The 25 Best Christmas Movies and Shows to Brighten Your Holiday Season

I love Christmas. Baby Jesus, lights on trees and homes brightening dreary dark days, my hubby’s peanut brittle, carols and crooners, and the special movies and TV shows. Because I’m such a big fan of Christmas movies and shows, I wanted to share my top 25. You’ll find a lot of old movies here because I happen to adore so many of them. If you have Turner Classic Movies, the channel usually shows many of the classic Christmas movies multiple times during the holiday season. Most of the children’s shows are available streaming or for rent or purchase on Amazon.

Sit down with a cup of hot chocolate and enjoy one of these classic Christmas shows. They’re guaranteed to make your season a little more jolly.

1. It’s a Wonderful Life: Romance, cute kids, comedy, drama, and an uplifting message. This movie’s got it all. It’s not just my favorite Christmas movie but my favorite movie of all time. Jimmy Stewart and the radiant Donna Reed have chemistry that pops off the screen. Stewart tapped into the mental anguish at the heart of the plot not long after his service as a much-decorated aviator in World War II who lost most of his platoon. Fun fact: Ernie and Bert from Sesame Street were named after the cop and taxi driver in this movie.

2. Miracle on 34^th Street: Maureen O’Hara plays a single mom and a very young Natalie Wood is her precocious daughter. Neither believes in Santa until they meet the genuine Kris Kringle, who takes a job as a department store Santa.

3. The Shop Around the Corner: Hallmark didn’t invent the holiday romance. Here’s a rom-com from 1940 that inspired You’ve Got Mail. Jimmy Stewart and Margaret Sullavan play employees at a gift shop who can’t stand each other but are falling in love as anonymous pen pals.

4. Holiday Affair: Janet Leigh and Robert Mitchum smolder whenever they’re together, despite Leigh, a young widowed mother, being engaged to another man. Her son, played by Gordon Gebert, is adorable, and the scene in the police station with Harry Morgan of M*A*S*H is hilarious.

5. Christmas in Connecticut: You wanna know who was the 1940’s Candace Cameron Buré? The queen of Christmas movies in that era had to be Barbara Stanwyck. This is the first of three that made my list, and two of them feature her as a rather unethical journalist. In this one, she plays a Martha Stewart-type magazine columnist who writes about cooking elaborate meals and her idyllic life with her hubby and baby on a farm. The problem is she’s a single city gal who has trouble boiling water. Chaos ensues when her publisher invites a wounded soldier to spend Christmas on her mythical farm in Connecticut.

6. Meet John Doe: Another Stanwyck gem where she plays an ambitious journalist who invents a “John Doe” in her newspaper column who is so discouraged he plans to commit suicide on Christmas Eve. Enter the easy-going Gary Cooper, who agrees to play Mr. Doe. This dramedy is good and has typical Frank Capra themes of the little guy fighting the powers that be. But my favorite Stanwyck-Cooper movie is Ball of Fire, which is what Stanwyck always played.

7. Remember the Night: Stanwyck pairs up with Fred McMurray. He’s a by-the-book prosecutor with a heart and she’s a flirty shoplifter. They end up spending Christmas together in his hometown, he lightens up while she shows unexpected depth and sacrifice.

8. The Man Who Came to Dinner: Bette Davis and Monty Woolley star in this film adaptation of a hit play. Woolley plays an egotistical radio celebrity assisted by Davis. The abrasive star slips on icy steps to a midwestern home, breaks his hip, and gets stranded in the house, creating turmoil for all. His cutting wit contrasts with the unflappable Davis in this fast-paced comedy. Look for Billie Burkie from Wizard of Oz fame and Jimmy Durante, Ha cha cha!

9. It Happened on Fifth Avenue: Two homeless men move into a New York mansion after they think the wealthy owners are spending the winter in Florida. They draw others to stay for an extended holiday celebration, including the rich owner and his wayward daughter.

10. The Bishop’s Wife: Cary Grant is an angel. Sigh… David Niven plays a busy, conflicted pastor while Loretta Young is the neglected wife who is so lovely that she makes an angel almost wish he wasn’t one.

11. Elf: “The best way to spread Christmas cheer is singing loud for all to hear!” Will Ferrell unleashes his inner child on New York City and wins over dishy Zooey Deschanel and his naughty dad James Caan. They bond over helping Santa (Ed Asner) save Christmas. Narrated by Papa Elf Bob Newhart.

12. The Santa Clause and The Santa Clause 2: I put these two together because they’re similar and both fun. Tim Allen is the reluctant Santa in the original and then seeks out Elizabeth Mitchell, the reluctant Mrs. Claus, in the second.

13. Home Alone: Young Kevin (Macaulay Culkin) accidentally gets left at home for Christmas after his family leaves on vacation without him. He shows loads of ingenuity in fending off crooks Joe Pesci and Daniel Stern before his family makes it back home. And I love John William’s soundtrack.

14. Christmas Vacation: Gather around the tree for a string of jolly disasters. Chevy Chase as Clark Griswold wants an old-fashioned family Christmas at home.

15. A Christmas Carol: I adore the Patrick Stewart version, which is pretty much a word-for-word depiction of Charles Dickens’ classic Yuletide tale, Search for it on your smart TV. God bless us, every one!

16. Christmas With the Kranks: They’re skipping Christmas! After their daughter leaves home for the Peace Corps, Tim Allen and Jamie Leigh Curtis want to go on a cruise and avoid all the holiday traditions. Their neighbors object, then pitch in to make a merry time for the daughter who announces a last-minute surprise return home for Christmas with her new fiance.

17. A Christmas Story: You’ll shoot yer eye out! Ralphie becomes obsessed with his dream Christmas gift of a Red Rider BB gun.

18. Scrooged: Bill Murray is a jaded, cutthroat TV producer in this off-kilter version of A Christmas Carol. Carol Kane just about steals the show as the sadistic ghost of Christmas present.

19. How the Grinch Stole Christmas: The original 1966 TV version from legendary Looney Tunes director Chuck Jones is tops! Boris Karloff narrates and Thurl Ravenscroft (OG voice of Tony the Tiger) sings the funnest, meanest Christmas song ever.

20. The Little Drummer Boy: An orphaned drummer boy who has learned to hate humanity is transformed by meeting a baby in a manger.

21. Charlie Brown Christmas: The best TV soundtrack ever, the skating, the dance scene, Linus telling the Christmas story, Charlie Brown’s little tree, I love everything about this show, even as an adult.

22. Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer: My mom says that this was the first TV show I ever sat still for at age 2. When it was over, I cried so hard wanting to see it again that she says she almost called the TV station to ask them to air it again. Alas, born more than a decade before VHS players became common.

23. Santa Claus is Coming to Town: Narrated by Fred Astaire with Mickey Rooney voicing Kris Kringle, this fun little gem answers kids’ questions about Santa.

24. The Year Without Santa Claus: Mickey Rooney returns as the voice of Santa, who is worn out and planning to skip Christmas. Shirley Booth as Mrs. Claus sets out to change his mind. Look for the original minions helping Snow Mizer and Heat Mizer.

25. White Christmas: Bing Crosby and Danny Kaye star as entertainers and former soldiers who help their World War II leader by putting on a show at the veteran’s Vermont inn. And yes, Bing sings “White Christmas,” which Irving Berlin wrote for another movie, Holiday Inn, which stars Bing and Fred Astaire.

Did your favorite Christmas movie or TV show make my list? I’d love to know your top three!