15 Christmas Films To Watch This Christmas

One of my favourite things to do at Christmas time is to curl up in bed or on the sofa with a cosy blanket and a Christmas movie. It never fails to get me in to the Christmas spirit, and there are so many films that bring up waves of nostalgia for my childhood Christmases.

I have a bunch of films I love to watch every year, and as more of us are spending more time than ever at home, relying on home entertainment to pass the time, it seemed like a good time to talk about some of my favourites with you guys.

Here are 15 Christmas films I think everyone should watch this Christmas:

Santa Claus the Movie

Santa Claus the Movie is an eighties classic. It was released the year I was born, so I grew up watching it every Christmas, and it wouldn't be Christmas without watching it at least half a dozen times. It's the story of Santa Claus through the ages until the 'modern day' eighties, when two children from New York team up with Santa and his elf (Dudley Moore) to save Christmas from a greedy, corrupt toy maker (John Lithgow). I love the bad eighties effects and film quality, and the music makes me so nostalgic for my childhood. It's the best!

The Muppets' Christmas Carol

Everyone knows the story of A Christmas Carol, but you haven't lived unless you've seen the Muppets' version of the Dickensian classic. It stars Gonzo as the narrator, Kermit and Miss Piggy as Bob and Emily Cratchit, and a brilliant Michael Caine as the cold, unfeeling (and badly dressed- gasp!) Ebeneezer Scrooge. It's one of the best Christmas movies ever, and my favourite adaptation of A Christmas Carol. I've been watching it every Christmas since I was seven, and it doesn't feel like Christmas until I've given it it's first play of the season.

The Santa Clause

Scott Calvin (Tim Allen) becomes Santa Claus when he puts on the suit of the Santa who falls off his roof on Christmas Eve. Everyone he knows thinks he has lost his mind as he transforms in to a sarcastic, dry-humoured Santa- especially his ex-wife and her partner who become concerned for their young son's safety and well being. The boy believes in his Dad even when all the adults don't, and it's basically a story to remind you of the importance of believing. This is another Christmas film I loved growing up, and I often watch it on Christmas Eve as it never fails to get me in to the Christmas spirit.

The Snowman

Is there anything more festive than the classic Christmas cartoon, The Snowman? The soundtrack takes me straight back to childhood Christmas Eves every single time I hear it, and the animated movie is just magical. It's about a little boy who builds a snowman, which comes to life one snowy night. He gives it a tour of his house, and then they fly to the North pole to meet Santa and party with snowmen from around the world. I've always loved the scenes where the snowman tries on different fruit for his nose, and dances with other snowmen at the North Pole, but the ending still gets me every time.

Home Alone

Is it even Christmas if you haven't watched Home Alone at least once over the holidays? It's a Christmas classic! It's another film I grew up watching every year, and I only need to hear the opening bars of the theme tune to feel festive. (It has the best soundtrack)! If you've been living under a rock your whole life, Home Alone is about an eight-year-old boy, Kevin McCallister (Macaulay Culkin), who accidentally gets left home alone when his family take a Christmas vacation to Paris. At first he enjoys his freedom, but then a pair of burglars set their sights on his home, so he takes some pretty sadistic steps to defend himself and his home from them on Christmas Eve. It's brilliant. Plus, it stars John Candy, so how can you go wrong?

Home Alone 2: Lost in New York

The sequel to Home Alone is just as good as the first, except this time Kevin boards the wrong plane as his family travel to Florida for Christmas, and ends up in New York instead. He does what any kid would do in New York: sight sees, visits a toy shop, checks in to the biggest suite in the Plaza, and orders a shit ton of room service. All is well until the concierge (played by Tim Curry) suspects something is amiss, and Kevin bumps in to the Wet Bandits, who've escaped from prison. (And let's not forget the cameo from Trump, ruining it for everyone). He takes a photo of the bandits robbing the toy store, and lures them to his uncle's empty house, where he gets up to his old tricks to keep them from killing him. It's nineties comedy at its best.

Christmas With the Kranks

Depressed because their daughter has gone away and won't be home for Christmas, Luther and Nora Krank (Tim Allen and Jamie Lee Curtis) decide to skip Christmas and go away on a cruise. Their Christmas-obsessed friends and neighbours are horrified, refuse to accept their Christmas sabbatical, and are relentless in harassing them to change their minds. It all comes to a head on Christmas Eve when their plans change, and of course, being a Disney movie, they all learn the true meaning of Christmas. It's the perfect Christmas movie if you enjoy cheesy humour and acting. My favourite bit is the supermarket scene with Jamie Lee Curtis and the Hickory Honey Ham!

The Family Stone

The Family Stone is such an underrated Christmas film I rarely see people talk about in these kind of blog posts. It's about a large, dysfunctional family coming together for Christmas. The eldest son (Dermot Mulroney) brings his uptight girlfriend (Sarah Jessica Parker) to meet the family for the first time, but they don't like her, and things get awkward. You can't help but cringe at her awkwardness and ignorance around them. The only person who gives her a chance is the youngest son (Luke Wilson), who sees in her what the others don't, and helps to break her out of her shell, while her asshole of a boyfriend starts getting closer to her sister (Clare Danes). The Mum (Diane Keaton) has cancer, which is why tensions are so high, and naturally everything falls apart over Christmas. It sounds awful, but it's actually a great romantic comedy, and one of my favourite Christmas films ever.

The Holiday

The Holiday is another of my favourite festive romantic comedies. It's about two women (Kate Winslet and Cameron Diaz) who swap houses in London and L.A. for the holidays to escape from their heartbreak. They both meet local guys (Jack Black and Jude Law) who are just the guys they need to help them heal, and new relationships begin to blossom. It's such a feel-good Christmas movie, and the perfect film to curl up on the sofa with on a dark December evening.

Miracle on 34th Street (90s edition)

I've never seen the older versions of Miracle on 34th Street (despite having one on DVD), but I adore the nineties remake. It stars Richard Attenborough as Kris Kringle who believes himself to be Santa Claus. He gets a job working as the Santa Claus for a New York department store, and takes it upon himself to make believers out of his boss (Elizabeth Perkins) and her little girl (Mara Wilson), who don't believe in Santa. Of course, the adults believe he's senile, and a rival department store tries to set him up to look like a crazy old man. Kris has to defend his existence in court and make people believe in him in time for Christmas, with the help of the little girl, and a handsome Dylan McDermott. It's a wonderful family Christmas film, and it never fails to give me all the feels.

Little Women (1994)

Little Women is a coming-of-age story about four adolescent sisters Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy March, and their friend and neighbour, Theodore 'Laurie' Laurence, growing up in the 1860s during the American Civil war. It begins at Christmas time, and has some beautiful Christmas and wintry scenes throughout the film that'll melt your heart, such as when Beth is given her piano, and their father returns home from hospital for Christmas after being injured in the war. The 1994 version with Winona Ryder, Clare Danes, Kirsten Dunst, and Christian Bale is my favourite version of Little Women, and one of my all time favourite films. It's so lovely and heart-warming. It's far better than the 2019 version, in my opinion, although that's worth a watch, too.

Elf

Buddy the elf (Will Ferrell) discovers he was adopted and is actually human, so he travels to New York to find his biological Dad. Everyone thinks he's mentally challenged because he dresses like an elf and has a childlike demeanor, and he causes chaos wherever he goes. His Dad doesn't want to know him, but Buddy never gives up trying. He ends up working in a Christmas grotto at a department store and falls for his colleague, Jovie, (Zooey Deschanel). Together, they have to help restore the Christmas spirit to help Santa fly his sleigh.

Meet Me In St. Louis

Meet Me In St Louis is a classic Hollywood musical following a large, rich family living in St. Louis around the turn of the 1900s. Everyone is looking forward to The World's Fair and can't stop talking and singing about it, until their Dad shatters their worlds with news of a move to New York. The horror! It's not technically a Christmas film throughout, but it has some gorgeous Christmas scenes towards the end, and it's the film Judy Garland's Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas came from. It stars Judy Garland, Lucille Bremer, Margaret O' Brien, and Tom Drake, has some really catchy songs, and the fashion is so bad it's fabulous.

While You Were Sleeping

While You Were Sleeping always seems to get overlooked in favour of more well known Christmas films, but it's actually one of the best Christmas rom-coms. Lonely Lucy (Sandra Bullock), saves her handsome crush (Peter Gallagher), who gets pushed on to the train tracks and knocked unconscious on Christmas Day. He ends up in a coma, and at the hospital, a nurse mistakes her for his fianceé. She can't tell his family the truth, so she goes along with it, and they welcome her in to their family with open arms. She begins to get close to his brother, Jack (Bill Pullman), and it's obvious they both have feelings for each other- except they can't do anything about it because she's supposed to be engaged to his brother. It all unravels when coma guy wakes up, and as you can imagine, things get messy. If you love a good nineties Sandra Bullock rom-com, this is the one for you.

Love Actually

I first saw Love Actually at the cinema with my best friend the day after my sister and brother-in-law got married what seems like a million years ago, so it brings back some good memories. It's a Richard Curtis romantic-comedy about lots of different love stories at Christmas, that are all magically entwined. It stars some of our best British actors including Colin Firth, Hugh Grant, Alan Rickman, Emma Thompson, Liam Neeson, Keira Knightly, and so many more. It's a great comedy to watch with the girls, but one to maybe avoid watching with straight-laced older family members, as there is some nudity, and the humour is quite cheeky at times.

And those are some of my favourite Christmas films, I think everyone should watch at least once.

Also worth watching are About a Boy, Gremlins, A Christmas Carol (Disney version), Deck the Halls, The Holiday Inn, Jingle All The Way, Last Christmas, National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation, The Polar Express, The Snowman and the Snow Dog, and White Christmas.

What are your favourite Christmas films?