NORTH POLE—This is—as the old Andy Williams’ song goes—“the most wonderful time of the year.” Or, at least we can try to make it feel that way on this late December Saturday morning when many across the U.S. will celebrate the Christmas holiday. A crackling fire, the sounds of children playing, a family dinner and a glass of Christmas cheer add to the joy of the day, but it’s nonetheless possible to rejoice in the day in any of a number of ways on this final holiday of the year.

If you haven’t overdone the holiday movies this year—which is a distinct possibility given the rise of the Grinch-like omicron variant—another good way to mark the day is to watch one of the many great holiday movies that seem to proliferate the airwaves and streaming platforms this time of year.

The risk, of course, is that even in the happiest and cheeriest families there’s going to be a debate about the most memorable holiday movies and perhaps even what constitutes a holiday movie (don’t even get us started on “Die Hard,” a “movie set at Christmas, but not a Christmas movie.”)







To settle this debate about the best holiday movies, we went to Google, the well-known and omniscient critic of all things important, and came up with a few lists that rose to the top of the search results. Read ‘em and weep, as they say.

The Rotten Tomatoes’ movie review site weighed in with its “The Best Christmas Movies of All Time” list, which digs deep, very deep, to come up with 65 holiday movies worth mentioning.

After wading through some of the chaff here—no offense, but does anyone have 2003’s “Bad Santa” with Billy Bob Thornton on their must-see Christmas list—the top of the list is rounded out with a few of the holiday classics. This would be “Holiday Inn” at No. 3 and “Miracle on 34th Street” at No. 2. And, no surprise here, “It’s a Wonderful Life” claims the No. 1 spot on the Rotten Tomatoes rundown.

But maybe you’re not a fan of the Rotten Tomatoes’ ratings. No problem, we’ve got you covered with perhaps a more intellectual ranking from Town & Country magazine, in its “The Best Classic Christmas Movies of All Time” list.

Not timidly, the review notes that, “If you go through the holidays without watching at least one of these films, you might just be the Grinch...”







The usual suspects dot Town & Country’s unranked list—“Rudolph, The Red-Nosed Reindeer” (1964), “National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation” (1989) and “A Charlie Brown Christmas” (1965)—but there’s also the somewhat-forgotten-today “White Christmas,” the 1954 Irving Berlin classic starring Bing Crosby and Danny Kaye. This is always a good one to pair with a late-night fire and glass of good cheer.

Another view of holiday movies comes from the magazine Esquire, which earlier this month posted its list of “The 60 Best Christmas Movies of All Time.”

In its preamble to the main course, Esquire notes that “the holiday film is one of the rare genres of cinema that doesn't judge on the merit of prestige, but rather the potential to make your heart grow three sizes.”

Topping Esquire’s list is everyone’s favorite, “It’s a Wonderful Life,” which it ranks just above “National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation” and “A Christmas Story” from 1983, “a beloved nostalgia-soaked saga of nine-year-old Ralphie Parker (Peter Billingsley), who wants nothing more for Christmas than an air rifle,” as Esquire noted.





Appealing to all age groups, “A Charlie Brown Christmas” remains a holiday favorite, but the 1950s’ classic “White Christmas” seems to have fallen out of favor today.

The Grinch, Charlie Brown and even Rudolph are acknowledged on this list, but not until after a dozen or two other less notable holiday favorites.

But regardless of how these rankings overlap and/or contrast with yours, the bottom line is that there are more than enough holiday movies to keep one busy for the rest of the year. Our only advice, and as Esquire also writes, “the best kind of Christmas movie, rather, is something that enters your senses in new and surprising ways and then lingers the rest of the year. Remember when Little Zuzu [Bailey] heard an angel gets its wings at the end of ‘It's a Wonderful Life?’”

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year 2022!