The Ultimate List of Must-See Christmas Movies

Disclosure of Material Connection: Some of the links in this post are “affiliate links.” This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will add value to my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”I am a Christmas movie fanatic, I have been all of my life. I love the classics and some of the newer movies and yes, I even watch some of the often-cheesy Hallmark Channel Christmas movies. In talking with friends, I have found out that many people have never watched some of my favorite must-see Christmas movie so I thought I’d make a list and ask for your input, in case I overlooked your favorite.

Just for Kids

• Mickey’s Once Upon A Christmas-Disney’s biggest stars shine in a magical, heartwarming movie sure to become a holiday classic! Mickey, Minnie, and their famous friends Goofy, Donald, Daisy, and Pluto gather to reminisce about love, magic, and surprises in three wonder-filled stories of Christmas past. My boys were 6 and 4 when this movie came out. We still watch it every year!
• Mickey’s Twice Upon a Christmas-Find out who’s been naughty and who’s been nice in this spectacular all-new Christmas celebration. Santa Claus joins Mickey, Minnie, and all their pals in an original movie about discovering the true joys of Christmas.
• Barney: Night Before Christmas – The Movie-Spend the most wonderful time of the year with your favorite purple pal in this “dino-mite” Christmas classic. Join Barney and friends as they take a musical journey to the North Pole where they are greeted as special guests at Santa’s Workshop. This movie was a favorite of my kids years ago and we still sing some of the songs while baking Christmas cookies!
• Arthur: Arthur’s Perfect Christmas-Everyone’s favorite aardvark gives kids a new spin on seasonal traditions this one-hour special showing children many ways to celebrate “the holidays.” Plans are underway in Elwood City for the best holidays ever as Arthur D.W. their family and friends make preparations for perfect gifts perfect parties and perfect family traditions for Christmas Hanukkah Kwanzaa and even “Baxter Day” (Buster and his mom’s special celebration). The only problem is just like in real life perfection is hard to attain and things start to fall apart. This is a fun movie, with great music. We used it in our homeschooling to introduce winter holidays from other cultures.

For the Whole Family

1. A Charlie Brown Christmas 50th Anniversary: Deluxe Edition-This is the quintessential family Christmas special.
2. Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas-Every who down in Who-ville likes Christmas a lot, but the Grinch who lived just north of Who-ville did NOT! So the cuddly as a cactus Grinch (with termites in his smile and garlic in his soul) tries to wipe out Christmas for the cheerful Who-villains, only to discover: maybe Christmas, he thought doesn’t come from as store. Maybe Christmas perhaps means a little bit more!
3. The Year Without a Santa Claus -This is my favorite Rankin-Bass Christmas special-who doesn’t love Heat Miser and his brother?
4. The Original Christmas Classics Gift Set-Do you remember when…Santa asked Rudolph to guide his sleigh, Frosty magically came to life on Christmas Eve, and Kris Kringle became Santa Claus?  I have written about this set multiple times over the years. This is a must-own, must watch set of classic family Christmas movies.
5. The Santa Clause: 3 Movie Collection-See how it all began with Disney’s original classic, and hop on Santa’s sleigh for an exciting ride filled with belly laughs and family fun. Christmas gets a little nuttier when Scott Calvin unknowingly inherits the role of the legendary St. Nick. His ordinary life snowballs into a hysterical series of outrageous events as he fills out his Santa suit, meets the future Mrs. Claus and faces his ultimate test against the mischievous Jack Frost. Personally, I love 1 & 2 and have little use for 3 but the collector in me thinks everyone should have the trilogy.
6. The Muppet Christmas Carol-One of my favorite versions of the Dickens classic.
7. The Polar Express-A new Christmas classic!

For the Tweens, Teens and Adults

1. It’s A Wonderful Life (Two-Disc Collector’s Set)-George Bailey has so many problems he is thinking about ending it all – and it’s Christmas! As the angels discuss George, we see his life in flashback. As George is about to jump from a bridge, he ends up rescuing his guardian angel, Clarence. Clarence then shows George what his town would have looked like if it hadn’t been for all of his good deeds over the years. Will Clarence be able to convince George to return to his family and forget suicide? The purist in me says, watch the black and white version! IMHO this is the best Christmas movie ever made!
2. Elf -The new Christmas classic is a must-see every year. “Buddy the Elf, what’s your favorite color?”
3. Miracle on 34th Street-Six year old Susan has doubts childhood’s most enduring miracle Santa Clause. Her mother told her the “secret” about Santa a long time ago, so Susan doesn’t expect to receive the most important gifts on her Christmas list. But after meeting a special department store Santa who’s convinced he’s the real thing, Susan is given the most precious gift of all – something to believe in. Another black and white classic!
4. Unaccompanied Minors-While this may not be a Christmas Classic, it is a fun Christmas themed movie that I think your tweens and teens will enjoy.
5. Home Alone-Eight-year-old Kevin McCallister (Macaulay Culkin) has become the man of the house, overnight! Accidentally left behind when his family rushes off on a Christmas vacation, Kevin gets busy decorating the house for the holidays. But he’s not decking the halls with tinsel and holly. Two bumbling burglars are trying to break in, and Kevin’s rigging a bewildering battery of booby traps to welcome them! Laugh out loud funny!
6. National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation (Special Edition)-The undisputed gem of the National Lampoon ‘Vacation’ series, the plot can be summed up very simply: idealistic family man Clark Griswold wants to host the perfect old-fashioned fun family Christmas. As all of us idealistic family men have discovered, there is no such thing as a perfect holiday, and that just about sums it up. The appeal of this film is that we can all relate to the disasters that holidays can become, regardless of how well-meaning we are and how hard we work to achieve them. I haven’t watched this movie in years, I need to see it again.
7. White Christmas (Diamond Anniversary Edition)-I recently watched this movie for the first time ever. The cast was amazing but I found the story a bit slow. The fact that the same musical numbers were re-hashed several times made it a bit boring and redundant to me.
8. A Christmas Story: 30th Anniversary (BD/ DVD) -Personally I am not a fan of this movie BUT I know a lot of people are so…I am including it in the list.

Did I miss your favorite movie? I know I left some out-even some of my favorites because this post was just getting too long! Let me know in the comments which movies I missed or even which ones on this list are your favorites.