I love The Holiday. The Hallmark movies are usually fairly predictable but can be enjoyable now and again. I did enjoy My Norwegian Holiday recently because the leads were very pleasant (and the grandmother was great too) and there were great scenes from Bergen Norway(which I have been to).
The funny thing about most Hallmark movies is that you can usually predict what’s going to happen in the end in the first few minutes!
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One of my (newish) favorites is Illumination presents Dr. Seuss’ The Grinch. Fred and Mr. Brinklebaum make the movie! And the goat. Can’t forget the goat!
Even before they’re written. 
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My H and I love to watch holiday movies! Our favorite classics are Love Actually, It’s a Wonderful Life and the George C. Scott Christmas Carol. We have also been adding some more recent ones to our list. The best of the ones we’ve watched in recent years are:
Love Hard- rom com, Netflix a young woman travels to meet a potential online match
Dash and Lily- rom com, Netflix this is an 8 episode series ( episodes are short) the
theme of which is Lily leaves a notebook with dares on a bookshelf in a bookstore
hoping the right guy finds it.
A Storm for Christmas- Netflix, 6 episode series. Follows several travelers stranded by a
winter storm at the airport in Oslo. Subtitled
This is Christmas- Amazon Prime, British rom com. A young man wants to try an experiment to invite fellow daily commuters to a holiday party.
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re-reading the thread reminded me of a movie we watch every few years at this time, “Going My Way”. Although not primarily a Christmas movie, one of the final scenes is set at Christmas-time and is an emotional ending. When I was growing up it was aired on TV this time of year.
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I second Family Switch on Netflix. My husband thought the baby as the dog was hilarious plus he loves the actor who played the neighbor/babysitter.
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Going My Way is a maternal family favorite. Great movie. Barry Fitzgerald is wonderful. And that scene in the church….oh, my.
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These plus…Christmas on Sesame Street. If you have never seen this one…it’s well worth seeing. I love it. And so does everyone in my family.
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I cannot watch Love Actually after reading Lindy West’s incredibly hilarious send-up of all the misogyny in it. There’s no doubt I would hate it. It turns out there is a fairly large cadre of folks that hate the movie; ran into them on “X”. I can’t say I do hate it since I haven’t seen it, but clearly from all reports, I would. Her essay is very worth reading.
Adding in case anyone is interested: I Rewatched Love Actually and Am Here to Ruin It for All of You
A Christmas Story (1983) and Die Hard (1988) are our household Christmas movies. I love them both.
The Man Who Invented Christmas (on Prime) - Quirky take on Charles Dickens writing of “A Christmas Carol”. At times it has a bit of a Downton Abbey vibe, though it takes place in London.
We watched Candy Cane Lane on Prime. Eddie Murphy and Tracee Ellis Ross and some very charming kids. And Pentatonix. We found it enjoyable. I love Tracee Ellis Ross no matter what she’s doing.
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For old black and white movie fans, TCM has “Christmas in Connecticut.” It’s better than most of the Hallmark movies.
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I have been wondering about that one. I may have to watch now.
Just watched “Spirited.” Thanks so much for the suggestion. Really enjoyed it.
Merry Christmas to all, and to all a Good…Afternoon!
(Hilarious)
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I don’t think anyone has mentioned Last Christmas yet. It has it all; beautiful London neighborhoods, decked out in extravagant Christmas decorations, Emma Thompson, Emilia Clarke (totally different from her Game of Thrones character), and best of all, George Michael songs.
Is it brilliantly written? Not really but the cast are all wonderful in their parts; who knew Emilia Clarke could sing? It’s on Amazon Prime if anyone wants to check it out.
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Muppet Christmas Carol is a family favorite–just the right mix of authentic Dickens dialogue and muppet zaniness.
One that our now-in their 30s kids liked was Mr. Willoughby’s Christmas Tree with Robert Downey Jr, Leslie Nielson, and Stockard Channing. It’s a lost show, with no play anywhere on TV or cable, no DVD available–we had it recorded on an old VHS tape that I digitized before it degraded any further (shhh don’t tell anyone I did that…) When we had to Zoom Christmas Eve in 2020, I put that up on the screen and we watched it together remotely–made that weird time feel a little more normal.
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I thought we had already watched Love Actually years ago. Well… actually I was mistaken 
We enjoyed it. Sure, there was some inappropriate office behavior etc. But considering some of the other atrocities we watch on TV, I could look beyond that.
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The following are pretty much our must-sees:
White Christmas
The Ref (don’t think it’s been mentioned—so funny)
Little Women (Winona Ryder version)
Christmas Vacation
Home Alone
Fred Claus
Miracle on 34th Street
Love, Actually
The Holiday
Office Christmas Party
Christmas Story
A Christmas Carol (Alister Sims version)
It’s a Wonderful Life
Christmas in Connecticut
The Bishop’s Wife
Polar Express (I don’t like but rest of family does)
Elf (also do not like but family does)
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I watch lots of Hallmark movies and I liked My Norwegian Holiday. I didn’t place the male lead immediately, but realized later that he was the Dutch footballer from Ted Lasso. Just a fun fact…
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