Sure, movies are fun to watch year-round. But there’s just something about watching holiday movies that is an absolutely unmatched experience. I have no clue how they’re so addicting, but there’s no denying that they are. Show me one person who hasn’t seen and/or at least knows the plot lines of Elf and Home Alone. Funny that you can’t. In short, holiday movies reign supreme.
This year, I personally will not be watching anything besides holiday movies from now until January 1. I can’t wait to curl up with a cup of hot cocoa and the coziest blanket I can possibly find and watch everything from White Christmas to the new Lindsay Lohan movies. If you’re with me, I’ve rounded up the best holiday movies that’ll keep you entertained all season long. It’s time to get comfy and tune in:
1. A Merry Little Ex-Mas
Alicia Silverstone back on my screen in 2025 is exactly the holiday miracle I needed to close out the year. The rom-com follows Kate, who’s determined to give her kids one last perfect Christmas with their father before their divorce is finalized. But her plans are quickly derailed when her ex shows up to the festivities with a much younger girlfriend in tow. Kate juggles the chaos of the holiday, her divorce, and a new potential romance with a younger man, and the result is equal parts hilarious and heartwarming.
2. Happiest Season
If you’ve ever had a nightmare holiday with the in-laws, you’ll love the laugh-out-loud comedy Happiest Season. It follows Abby, who is planning on proposing to her girlfriend, Harper, when they go to Harper’s family’s home for the holidays. That is, until Harper confesses she hasn’t come out to her conservative parents, and the two have to pretend to be roommates the entire time.
3. The Family Man
In my household, The Family Man is a go-to holiday movie—and I’m always shocked by how many people haven’t seen it. Nicolas Cage stars as Jack, a cutthroat New York businessman who forces his employees to work through Christmas Eve for a big deal. But after a strange encounter, he wakes up on Christmas morning in an alternate reality—married to his college sweetheart and raising two kids in the suburbs. As Jack adjusts to his new life, he realizes he may be far richer as a father than he is on Wall Street.
4. A Very Jonas Christmas Movie
All my holiday wishes have officially come true—the Jonas Brothers are back together for a Disney holiday movie. In A Very Jonas Christmas Movie, the brothers might be thriving as a band, but behind the scenes, they’re more dysfunctional than ever. When a bit of Christmas magic leaves them stranded and unable to get home in time for the holidays, they have to put their egos aside and work together to make it back to their families.
5. Champagne Problems
A new Netflix holiday movie with the same name as a Taylor Swift song? Oh, I’m sat. Though this one takes Champagne Problems a little more literally. Sydney Price, an ambitious American businesswoman, travels to Paris to close a holiday-season deal to acquire a French champagne company. After a whirlwind night with a mysterious Frenchman named Henri, she discovers he’s actually the owner’s son, who’s trying to stop the sale. Cue the sparkling tension, romantic drama, and Parisian charm.
6. Let It Snow
Inspired by Love Actually, Let It Snow weaves together multiple holiday stories. When a massive snowstorm hits on Christmas Eve, a pop star is stuck on a train with a chatty high schooler, another teen realizes he’s in love with his best friend, and two friends navigate unrequited crushes and holiday chaos. All of their stories collide at one magical holiday party.
7. A New York Christmas Wedding
Jennifer is on the precipice of one of the best days of her life. On Christmas Day, she’s marrying her fiancé. But when a Christmas angel visits her the night before—showing her a different reality where she listened to the feelings she had about her childhood best friend, Gabrielle, who has passed away—her entire world shifts. She’s forced to confront her identity, reckon with regret, and discover what love really means to her.
8. A Nonsense Christmas with Sabrina Carpenter
If you missed Sabrina Carpenter’s Christmas special last year, this is your sign to stream it immediately. Whether or not your whole family is Sabrina stans, there’s something for everyone: celebrity cameos, witty skits, and, of course, her unreal vocals. It’s festive, funny, and full of holiday sparkle.
9. The Holdovers
Though it only came out a few years ago, The Holdovers already feels like a modern classic. A grumpy prep school teacher gets stuck supervising a handful of students who have nowhere to go over Christmas break. Despite his rough exterior, an unexpected bond forms between him, one of the troublemaker students, and the school’s cafeteria manager. It’s the kind of bittersweet, heartwarming story that perfectly captures the spirit of the holidays.
10. The Family Stone
Anything starring my queen SJP is a must-watch, but The Family Stone is peak holiday cinema. When uptight businesswoman Meredith heads home with her boyfriend to meet his family for Christmas, her polished ways immediately clash with their laid-back, free-spirited vibe. After a blowout at dinner, she calls in her sister for support—only for sparks to fly between her sister and her boyfriend. It’s messy, emotional, and an absolute holiday staple.
11. Falling for Christmas
The fact that this movie is Lindsay Lohan’s return to acting is really all you need to know about Falling for Christmas. But alas, if that isn’t enough to convince you to watch, LiLo playing a spoiled heiress who gets amnesia and falls for a local ski lodge owner in Aspen definitely should be. It’s a heartfelt story perfect for a good ol’ comfort watch of the season.
12. Boxing Day
When British author Melvin finally takes his fiancée Lisa home to London for Christmas, she realizes she’s been missing out on an entire part of his life. Between run-ins with ex-girlfriends, family drama, and all sorts of chaos, they’re forced to see if their relationship can hold up. It’s absolutely hilarious and a must for your holiday watchlist.
13. Four Christmases
In this violently underrated holiday comedy, couple Brad and Kate must spend Christmas Day trudging around to a quartet of family get-togethers after their exotic vacation plans unexpectedly fall through. While Brad counts the hours until he can escape the wild relatives, Kate starts to wonder about her own choices and considers whether her family members are too much to handle after all.
14. Elf
Truly, what is Christmas time without watching Will Ferrell dressed as an elf? Nothing! In this beloved classic, Buddy was accidentally transported to the North Pole as a toddler and raised to adulthood among Santa’s elves. So, once he becomes an adult, he travels to New York in search of his real father and ends up creating some chaos along the way.
15. Our Little Secret
Out November 27, Our Little Secret follows two resentful exes who realize that they’re going to have to spend their Christmas under one roof—because their new partners are siblings. As they try to hide their little secret from their overbearing mother-in-law—and their partners—they start to realize that they might not be so different after all. I just know this is going to end up as yet another beloved Lindsay Lohan holiday movie.
16. The Polar Express
Yeah, the animation on this one is definitely outdated and super weird, but that doesn’t make The Polar Express any less of a classic. Based on the popular children’s book, a young boy is shocked on Christmas Eve when a mysterious train bound for the North Pole shows up outside his house. As he reckons with his skepticism for Santa Claus, he makes fast friends and learns the true meaning of Christmas.
17. It’s a Wonderful Life
George Bailey has so many problems, he’s thinking about ending it all. As George is about to jump from a bridge, right before Christmas, he rescues his guardian angel, Clarence. Clarence then shows George just what his town would have looked like if it hadn’t been for all of his small good deeds over the years. It’s a Wonderful Life is a must-see, classic holiday film—but be sure to have some tissues on hand.
18. Last Christmas
If you’ve ever watched and loved (and cried over, maybe) the TV show Fleabag, this is the holiday movie just for you. Nothing seems to ever go right for Kate, a young, frustrated Londoner who works as an elf in a year-round Christmas shop. But things take a turn for the better when she meets Tom, a handsome charmer who seems too good to be true… and he just might be.
19. Love Actually
Truly, what would this world be without the most beloved holiday rom-com movie ever? Love Actually follows nine intertwined stories in the weeks leading up to Christmas, examining the complexities of the one emotion that connects us all: love.
20. Something From Tiffany’s
Imagine your engagement ring ending up in the wrong hands, but it actually ends up being everything you needed. Rachel and Gary are a happy couple, but not quite ready for that big commitment, while picture-perfect couple Ethan and Vanessa are just about to make it official. When a simple mix-up of their gifts causes their paths to cross, it sets off a series of twists and turns that lead them where they’re truly meant to be.
21. The Nightmare Before Christmas
There’s a reason why there’s literally an entire ride at Disneyland dedicated to this go-to holiday classic. The film follows Jack Skellington, Halloweentown’s beloved pumpkin king, who has become bored with the same annual routine of frightening people in the “real world”—until he stumbles upon Christmastown, which gives him a new outlook on life.
22. A Christmas Story
Oh, fudge! Ralphie Parker is your typical youngster—he spends his days dodging a bully and dreaming about the perfect Christmas present. He’s constantly at odds with his cranky dad but finds comfort from his doting mother. It wouldn’t be a Christmas season without watching Ralphie’s antics (remember the leg lamp?!). This is a classic holiday movie that deserves a watch every year.
23. Die Hard
The two biggest questions of the holiday season are: 1. Is Santa real? And 2. Is Die Hard a Christmas movie? Well, I wholeheartedly believe it is (and a really good one for that matter). NYC policeman John McClane is visiting his estranged wife and two daughters on Christmas Eve, but the festivities are interrupted by a group of terrorists who take over the exclusive high-rise where they’re attending his wife’s office holiday party—and John quickly realizes that he’s the only one who can save them all.
24. The Holiday
No holiday season is complete without watching Cameron Diaz and Kate Winslet swap lives and end up living out the romances they never dreamed of having over the course of the holiday season. In this classic Nancy Meyers film, Iris and Amanda both have their hearts broken, so they decide to do a house swap for the holidays: Iris goes to Los Angeles, and Amanda goes to England. Suddenly, they find themselves immersed in new lives that they might not be quite ready to leave when the season is over.
25. White Christmas
Sometimes, you just want to curl up in front of a classic Christmas movie with one of the most iconic soundtracks of all time. Watching Bob Wallace and Phil Davis team up with sister act Betty and Judy Haynes to attempt to save a rural Vermont inn with their dazzling Christmas show will quite simply never get old. This one is a yearly must-watch (and sing along, of course).
26. Love Hard
As a girly working in the editorial world myself, this one hit close to home in the best way possible. After meeting her supposed perfect match on a dating app, an L.A. writer named Natalie learns she’s been catfished when she flies 3,000 miles to surprise him for Christmas. But obviously, because of the magic of the holidays, things end up going in quite an unexpected direction.
27. Single All The Way
Love the fake relationship romance trope? If yes, this is the movie for you. Peter is perpetually single, and each year when he returns home for the holidays, his family makes sure he knows it. To avoid pesky questions, Peter asks his best friend, Nick, to pretend to be his boyfriend when he returns home for the holidays. However, as the line between pretending and reality starts to blur, things get a little more complicated.
28. Home Alone
It’s almost criminal to not include Home Alone on pretty much any holiday movie list ever made. After the McCallisters mistakenly leave for the airport without their 8-year-old son Kevin, he awakens to an empty house and assumes his Christmas wish to have no family has actually come true. But when he realizes that two con men are planning to rob the residence, he alone must stop them and protect himself and the family home.
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As an Assistant Editor for The Everygirl, Lauren ideates and writes content for every facet of our readers’ lives. Her articles span the topics of must-read books, movies, home tours, travel itineraries—and everything in between. When she isn’t testing the latest TikTok trend, she can be found scouring Goodreads for new releases to feature on the site.
