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The holidays are just around the corner, so why not start prepping yourself right now? Movies are a great way to get in the spirit of the holiday season. Just imagine a cozy evening spent sipping hot chocolate in fuzzy blankets with your friends or family, sitting in front of the TV and watching a good movie. So, to help you get in the mood to get cozy, here is my list of my favorite holiday movie recommendations. 

thanksgiving dinner table
Photo by Jed Owen from Unsplash

Thanksgiving:

Charlie Brown Thanksgiving

  • Starring: Todd Barbee
  • Run time: 30min
  • IMDb rating: 7.7/10

Charlie Brown Thanksgiving is about Peppermint Patty inviting everyone over to Charlie Brown’s house for a Thanksgiving feast. The kids don’t know how to cook so Snoopy, Linus, and Woodstock all make them a beautiful Thanksgiving feast. 

Home for the Holidays

  • Google Audience Rating: 4.2/5 stars
  • Run time: 1h 44m
  • Starring: Robert Downy Jr., Holly Hunter

My all-time favorite Thanksgiving movie is Home for the Holidays. This movie is about a dysfunctional family gathering together to celebrate Thanksgiving while our main character, Claudia, finds herself falling for her brother’s friend Leo. This movie does a great job balancing deep conversations and meaningfulness with comedy and lighthearted romance.  

Friendsgiving

  • Google Audience Rating: 2.0/5
  • Run time: 1h 35m
  • Starring: Malin Ackerman, Kat Dennings

While not my favorite movie of all time, I still feel like it’s a great Thanksgiving movie to watch with your friends. It’s about two friends, Molly and Abbey, hosting a dysfunctional Thanksgiving evening with their group of friends. 

Decorated Christmas tree
Elina Fairytale via Pexels

Christmas:

Father Christmas (1991)

  • Starring: Mel Smith
  • Run time: 26min
  • IMDb rating: 7.4/10

This is my ultimate Christmas movie since I grew up watching it. It’s about Santa on vacation visiting France, Scotland, and Las Vegas before going back to prepare for the Christmas season. The animation is so cute, I highly recommend 

Fred Claus

  • Starring: Vince Vangough, Paul Giamatti
  • Run time: 1h 55m
  • IMDb rating: 5.7/10

Even though it’s not one of IMDb’s favorites, it is certainly one of mine. Fred Claus has a nice twist to the average Christmas movie, which I don’t know about you but I get tired of pretty easily, with the backstory behind Santa’s childhood in a fun comedy. Fred Claus is about the two Claus brothers, Fred and Nicholas, and how they’re different childhood treatment led them to different adult lives. Nicholas bails Fred out of jail in exchange for Fred to come visit him in the North Pole. But, when the “efficiency expert” threatens to shut down Nicholas’s operation, the two must work together to save Christmas. 

Rudolph the Red-Nose Reindeer (1964)

  • Billie Mae Richards
  • Run time: 55m
  • IMDb rating: 8/10

This movie doesn’t need much of an introduction but if you aren’t watching Rudolph the Red-Nose Reindeer at least 3 times during the Christmas season, you are doing it wrong. 

Fall, marshmallows and mug and book
Photo by Alisa Anton from Unsplash

List of Holiday Specials on different TV shows:

  • The Addams Family: “Christmas with the Addams Family,” Season 2, Episode 15.
  • American Horror Stories: “The Naughty List,” Season 1, Episode 4.
  • The Big Bang Theory: “The Bath Item Gift Hypothesis,” Season 2, Episode 11. “The Maternal Congruence,” Season 3, Episode 11. “The Santa Simulation,” Season 6, Episode 11. “The Cooper Extraction,” Season 7, Episode 11. “The Clean Room Infiltration,” Season 8, Episode 11. “The Holiday Summation,” Season 10, Episode 12. 
  • Buffy the Vampire Slayer, “Amends,” Season 3 Episode 10.
  • Grey’s Anatomy: “Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer,” Season 2, Episode 12. “Holidaze,” Season 6, Episode 10.
  • The Office: “Christmas Party,” Season 2, Episode 10. “A Benihana Christmas,” Season 3, Episode 10/11. “Moroccan Christmas, Season 5, Episode 11. “Secret Sants, “Season 6, Episode 13. “Classy Christmas,” Season 7, Episode 11/12. “Christmas Wishes,” Season 8, Episode 10. “Dwight Christmas,” Season 9, Episode 9.

Thank you all for reading! Happy Holidays!

xoxo,

Izzy

Isabelle Harger

Cal State Chico '27

Isabelle Harger, or Izzy, is a second-year student at California State University, Chico. Her major is Animal science, with an emphasis on the pre-vet track and a minor in biology. She plans to study abroad in Australia during her time at Chico State and graduate in 2027. In her free time, she enjoys going to the gym, spending time with her friends, writing, cooking, and spending lazy days on the beach when she goes home to Santa Barbara, California. As a member of the writing team, she is eager to create content that the girls of Chico will feel uplifted and inspired and believes this experience will help her writing skills immensely for future research projects and journals. She is so excited to start her journey writing for Her Campus!