmas, and so many more. Also, Bluey’s Christmas Swim episode is a must too, though not a movie of course. Alright, with that now done, let’s get to the top 7 Christmas movies of all time.
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7. The Santa Clause
The Santa Clause now encompasses three films and a streaming series, and while I do love the second film as well, the original movie is still the one that stays in regular rotation every holiday season. Tim Allen’s performance as the curmudgeonly Scott Calvin is wonderful when paired with his adorable son Charlie (played by Eric Lloyd), who is the one person who truly believes his father can be the next Santa.
That father son relationship and the importance of family is what grounds the fun over the top North Pole aspects, including the ever so delightful Bernard (David Krumholtz). The franchise has introduced even more great elements along the way, but the magic in the original is hard to beat.
6. Frosty The Snowman
Speaking of magic, it’s clearly apparent in every moment of the beloved 1969 Christmas special Frosty the Snowman. Frosty the Snowman from Rankin and Bass first aired in 1969 and has since become a holiday animated staple. Narrated by the iconic Jimmy Durante, there’s just something so charming and true to the holiday about Frosty, and the film’s lovely animation still holds up all these years later.
Like others later on this list, Frosty the Snowman is beloved by fans of all ages (many of whom end up as Hocus Pocus fans), and yet characters like Professor Hinkle and their odd little quirks will still make longtime fans life (Busy, Busy, Busy!!!). So in honor of Frosty, let’s all say…Happy Birthday!
5. It’s a Wonderful Life
You are likely reacting to this in one of two ways. You might find yourself saying “ugh, of course it’s a Wonderful Life is on the list”, or you’re saying, “how is this not No. 1”. Both reactions are understandable, and to those I would say “of course it is, it’s great” and “it’s not what I’m always looking for in a Christmas movie”. I’ll explain.
It’s a Wonderful Life is heralded as a classic and it absolutely is. The 1946 film depicts an ever-relatable story of the importance of family and friends and how the foundation of the holiday is about how you can impact the lives of others. James Stewart’s iconic performance as George Bailey is bolstered by an equally great performance from Henry Travers as his guardian angel Clarence. It’s all wonderful (see what I did there), so why number 5? Well, there are just others on this list that have some of the same holiday magic and also have ways of capturing the attention of just about any age range, which is pretty important when the holidays roll around.
4. Miracle on 34th Street
An example of that in action is the 1947 classic Miracle on 34th Street. The film featured memorable performances from Maureen O’Hara, Edmund Gwenn, Natalie Wood, and John Payne, but it’s the central idea of there being a real Santa Claus and the divide between those who believe that it’s possible and those who don’t provides a bevy of opportunities or comedy and drama.
Other movies have and shows have worked the idea of there being a real Santa and only or two people believing it’s true, and Santa Clause even deals with this and that’s on this list. Thing is, Miracle on 34th Street plays this idea out in a genuine way with its heart and hope on its sleeve, and it’s partly why this classic has continued to stick around all these years later.
3. Elf
Moving ahead to something more modern but no less classic, it’s time for SANTA! 2003’s Jon Favreau directed Elf has become a modern Christmas classic, and while there are a host of reasons why, Will Ferrell’s performance as the lovable Buddy The Elf is one of the biggest. Buddy wears his heart on his sleeve at every turn, winning over even the most cynical of people in his quest to find his father and his place in the world.
Elf blends elements from other holiday classics but never lets it overshadow its strengths, and that’s being heartfelt, funny, and quite self-aware, blending it all into a Christmas tale that still holds up and actually manages to get more charming over time.
2. White Christmas
This top three is pretty interchangeable as far as top three status, so it took the slightest of edges to decide the order. That brings us to Irving Berlin and Michael Curtiz’ 1954 classic White Christmas, and few films seem to capture the picturesque vision of what Christmas is in our minds, and in an actual self-aware way.
A whole running theme of the film is what people expect the perfect Christmas to be and what the perfect Christmas actually is, and the same goes for the idea of family and finding that in the places you least expect. That’s all told through and between songs that have retained their timeless charm and have become some of my favorites of the holiday, with songs like Count Your Blessings, What Can You Do With a General, Snow, and of course the now iconic White Christmas. A classic through and through.
1. Charlie Brown Christmas
Well, that brings us to our number 1, and while a close call, A Charlie Brown Christmas walks away with the win. There have been some amazing animated holiday tales over the years, but since its debut in 1965, few have become as synonymous with the rollercoaster ride of the holidays as the Charlie Brown Christmas Special, and that’s partly thanks to its central premise of Charlie Brown attempting to figure out why he’s depressed during the happiest season of all.
The whole cast of lovable characters is handling the holidays in their own way, with often hilarious results, and yet it all collides in one of the all-time classic Linus moments as he puts the holiday and what it’s really about into wonderful perspective. As Charlie Brown looks to reconcile that Christmas isn’t what commercialism would have you think, that hope-filled ideal is personified with a tiny leaning Christmas Tree. Charlie Brown Christmas might just be 25 minutes, but that’s never mattered, and neither does other any qualifier you attempt to place on it. Charlie Brown Christmas is an all-time Christmas story, and in my opinion, the best Christmas movie of all time.
Alright, that’s our list! Let us know which Christmas movies are on your all time list on Threads @mattaguilarcb or on Bluesky @knightofoa!
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