The Christmas season is here and so is the season of the Christmas movie! I don’t know about you, but in the lead up to Christmas, my viewing gets particularly festive. So, I spent the first 12 Days of December raiding the Netflix library for Christmas films to share with you so you can get all festive as you sit on the couch and count down the days to Christmas.

I set the bar high starting with this one.

When I watched the trailer I thought “here we go, another cheesy tragic love story that will have a disgustingly obvious epiphany moment that true love was right in front of them all along and will have an equally disgustingly obvious ending of being together and oozing love and happiness on Christmas Day”… and I was right. I mean, I was basically right… at it’s core, LoveHard followed the core structure of the Christmas rom-com… but there was just this special extra element that made this quite possibly the greatest Christmas movie ever.

So the basic story is that we’re following the story of a young woman who is single and super unlucky in love. She’s also a journalist and writes a column about her tragic dating life. She thinks she’s finally met her perfect match online, and decides to go across the country to surprise him for Christmas… and boy was he surprised… and so was she because she was catfished HARD. Completely humiliated and infuriated, she goes to the local bar where she sees the person who’s photos she saw in her online relationship. After failing to impress him and having a near death experience, she strikes a deal with her catfish to pretend to be his girlfriend until Christmas to impress his family and in return he would set her up with the guy in the photos.

Anyway, after a whole bunch of drama unfolds, the poop majorly hits the fan and we reach the inevitable moment of heartbreak, followed by the rather quick epiphany that her perfect man was in front of her the entire time.

Sounds like every Christmas love story, right? But there’s that special extra element to this movie remember. Now honestly, when I started watching it was a bit cringy in typical Christmas love story fashion, BUT as the story evolved, so too did my feelings about this movie.

It pointed out some pretty significant things. Like how messed up some of those Christmas carols are, even going as far to change the lyrics to make it sound not so rapey (which actually made for a really beautiful moment and actually one of my favourite scenes of the movie), and also the fact that Santa is a stage 5 creep. It also broke a stereotype of Asian families where typically when something like the events that unfolded would bring great embarrassment and shame (I won’t say what exactly happened because I don’t want to spoil it because as obvious as it is, it’s actually a pretty good scene). Instead, he was met with love and support, and in the moment that we thought he was about to get the whole speech of disappointment and shame, we were met with an incredibly loving and supportive father who even encouraged and embraced his son’s unconventional dreams.

I went in expecting this movie to be maybe 3 at best, but ended it with emotions pouring out of my eyes and with a solid rating of 5. Definitely a must watch this Christmas season.

This one was way better than I thought it was going to be. I mean, it had the cliche single person dreading going home to see their family for the holidays because they didn’t want to face all the questions of why they are single etc etc… so, in order to avoid the family interrogation, they take their best friend along for the holidays with the plan to lie and say that they are dating. The twist here is that when they get there, the best friend doesn’t go along with it and then they end up getting set up on a blind date. Then the journey to Christmas day finds the best friends discovering that they were in love with each other all along and then end up together and it’s a Christmas miracle love story.

Given the cliche stereotypes of the Christmas love story, you’re probably thinking that the single person is a white blonde woman and the best friend is some tall, dark and handsome white guy, am I right? Well, you’re wrong. The best thing about this love story is that it’s a same-sex interracial Christmas love story and I am 100% here for it. It was so amazing to see a “traditional” holiday movie portrayed in a non-traditional way, and it’s a step forward in a more inclusive cinematic scene and sharing stories that reflect real life love stories.

It was really refreshing to see the cliche Christmas rom-com in a new way, and honestly, as cheesy as the story was, it’s made my favourite Christmas movie list for movies that I’ll watch EVERY Christmas.

Does this movie even need an explanation for why it is on my Christmas movie must watch list?! Elf is a Christmas favourite in many households and a Christmas classic of my generation.

If by some chance you haven’t watched it yet, here’s a brief summary… Buddy is a human who was raised by elves in the North Pole. He truly believes that he is an elf, but as he grows up, he discovers that he is in fact a human. He then sets off on an adventure to New York City to find his biological father. Life in the city is VERY different from life in the North Pole, and Buddy has quite the adventure into reality.

Make sure you add Elf to your list this Christmas. It’s super funny and highly entertaining for the whole family.

Another Christmas classic, but not really one for the whole family.

Willie is a shopping centre Santa, and his friend/partner in crime is his elf. Once a year, they meet up to do the Santa thing so that they can pull off their biggest con job of the year. This year is a little different though… “Santa” starts to get a conscience – or grow a heart if you want to put it in Christmas Grinch terms – when he begins forming a bond with a young boy who legitimately believes that he is the real Santa. Anyway, things get crazy and take a turn, and while this isn’t your typical Christmas movie, it still has the fundamentals of love, compassion, family and friendship.

This is one of my FAVOURITE Christmas movies and it’s finally on Netflix, so get it into your eyes… after the kids have gone to bed.

Another movie that doesn’t really need an explanation for why it’s on the list. The Grinch is a Christmas classic about an outcast who HATES Christmas, steals it from the town, and then grows a heart and loves Christmas and returns it to the town, saving Christmas for the whole of Whoville.

It’s a great family movie… but it might be a little scary for the littler kiddies so I discovered – my little 18-month-old was NOT a fan. But definitely, a great family movie to add to your Christmas list if you have older kids.

The Night Before is another one not for the whole family. It’s about 3 best friends who get together every Christmas Eve to celebrate the holidays… but now that they are getting older and well into adulthood, they decide it’s time to grow up and calm down on the “festivities”. So, they decide to have one last Christmas Eve celebration that is bigger than they have ever done before.

It sounds innocent enough, but it’s definitely not a family movie. There’s lots of drug use and strong language throughout the film, and some nudity and sexual content. It’s an absolute riot and will have you laughing your ass off, so I definitely recommend adding this one to your Christmas list to watch when the kids are in bed.

There’s been some debate whether Last Christmas is actually a Christmas movie, and I’m here to tell you that clearly, it is. It happens at Christmas time; the main character, Katarina, works as an elf at a year round Christmas store; and there is the infamous Christmas love story… however, there is one hell of a twist that comes with that love story.

So basically Katarina is a young woman who makes a lot of bad decisions, she has some health issues, meets Tom – a mysterious young man – who changes her perspective on life and brings out the best in her.

***SPOILER ALERT***

The twist that comes is that Tom – the man she has been spending so much time with and has changed her life – is actually the reason Katarina is still alive. The title song of the film that Katarina sings in the movie is actually the biggest tell of the movie. The song goes “Last Christmas, I gave you my heart” and we are led to believe that it is a song of falling in love, however, in this film, it is literal – Tom was in an accident the previous Christmas and died, and his heart was transplanted to Katarina. So he literally gave her his heart.

***END SPOILER***

It’s a great movie. The twist genuinely got me and was unexpected; I thought it was brilliantly written, and the acting was great. It’s a bit of an emotional ride but it’s a great story.

Alright… this one I am not convinced is a Christmas movie… but it was a good movie and it’s marketed as a Christmas movie, so it’s on the list.

The story follows Sophie, a best-selling author, who in the midst of a scandal surrounding her latest book, flees America to Scottland to discover her roots. When in Scottland, she visits the castle where she has family ties, and upon seeing the castle she falls in love with it. She learns that it is for sale and decides to buy it, but she must live in the castle for the 3-month escrow. During this time, the Duke that lives in the castle tries to make life in the castle miserable for Sophie in hopes that she will pull out of the deal, but it doesn’t work and she stays, and they end up falling in love – what’s a Christmas movie without the 2 main characters who are at odds falling for each other? Anyway, some stuff happens, then Sophie decides to leave and go back to America… but then some more stuff happens and then she stays and gets to have her Royal Scottish fairytale.

Notice how there wasn’t much talk about Christmas in there? That’s because there wasn’t a lot of Christmas in the movie. In fact, I don’t think I even heard the word Christmas uttered until at least 20 minutes into the movie. Also, the fact that the story takes place over the 3 month escrow means that the story starts in September, or it could have even been August at the beginning of the movie when Sophie was still in America and promoting her latest book. And that is the reason why I don’t believe this is a Christmas movie. You can’t just say the word Christmas a couple of times halfway through the movie and then have a huge Christmas party at the end of the movie and then finish the movie on Christmas morning. I mean, the whole season of Autumn happened in the movie before we even got to anything about Christmas!

But, even though there was the cliche love story and the movie didn’t really have anything to do with Christmas… it was still a pretty ok watch. I’d rate it about a 3.5 out of 5 as a movie, but on the jingle bell scale for being a Christmas movie it’s a big fat 0 from me.

Ok, so this one got me because it is most definitely your typical Christmas movie… in fact, it’s not a movie at all – it’s a series. Also, I’m not really sure that this is even in the Christmas category; I mean, it happens at Christmas, but there isn’t really a whole lot of Christmas going on.

The story is about a family who uses the holidays as an excuse to get away from the city and escape to an off-grid island in the hopes of reconnecting over Christmas. The local community is super tight-knit and they work together to keep the island in balance with the creatures that live in the woods – elves. After a baby elf wonders out of the woods and gets injured, the young girl of the family takes care of the baby elf while it heals. What she doesn’t know is that by doing this she has unsettled the balance on the island and angered the elves, so things get pretty crazy.

Now, these elves aren’t the Christmas elves that I was expecting… these else are woodland elves – the woodland elves that you hear about in folklore tales.

So, yeah… there isn’t really a lot of Christmas in this series, apart from the fact that it happens at Christmas and the family gets a Christmas tree and makes decorations for the tree… and there aren’t any Christmas elves… also, it’s not really a happy show with a cliche love story (although there is a cute little love story that blossoms). There are only 6 episodes, and they are short so I feel like this could have been a movie, but the way that it ended kind of set it up for a second season.

It’s a pretty good watch, and if you aren’t ready for Halloween to be over but are trying to be festive, then this is the one for your Christmas watch list.

THE MOST cliche thing I’ve ever watched. There’s the blonde white girl who is always single on the holidays. She meets a tall, dark and handsome white male who is also single on the holidays. They strike a deal to be each others date for the holidays to keep their families off their backs about why they are always single for the holidays. Then as the Christmas rom-com law states, they fall in love and realise that they are meant to be with each other.

It’s kind of super lame, but in the spirit of the Christmas movie, it’s an alright movie to watch over the holidays.

In terms of being a Christmas movie, this one kind of annoyed me for the fact that all of the events happened on Christmas Eve and we never actually made it to Christmas day.

This story follows a bunch of teens as they navigate friendships and relationships on Christmas eve… and that is pretty much the whole story. Just a bunch of teens trying to figure out friendships and love and then coming together with everyone living happily ever after at a party.

Another Christmas movie that I don’t really think is a Christmas movie… I think what they might have been trying to do was a high school version of Love Actually, but nothing will ever compare to Love Actually. If that’s what they were trying to do, it was poorly executed… but if you’re in the demographic for the high school rom-com drama movie, then this is the movie for you.

Admittedly, I didn’t have high hopes for this one, but by the end, I actually found that I quite enjoyed it.

The story is about a young boy who, after the death of his father, comes to hate Christmas. During a visit with his grandfather, he learns of a family secret – his grandfather is Santa Claus. After his grandfather becomes ill, he helps save Christmas by helping him deliver all the presents around the world in time.

The Claus Family is probably the most Christmassy Christmas movie I’ve watched in a while. Some aspects kind of reminded me of that movie from the 90s, The Santa Claus, but in my opinion The Claus Family was better (don’t @ me). It’s a great movie to watch with the family too. I definitely recommend adding this one to your watch list.

---

If I’m honest, there hasn’t been a great deal that has impressed me this year in regards to Christmas movies, but some old favourites have appeared on Netflix which is good to see. If I had to pick one to watch, it would be LoveHard; I really thought that was such a great movie.

I’d love to know what you are watching this holiday season and what your favourite Christmas movies are. Let me know in the comments.

Follow me on my socials to stay up to date with my diary:

• Instagram
• Threads
• TikTok