I have a very strict post-Thanksgiving rule for all things Christmas, but once the time comes I do not mess around. I love Christmas movies and I am ready to mainline them for the next month. I will keep this list updated with everything I watch this year, but here is everything I recommend that I have already seen as a starting point.
I call made-for-tv movies trash can movies. They are bad, but they are bad on purpose. These cannot go in the same category as a movie that would get released in theaters, this is an entire different experience. There is a wide range in quality of these movies, so each one gets a rating out of five trash cans. None of these are “good” in the sense that they are high quality films. But a lot of them are “good” in that they are fun to watch. I have watched so many of these, and you really do have to weed out the good bad from the bad bad. This list is only ones that 1) got 3 or more trashcans and 2) are available to stream for free (assuming you already pay for whatever streaming service it is on). Under no circumstances should you pay extra to watch a trash can movie.
TV Shows
Dash & Lily (Netflix): This is a very cute miniseries based on a YA book, about two high schoolers who are writing to each other through a journal that they keep hiding throughout New York City. I binged this in one sitting and it was exactly what I wanted it to be.
The Great British Baking Show- Holidays (Netflix): They post a couple new episodes of this every year and they are very fun and festive. The same structure as an episode from a regular season.
Blown Away: Christmas (Netflix): This is a glass blowing competition show, and they made a quick little holiday themed season! It’s only four episodes, so a very fast watch. This is exactly like the regular seasons of the show, which I love, and they brought back five contestants from the first two seasons which was fun. Worth watching if you like the show, or even if you haven’t (though it will spoil some of the first two seasons).
Baking It (Peacock): This is a very wholesome holiday themed baking competition. It’s hosted by Andy Samberg and Maya Rudolph, who are acting ridiculous and clearly having a great time, and the judges are four grandmothers. The contestants work in teams of two and each episode has one or two challenges, one team wins, and one goes home. This is delightful and low stakes, worth a watch if you enjoy the Great British Bake Off. I’ve only watched the first season.
Home for Christmas (Netflix): I got sooooo into this show. It’s two seasons, six episodes each, about a woman who lies about having a boyfriend to her family and then has 25 days to find a man to bring home for Christmas. It’s very silly and ridiculous but after a couple episodes I was VERY invested in so many of the relationships! This is a Scandinavian show, I watched it with English dubbing and it was fine. Very fun, I definitely recommend. Five trash cans!!
Matt Rogers: Have You Heard Of Christmas? (Showtime): This is a comedy special, but I’m sticking it in this category. I thought this was hilarious. Matt sings a bunch of original Christmas songs and it truly had me laughing out loud. It’s so silly and stupid (in a good way) but then the songs are like…actually good? Highly recommend, this was a delight.
Selena + Chef: Home for the Holidays (Max): I love this show so I was very excited to see she made holiday episodes. They are coming out weekly, one a week for the next four weeks, and each episode features a famous chef who comes to Selena’s home and helps her cook a meal. Because Selena is not a professional this makes cooking feel so approachable, and I’ve made several recipes that I’ve seen on earlier seasons of the show. Her kitchen is so aspirational.
Who Killed Santa? A Murderville Murder Mystery (Netflix): This had me crying laughing. Murderville is a show where Will Arnett plays Terry Seattle, a homicide detective. In every episode he has a new celebrity guest who has come to help him solve the case, but the catch is that the celeb guest doesn’t get the script so they have no idea what’s going on. I thought the regular season of this was so funny and this Christmas episode had me cackling. The guests are Jason Bateman and Maya Rudolph, and it is just so, so funny.
Movies
Happiest Season (Hulu): Plot: Kristen Stewart goes home with her girlfriend for Christmas, but her girlfriend is not out to her parents and they have to hide their relationship. Then, drama! The whole cast is amazing, Dan Levy is there and he is very funny.
The Holiday (Hulu): An absolute CLASSIC, Cameron Diaz and Kate Winslet swap houses for the month of December because they are both experiencing life crises. Jack Black and Jude Law (HOT) are also there. I watch this every year.
A Christmas Story (Max): This is a Gilbert family favorite and gets at least one screening every year. This movie is highly quotable. Fun for the home family. Be sure to drink your Ovaltine.
The Family Stone (Hulu): Absolutely unhinged film, but it does take place at Christmas. An ensemble movie with a very famous cast. This is knock off Nancy Meyers.
Feast of the Seven Fishes (Netflix): Takes place in the 1980s in a small town, follows a big Italian-Americam family as they prepare for their Christmas Eve 7 fishes feast. Just a nice little slice of life indie movie.
Let it Snow (Netflix): This is a cute movie that is definitely for teens but I watched it anyway! It’s based on a book by John Green, Lauren Myracle, and Maureen Johnson, three iconic YA authors. It takes place in a small town on Christmas Eve, there’s a big snow storm, and there are three different stories that all sort of overlap. This is cute and very low stakes.
While You Were Sleeping (rented): This movie is sooooo good. I’m being so serious when I say I think this might be Sandra Bullock’s best work. It’s got everything you could want from a 90s rom com— an *insane* plot, a full cast of hilarious side characters, a HOT leading man. Plus it’s very festive! Five stars, excellent film.
Trash Can Movies
Here’s a basic scoring explanation: 5 trashcans, perfect no notes; 4 trashcans, very good and I think you should watch; 3 trashcans, good but I would recommend others before it; 2 trashcans, I finished it but I do not recommend you watch it; 1 trashcan, actively made me mad, did not finish.
Netflix
Midnight at the Magnolia: This is really more about New Years, so it would be a great thing to watch in the week after Christmas. This is exactly what I am looking for. A fake dating plot! Terrible acting! An over the top public declaration of love! INJECT IT INTO MY VEINS. Feels generous to call it a plot, but this movie is about two friends who pretend to date after they both get dumped right before a big event at work. Other than that, I have nothing bad to say. Five trash cans, ringing endorsement, everyone watch this.
The Christmas Prince trilogy: The superior Netflix trash can Christmas movie trilogy. These have everything. They are perfect. Watch them all. Five trash cans all around.
Falling For Christmas: Ok I am here for a Lindsay Lohan comeback, and I think this is a perfect lane for her to be in. In this she plays a spoiled hotel heiress who gets in a skiing accident, gets amnesia (obviously), and cannot remember who she is. While she recovers, she stays in a cute little cabin hotel that is run by a hot man (Chord Overstreet). Lindsay fully understands the assignment here, her outfits are incredible, she should make 70 of these. It’s decent but it’s not the best Netflix has to offer here (nothing will beat The Christmas Prince trilogy). Three trash cans.
The Prince Switch trilogy: These are so ridiculous. Your classic lookalike switcharoo plot where Vanessa Hudgens plays three different characters, each one with a less believable accent than the previous one. Four trash cans for the first one, three trash cans for the second, 3.5 trash cans for the third.
Christmas Inheritance: Your classic “rich woman gets stuck in a small town and learns the true value of hard work and the real meaning of Christmas” plot. Four trash cans.
A Castle for Christmas: This was so dumb, I loved it. Brooke Shields plays a famous author whose most recent book has been panned, so she flies to Scotland to escape and write her next book. She ends up visiting a castle that her father used to work in (?) and she decides she wants to buy it (??) but she has to deal with the grumpy duke who owns it (???). The grumpy duke is played by Cary Elwes (famously Wesley in The Princess Bride) doing an absolutely bonkers Scottish accent that made me laugh every time he spoke. This was honestly a good time, just very stupid. Four trash cans.
Single All the Way: This one is just borderline GOOD good. Plot: Peter is going home for Christmas and brings his best friend, Nick, with him with the plan of telling his family that they are dating. We love a fake dating plot. Jennifer Coolidge (ICON) is there. This is silly and fun and very cute. Five trash cans! One of my favorites.
Prime Video
Same Time Next Christmas: This is everything I want from this genre. Lea Michelle and Charles Michael Davis (HOT) play childhood friends who’s families vacation at the same resort every year. This one is so good, five trash cans, no notes.
Something From Tiffany’s: Absolutely incoherent plot: two men make purchases from Tiffany’s on the same day. One buys earrings and one buys an engagement ring. Their purchases get switched but they don’t notice, so one means to propose and gives his girlfriend earrings and the other means to give his girlfriend earrings and accidentally proposes. MESS. The cast is good—I really like Zoey Deutch and think she is a perfect rom com lead, Kendrick Sampson (HOT), Shay Mitchell, and…Jack Nicholson’s son?? Christmas trashcan movies LOVE a nepotism baby. This is quick, under 90 minutes, the right amount of festive, and cute. Four trash cans.
This is Christmas (Prime Video): This one is set in London, and is about a guy who realizes that he takes the train to work with the same people every day, but they never interact. He decides to throw a Christmas party and invite all of them. This one is nice and certainly festive, but it’s a little long. Three trash cans.
Your Christmas or Mine?: This one is so good! It’s about a young couple, Hayley and James, who both decide to do a last minute ~big romantic gesture~ and surprise each other by showing up at their family Christmas celebrations, but that means they each show up to the other’s house without each other. It’s very silly but also funny and so cute. It stars Asa Butterfield who I really love in Sex Education, and he’s basically doing the same thing here. Five trash cans, must watch! There’s also a sequel, creatively titles Your Christmas Or Mine? 2, and it’s also pretty good (four trash cans). Watch both!
Hallmark
Christmas in Notting Hill: This one is about a woman who goes to visit her sister in London for Christmas, and she meets a cute boy who she doesn’t realize is like the most famous football player in the UK. The acting is Very Bad but the story is fun and its very festive. Four trash cans.
A Biltmore Christmas: This stars Bethany Joy Lenz (Hayley from One Tree Hill) as a screen writer who has been tasked with writing the script for a remake of a studio’s classic Christmas movie. The studio sends her to the famous mansion where the movie was filmed, and she finds a ~magical hour glass~ that takes her back in time to the 1940s and she finds herself on the set of the movie. This is so dumb, I loved it. The two leads have really good chemistry and the ending is so absurd. I loved the festive 40s costumes. This one is a great time. Five trash cans!
A Not So Royal Christmas (Hallmark): Absolutely galaxy brain plot on this one. A journalist goes to a small European town to try to get an interview with the Count, who is a recluse and hasn’t been seen in years. She meets a man who she thinks is the Count, but he’s actually just some guy?? But he pretends to be the Count for her article anyway. This is so dumb but the movie wasn’t that bad, I give it three trashcans.
Round and Round (Hallmark): I have had a crush on Bryan Greenberg since I watched One Tree Hill in college, so I saw him on this poster and clicked immediately. This one was so good! And its about Hanukkah! It’s about a woman who gets stuck in a time loop and relives the day of her family’s Hanukkah party over and over. Honestly I love a time loop plot, it’s always so silly and fun. I give this five trash cans, I had a great time.
Books
One Day in December by Josie Silver: On a day in, you guessed it, December, Laurie makes eye contact with a man at the bus stop and is convinced its love at first sight. She spends the next year thinking about/looking for him, and then at a Christmas party the following year she finds out her best friend’s boyfriend, Jack, is the man from the bus. Very wintery and lots of drama.
This Time Next Year by Sophie Cousens: A New Years theme! Minnie and Quinn share a birthday, New Years Eve, and become friends after meeting on their 30th birthday. It also flashes back to different years throughout their lives. Cute!
In a Holidaze by Christina Lauren: This is a time loop plot. Maelyn has spent every Christmas at a cabin with her family and their friends, and this year’s trip has gone particularly poorly. On the way home her family gets in a car accident and she wakes up back on the plane on the way to the cabin a week earlier. This is silly and dumb but also cute.
Kiss Her Once For Me by Alison Cochran: Alison Cochran also wrote The Charm Offensive, which I loved. This one is about Ellie, who is really struggling to get her life together after getting fired from her dream job. She meets Andrew, who has just found out that he has to get married before he can claim his 2 million dollar inheritance. He offers Ellie $200k if she agrees to marry him for a year. She agrees (begrudgingly, which is very confusing, I would absolutely marry a hot man for a year for that much money no hesitation), and goes home with him for Christmas to meet his family. A lot of Christmas rom coms are over the top cheesy, and this one isn’t! I really liked it.
The Christmas Orphans Club by Becca Freeman: This is about two best friends, Hannah and Finn, who have spent Christmas together for the past 10 years because neither of them had anywhere to go. Over the years they added Priya and Theo to the group, and now they are planning what might be their last Christmas together because Finn is moving from New York to LA. This was very festive and very fun, Christmas books can get extremely cheesy but this one is not. So many fun New York references too. I had a good time.