Christmas Movies – 24 Movies You HAVE To Watch

I love Christmas, and I love movies, and I just LOVE LOVE LOVE Christmas movies, so obviously, I just HAD to write up a Christmas movie list! This post was inspired by Katie from Life With KtKinnes and her incredible ebook The Ultimate Guide To A Successful Blogmas.

For those of you who haven’t heard of Blogmas before, it’s where you post either every day of December/every day up to the 24th of December/a selection of whatever you want! The content doesn’t have to be Christmas related; you can write about whatever takes your fancy. But I won’t go into detail. If you want ALL the information on how to make sure you have a Successful Blogmas, make sure you check out Katie’s guide. It covers absolutely everything you could possibly need to know. You will not be disappointed!

Right, back to movies. These are the Christmas Movies that I just have to watch every single year in order for it to feel like Christmas. Some of these films are absolute classics, and some a pretty cheesy! I do feel like I should warn you – some of these films are just downright terrible. But I still love them!

So here are 24 Christmas Movies to watch in the lead up to Christmas Day! Make yourself a hot chocolate, grab your blanket and let the stress of Christmas wash away as you immerse yourself in some Christmas cheese!

1. The Santa Clause

The first Christmas movie on my list is probably my ALL TIME favourite! Tim Allen plays a divorced dad who has his son over on Christmas Eve. Awoken by a noise, Allen and his son Charlie go outside to investigate where Allen accidentally makes Santa fall off the roof. Allen then becomes the new Santa.

2. The Santa Clause 2

They probably could have gone without making this movie, but they did, so of course, I watch it every year. In this one, Santa (played by Allen again) must find a wife (Mrs Claus); otherwise, he can no longer be Santa! It’s pretty terrible, but I love Tim Allen as Santa. And it’s nowhere near as bad as the 3rd movie, which you will NOT find on this list!

3. A Christmas Carol – 2009

This is referring to the 2009 Disney version of the Charles Dickens classic. It stars the talents of Jim Carey, Gary Oldman, Colin Firth and the late Bob Hoskins. I can’t remember when I first watched it, but for the last 5-6 years, I have to make sure I watch it at least once every festive period. It is so wonderfully done that I find myself getting lost in the animation. There’s also a scary part in there that makes me jump every single time without fail!

4. Home Alone

Macaulay Culkin gets left at home by ‘accident’ whilst the rest of his family goes on holiday.

Easily done, I’m sure 🙄 How do you not realise that you’ve left your child at home? Even so, I LOVE this movie.

5. Home Alone 2 – Lost In New York

Macaulay Culkin gets lost in New York.

Like, how would you even get on the wrong plane? There is no way the airport staff would let you get on the plane. This film also features a cameo by Trump, who gives Kevin incorrect directions in the hotel. He tells Kevin to go left when actually it’s right.

This is actually one of my ALL TIME favourite movies.

6. Elf

Will Ferrell plays Buddy, a human who was raised by one of Santa’s Elves at the North Pole. Buddy finds out that he is human and that his father lives in New York. So he goes off on a journey to find him, spreading his Christmas cheer everywhere he goes. What on Earth could go wrong? It’s a sweet, innocent, festive movie that, at the time of writing this, was voted the second-best Christmas movie ever.

7. The Grinch

The one I’m referring to is the 2018 version with Benedict Cumberbatch. I think we know the story of the green ‘Who’ whose heart is two sizes too small. Personally, I feel like this version had a funny and updated feel to it. I did a bit of research, and according to Wikipedia, it grossed over $511 million worldwide! It was also the highest-grossing holiday film of all time!

8. The Christmas Chronicles

A Netflix special, this one! A girl tries to catch Santa on camera by setting up a trap for him. Santa manages to escape, but she and her older brother (who obviously doesn’t believe in Santa, but she blackmailed into helping her) both hide in his sleigh. Santa ends up crashing his sleigh, and the reindeer all flee, and CHRISTMAS IS RUINED! It’s up to the siblings to try and save the day. Santa is played by Kurt Russell and was such a hit that they’ve released a second one, which I plan to watch.

9. A Christmas Prince

This film is pure CHEESE! An aspiring journalist called Amber goes abroad to Aldovia to get the scoop on the new Prince who is in line to be King. She’ll go to any lengths to get her story, even snooping the castle. It’s cheesy and completely unrealistic, but who cares?

10. A Christmas Prince – The Royal Wedding

Surprise surprise! Amber and the Prince/King fell in love – awww. Now they’re planning a wedding, but Amber’s simple tastes are not in keeping with the Royal wedding planners.

11. A Christmas Prince – A Royal Baby

First comes love, then marriage, then a baby! I had to Google this one because I really couldn’t remember what happened apart from the baby. Apparently, Amber must save her family and kingdom by unwrapping a monarchy mystery.

It’s terrible.

I love it.

12. Holidate

This is a very new one, which actually came out this year. It stars Emma Roberts, who is fed up with being the only single one at all the family events. By chance, she meets a cute guy, and they decide to be each other’s dates at all family events for the whole year. No emotions, no love, no sexy time, just friends being each other’s dates. I think we can all guess what happens at the end of this one!

13. The Polar Express

This film is just so Christmasy but also a bit odd. A young boy, no longer sure if he believes in Santa, hears the Christmas train on Christmas Eve after going to bed. Obviously, he gets on the train (why wouldn’t you?) and takes an extremely bizarre trip to the North Pole with Tom Hanks.

Bizarre but festive and sure to put you in the Christmas spirit!

14. Love Actually

This film follows the lives of numerous people and couples in the lead up to Christmas, many of whom are all connected in some way. There are far too many famous people starring in this to list! It came out in 2003 and has become a festive favourite for all since then.

Side note – Does anyone else actually really not like the character that Keira Knightly plays? Also, I still HAVE NOT forgiven Snape for what he did to Emma Thompson.

15. Die Hard

Yes, it is a Christmas movie.

16. The Holiday

The holiday follows the lives of two women who are heartbroken shortly before Christmas. One lives in LA, the other in Surrey. To get over the heartache, they list their homes on a ‘House Swap Holiday’ website and move into each other’s houses literally the day after.

It stars Kate Winslet, Cameron Diaz, Jude Law (who is honestly the most loveable character in the film and so damn sexy!) and Jack Black. It was odd to see Jack Black in this type of movie, where he doesn’t play a loser goofball, but he pulls the character off perfectly.

17. Jack Frost

I feel like this one gets forgotten about! Jack Frost (played by Michael Keaton) is the lead singer in a band trying to get his big break and ends up missing lots of family events which leaves his son angry and annoyed. Jack gives his son a harmonica that he got the day he was born and tells him it’s magical. Unfortunately, Jack misses yet another event that he promises to be at because he gets called to a last-minute gig which could make his career. He realises his mistake and decides to drive back home to be with his family on Christmas. Unfortunately, he gets caught in a storm, crashes his car and dies.

A year later, his son plays the harmonica after building a snowman in the garden, and the snowman comes to life as HIS DAD.

18. The Muppet Christmas Carol

Another Christmas Carol movie. I couldn’t miss this classic off!

19. The Princess Switch

Oh, my goodness. Honestly, this movie is terrible. It stars Vanessa Hudgens and Vanessa Hudgens. Yes, she plays two parts – Stacey, a baker from Chicago and Margaret, a Duchess who is about to marry a prince. The two ‘bump’ into each other and decide to switch lives for a few days. What could go wrong?

At first, I didn’t think I could get past Vanessa Hudgens’s frightful attempt at an English accent, but I persevered. And then they made a second one, so obviously, I watched that one too!

20. Christmas Inheritance

Another terrible movie that I cannot stop watching every Christmas. An ambitious heiress will only inherit her father’s gift business once she has completed a simple task set out by her father. She travels to a small town to complete the task, but a snowstorm strands her at the town Inn. She’s forced to work to pay for her room and, in the process, discovers the true gift of Christmas. And falls in love. Obviously.

21. A Wish For Christmas

Gretchen Wieners is a talented but overlooked junior web designer for a marketing company who rarely speaks out. After having her business idea stolen by her boss, she makes a wish to the Santa at the work Christmas party to have the courage to stand up for herself. Little does she know, this Santa is the real deal, and her wish is granted for 48 hours. She ends up going on a journey of self-discovery (obviously!), and everything works out perfectly.

22. A Bad Moms Christmas

3 Moms decide that they have had enough of trying to do everything and please everyone over the festive period, especially their own mothers. So, they choose to do Christmas how they want to do it. You can imagine how that goes down.

Silly and fun, but I’m sure we can all relate to the overwhelmed feeling at Christmas.

23. Arthur Christmas

Arthur is Santa’s son, whose job is to answer all the children’s letters to Santa. He is kindhearted but clumsy. He happens to notice that Santa has left behind one present, so he embarks on a mission to make sure that the present is delivered so that the child doesn’t think that they have been forgotten.

24. The Nightmare Before Christmas

Technically, The Nightmare Before Christmas is a Halloween film, BUT it contains the word Christmas, and it has a Christmasy vibe, AND it’s just an awesome movie, so I had to include it, didn’t I?

Christmas Movies That I Didn’t Enjoy

Unfortunately, there are some Christmas movies that I just didn’t enjoy.

Fred Claus – Boring, I couldn’t even finish watching it! Vince Vaughn is the Brother of Santa and has to help him at the North Pole to pay back a debt.

Jingle All the way – Not as good as I remember from when I was a kid!

It’s A Wonderful Life (sorry Pete) – I usually love old movies (my favourite film of all time is Some Like It Hot), but I just found this film boring and unenjoyable. Clearly, I’m in the minority as it has been voted the best Christmas movie ever.

Conclusion

And there are my absolute favourite Christmas movies ever! I don’t generally like cheesy movies, but for some reason, I like my Christmas movies to be as cheesy as possible. The cheesier, the better, in my opinion, and a lot of the above films definitely tick that box!

You’ll notice I haven’t included any of the Harry Potter movies. This is because HARRY POTTER IS FOR LIFE, NOT JUST FOR CHRISTMAS!

Do you agree with the above Christmas movies? What are your favourites?

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Cover Photo by joshua herrera on Unsplash