The most wonderful time of the year brings with it some of the most wonderful feel-good movies of the year. Listed in the order of release, here are just 10 of the sleighful of Christmas movies delivering laughter, joy and goodwill to your living room. So, in between putting up the ornaments and yard decorations, cooking everyone’s favorite dishes or just watching football games by the fire this Christmas, throw on one of these chestnuts to help light up your holiday.
1. Miracle on 34th Street (1947)
Genres: Drama, Kids and Family, Comedy
Starring: Maureen O’Hara, John Payne, Edmund Gwenn, Natalie Wood
We can’t list every fantastic, black-and-white feel-good Christmas movie, but we can let this one stand in for the rest. In it, a man named Kris Kringle becomes the new Santa at Macy’s to the delight of all. He stirs up some trouble, however, when he claims to be the real Kris Kringle.
2. White Christmas (1954)
Genres: Holiday, Musical, Comedy, Romance
Starring: Bing Crosby, Danny Kaye, Rosemary Clooney
For a classic Hollywood holiday you can sing about, rewatch this feel-good Christmas musical about a group of singers visiting a small town who find a friend there in need. To help him out, they organize a miracle in the form of a good ole theatrical extravaganza.
3. A Christmas Story (1983)
Genres: Comedy Kids and Family, Holiday
Starring: Melinda Dillon, Darren McGavin, Peter Billingsley
This heartfelt, tongue-in-cheek take on Christmas nostalgia follows the escapades of a charmingly innocent, glasses-faced young boy eagerly awaiting the impending arrival of Christmas when he dreams of finding an air rifle under the tree. If only he can survive bullies, a cantankerous dad and a host of other foils long enough to make it there with his childhood innocence intact.
4. Scrooged (1988)
Genres: Fantasy, Comedy, Drama, Romance
Starring: Bill Murray, Karen Allen, John Forsythe, John Glover, Bobcat Goldthwait
Bill Murray’s movies are surprisingly feel-good despite that he usually plays a curmudgeon. That makes him the perfect guy to reinvent Charles Dickens’ classic misanthrope for the modern day. In this urban take on “A Christmas Carol”, he plays a cold and calculated businessman who, after firing a worker on Christmas Eve, is visited by three ghosts who try to reform him of his evil ways. And while we’re on the subject, we also recommend the Muppets version of Dickens’ classic too, called, appropriately, The Muppets Christmas Carol.
5. National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation (1989)
Genres: Holiday, Comedy
Starring: Chevy Chase, Beverly D’Angelo, Randy Quaid, Juliette Lewis, Diane Ladd, John Randolph
Always good for some reliable knee-slapping hilarity, the Griswolds are at it again, this time staying home for the holidays. And this vacation will be different, says the family patriarch and perennial optimist Clark. His perfectly planned holiday, however, is doomed from the start. In true National Lampoon style, the coal in the stocking this time comes in the form of the uninvited arrival of a hillbilly cousin and his family.
6. Home Alone (1990)
Genres: Comedy, Kids and Family
Starring: Macaulay Culkin, Joe Pesci, Daniel Stern, Catherine O’Hara, John Heard
When young Kevin McAllister’s family accidentally leaves him behind as they fly off to celebrate Christmas together, he thinks he’s just received a Christmas miracle. That feeling quickly vanishes, however, when two burglars break in, leaving him to defend his household by himself.
7. The Santa Clause (1994)
Genres: Fantasy, Comedy, Drama, Kids and Family
Starring: Tim Allen, Judge Reinhold, Wendy Crewson, Eric Lloyd
This deceptively heartwarming film asks: if you killed Santa, who would take his place? Why, you, of course! That’s what a divorced dad finds out when he accidentally mows down a man in a Santa suit and he and his son suddenly appear at the North Pole to learn that he is now the new Santa. The next day, he thinks it’s all a dream, but that white beard he’s suddenly growing reveals something quite different.
8. How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2000)
Genres: Comedy, Kids and Family, Fantasy
Starring: Jim Carrey, Taylor Momsen, Jeffrey Tambor, Christine Baranski
Jim Carrey brings Dr. Seuss’s favorite character-to-hate to life to learn for all of us, once again, the true spirit of Christmas. He starts out stealing toys; then he steals our hearts.
9. Elf (2003)
Genres: Fantasy, Romance, Comedy, Kids and Family
Starring: Will Ferrell, James Caan, Bob Newhart, Ed Asner, Mary Steenbirgen, Zooey Deschanel
A man raised in the North Pole as Santa’s tallest of elves travels to New York to find his real parentage. When the father he discovers turns out to be the opposite of jolly, he tries to turn that paternal frown upside-down with some genuine Christmas cheer.
10. The Polar Express (2004)
Genres: Comedy, Fantasy, Kids and Family, Animation
Starring: Tom Hanks, Leslie Zemeckis, Eddie Deezan
Based on the Chris Van Allsburg children’s book, this story follows the adventures of a skeptical young boy traveling by train to the North Pole. Along the way, he learns inspiring lessons about the power of belief.