By Daylin Delgado

It’s December and many are getting into the Christmas spirit by watching movies, listening to music, and starting their wishlists. While waiting for Santa to make his list and check it twice, here are 25 of the best Christmas movies:

1. Disney’s A Christmas Carol There’s no better way to kick off the holiday seasons than with Disney’s adaption of the classic story by Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol. An animated motion-capture movie starring Jim Carrey, the tale of Ebenezer Scrooge and his twisted life comes to life once again, complete with Christmas ghosts, redemption through a young boy, and a happy ending.
2. How The Grinch Stole Christmas Jim Carrey earns another spot on this list with his role as Dr. Seuss’s the Grinch, a foul-smelling, greedy, tiny-hearted green monster with a deep-rooted hatred for Christmas. Starring comically small-nosed Whos and the iconic stealing of Christmas, this movie teaches redemption and acceptance as the Grinch returns the holiday to the Whos who finally accept the strange mountain hermit.
3. The Polar Express Like most children as they grow up, a young boy begins to doubt the existence of Santa and Christmas magic. When a mystery train picks the young boy up, he embarks on a journey to the North Pole with new friends to rediscover his faith and belief. The Polar Express tugs at the heartstrings of all children and adults that hold onto their belief and cherish the magic.
4. A Charlie Brown Christmas A half-hour Peanuts special first aired in 1965, A Charlie Brown Christmas highlights the over-commercialization of Christmas—a tragedy increasingly present in modern society—as Charlie’s friends focus on materialistic presents. By the end of the special, Charlie’s friends realize their mistakes and come together with Christmas spirit to decorate Snoopy’s doghouse and sing “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing.”
5. The Santa Clause Tim Allen stars in this family favorite as the big man in the red suit himself. Faced with taking care of his son during Christmas, Scott Calvin is faced with more than reading bedtime stories and decorating the Christmas tree when he causes Santa Claus to fall off the roof, accidentally killing him, and consequently being forced to replace him. Scott finds the true meaning of Christmas in his new line of work, while giving his son, Charlie, the best Christmas gift a child imagine.
6. Home Alone Following the adventures of mischievous Kevin McCallister, played by Macaulay Culkin, after he is mistakenly left home by his parents for a whole weekend, this movie provides comedic and iconic scenes that will put anyone in better spirits for the holidays.
7. Home Alone 2: Lost in New York Every bit as classic as the first installment, the sequel follows Kevin McCallister as he hops on the wrong plane and navigates his way through crowded New York on Christmas Eve. Faced with bandits yet again, Kevin finds his Christmas spirit while stopping the bandits from robbing an elderly man’s toy store.
8. The Search for Santa Paws Everyone knows Santa Claus, but very few know his trusty sidekick and best friend, Santa Paws. Lost in a small town while on a routine visit with Santa, who loses his memory, Santa Paws is taken in by a young orphan girl with a mean, selfish foster mother. While Santa unknowingly brings Christmas cheer back into the heart of a toy store owner, Santa Paws and the little girl bring the true meaning of Christmas back to the other orphan girls in the home.
9. Santa Buddies: The Legend of Santa Paws Santa Paws is back and this time he has a mischievous son that sneaks onto Santa’s sleigh and escapes to Fernfield, the town with the most Christmas spirit in the entire world. The Air Buddies help the young pup get on his best Christmas behavior and show him the magic of being with family on Christmas while reinforcing their own meaning of the holiday.
10. Mickey’s Once Upon A Christmas Following three tales featuring Mickey and his friends, the first installment of a two-part series tackles greed, doubt, and sacrifice during the holiday. Donald Duck’s nephews learn Christmas is more than receiving gifts, Goofy and his son strengthen their belief in Santa after seeing him, Mickey and Minnie trade their prized possessions in favor of a gift for the other, and Christmas lovers everywhere feel their hearts swell with magic.
11. Mickey’s Twice Upon A Christmas A sequel to Mickey’s Once Upon A Christmas, the movie features five adventures starring Mickey and his friends. From Daisy and Minnie realizing friendship is more important than winning a competition, to Max learning to appreciate Goofy, to Mickey missing his best friend Pluto after a materialistic argument, the movie shines a spotlight on the importance of family and loved ones during the holidays.
12. Mickey’s Magical Christmas: Snowed in at the House of Mouse A blizzard hits the House of Mouse as Mickey hosts a Christmas dinner for his fellow Disney characters, leaving Donald Duck in worse mood than he already was. To prove to Donald that Christmas is time of joy for family and friends, Mickey and his friends watch their favorite Christmas memories to put Donald in better spirits and remind everyone of the true meaning of Christmas.
13. Miracle on 34th Street Replacing a drunken ex-Santa at a department store, a man by the name of Kris Kringle takes the town by storm. Things go downhill when he claims to be the real Santa Claus, but Bryan Bedford saves the day, getting the city court to accept Kris Kringle as the real Santa and helping his neighbor’s daughter believe in the magic of Christmas.
14. Arthur Christmas Santa and his highly trained elves deliver presents to billions of people every year on a single night, but this story explores what happens when his clumsy son, Arthur, has to go out in the field to give a misplaced present to a little girl. Though he may not be as physically trained and agile as his older brothers, Arthur’s heart of gold helps him complete his mission and shows his family his love for Christmas is greater than anything he can be taught in Santa’s Workshop.
15. Love Actually Following the love stories of several people, the film focuses on the love between family and loved ones during the holidays. The relationships are shown to be going through some sort of conflict in the beginning, but by the end of the story each person comes to terms with their true feelings and accepts the love of others unabashedly.
16. Elf In this Christmas comedy classic, Will Ferrell plays Buddy, who was accidentally transported to the North Pole as a toddler and grew up with Santa’s elves. Upset that he doesn’t fit in, he moves to New York in hopes to find Santa Claus, and his father, but ends up finding a family, romance, and the truth behind Christmas. A look into busy New York City, this movie shows true holiday spirit in the city, and what unites families and loved ones.
17. Christmas With the Kranks When a couple decides to cancel their Christmas because their daughter is away, their community goes into a fit of upset upon hearing the Christmas spirit-filled couple won’t be participating in their annual holiday activities. However, their plans change and they scramble to put together the perfect Christmas when their daughter decides to return home. Getting back into their generous habits, the couple realize it wasn’t a good idea to cancel Christmas after all.
18. Gremlins The age-old tale of a Christmas present gone wrong, Gizmo takes the cake when he starts out as a fluffy mogwai pet but transforms into a terrifyingly violent creature accompanied by a band of Gremlins. A worrying story-line with devilish small creatures balanced with a Christmas setting, this classic comedy is the perfect choice for the Christmas lovers with a darker sense of humor.
19. 12 Dates of Christmas Kate finds herself reliving a horrible date on Christmas Eve over and over again. Faced with the choice of her ex-boyfriend and her new beau, Kate has to figure how to break the cycle. The 12 days unearth a new Kate filled with Christmas cheer and compassion that learns to share her love with others and ensures everyone is happy on Christmas.
20. Jingle All The Way Another Christmas comedy, this movie focuses on the commercialization of Christmas as two fathers, Howard and Myron, rival against each other in an attempt to get the last popular toy for their sons while Christmas shopping last minute. The real hero of this movie is little Jamie who gives up his toy for Myron’s son, showing excellent Christmas spirit and generosity.
21. National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation In the third installment in the National Lampoon’s Vacation series, the Griswold family prepares for Christmas but their plans quickly turn to disaster as expected. Bickering and dysfunction—family trademarks—pepper the movie with relatable family comedy during the holidays. Though everything horrible that could happen does happen, the Griswolds find happiness in the company of each other, their friends, and the SWAT team on Christmas night.
22. Santa Claus Is Comin’ To Town Offering the origin story of Santa Claus, this one-hour stop motion special shows the hardships of Kris Kringle’s early life. Adopted by the elf queen, Tanta Kringle, Kris develops a love for giving to children and creating toys, a task made impossible by town miser Bugermeister who has outlawed all toys. After growing out his beard as a disguise and realizing he can’t possibly distribute toys everyday, Kris Kringle, now Santa Claus, chooses to distribute toys on a single day and works all year to make them special.
23. Rudolph the Red-Nose Reindeer In this Christmas classic, Rudolph, cast aside and isolated by his community due to his abnormal, glowing red nose, struggles to find acceptance at the North Pole. He runs away and meets an elf in the woods that has also been alienated by his elf peers due to his interest in dentistry. When Rudolph finally returns home, Santa is mid-crisis as a snowstorm threatens to cancel Christmas until he decides to see the good in Rudolph and realizes the glowing red nose is more of a positive trait than a negative trait.
24. Richie Rich’s Christmas Wish Overcome with bad luck, the world’s richest kid, Richie Rich, wishes he was never born. He is then thrown into a parallel universe where no one knows him and his selfish cousin, Reggie, has taken his former position, turning the world into a miserable and poor place. While scrambling to turn things back to the way they were, and eventually succeeding, Richie appreciates his life more and enjoys Christmas with his family the way it’s supposed to be.
25. The Nightmare Before Christmas The movie that has sparked debate on whether it’s a Christmas movie or a Halloween movie is actually both. Jack Skellington, the Pumpkin King, grows tired of his Halloween routine. When he discovers the infectious feeling of Christmas spirit, he imposes the traditions on his own creepy town. Though some consider it a Halloween movie, the iconic tune “What’s This?” is a Christmas classic, embodying the magic and mystery of Christmas.