Winter break is quickly approaching, which means it’s officially my favorite time of the year: the buildup to Christmas. Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely love Christmas and all the traditions my family insists on cramming into a 24-hour window, but something about the days leading up to the festivities is infinitely more exciting. Plus, I’m Brazilian, so I need something to do while I wait for midnight to strike on the 24th to open presents (Do not fret, my American traditionalist readers — I still insist on saving a few to open in the morning so I can position my father in the corner of the living room with a trash bag for discarded wrapping paper and my mother on the couch with a warm cup of coffee and an even warmer smile, just as Norman Rockwell intended).
What do I propose is the best way to spend this time? Obsessively rewatching Christmas movies.
This is by no means a definitive list of the best Christmas movies ever made, but it is my personal lineup of what I plan to revisit this holiday season — or, at the very least, what I’ll shamelessly watch TikTok edits of while wrapping presents if I run out of time to do them justice with a proper viewing.
1. “The Holdovers” (2023)
“The Holdovers” absolutely stole my heart when I first watched it when it came out back in 2023. I’ve lived in Boston for the past five years now and, to be completely honest, I never really considered myself a Bostonian until watching “The Holdovers.” Seeing Paul Giamatti (whose Oscar I’m still actively campaigning for — Mr. Giamatti, I promise I’ll rescue it from Cillian Murphy’s house for you, just you wait) and Dominic Sessa wandering around Chinatown and Copley Square makes me deeply emotional. I find myself yelling at the TV, “Just walk down like two more blocks! My high school is right there!” Of course, they can’t hear me, and now I’m screaming at the screen through sobs while a cop is knocking on my door with a noise complaint — but hey, isn’t that what the holidays are all about? Anyway, it’s an instant classic in my book. When I finished the film for the first time, I turned to my family and said I imagined this must be what it felt like to watch “Dead Poets Society” (1989) when it first came out. “The Holdovers” has a great nostalgic quality to it and watching it makes me feel deeply grateful to exist at the same time as Alexander Payne.
2. “The Family Stone” (2005)
Truthfully, this movie kind of sucks, and it features the most annoying character Sarah Jessica Parker has ever played (yes, even worse than the reporter in “Mars Attacks” who gets her head sewn onto her chihuahua). Despite all that, there’s something genuinely special about it. I’ve found myself thinking about “The Family Stone” since Diane Keaton’s passing, and it feels only right to ring (no pun intended) in the holiday season by paying respects to such a wonderful actress — one who also happens to remind me a lot of one of my old English teachers. This movie includes one particular scene that always makes me emotional: Diane Keaton signing to her deaf, gay son, “I love you. And you are more normal than any other asshole sitting at this table.” It gets me every time.
3. “Die Hard” (1988)
Yeah, yeah, yeah, you knew it was coming. I was pretty late to the “Die Hard” party and only watched it for the first time last year, but wow, do I understand the hype now. There are only a few films that make me feel like crushing an obviously non-alcoholic beer, dropping to the floor for push-ups, and whooping with joy, and “Die Hard” is definitely one of them. As for the debate over whether it’s a Christmas movie, I don’t think it matters. All I know is that it’s a film with great rewatchability, and if that rewatch happens to coincide with the hap-happiest season of all, so be it. I write a lot about the concept of joy in my Phoenix articles, and I truly believe joy doesn’t have to be anything profound or life-changing; it can simply be Bruce Willis saving hostages from a terrorist group on Christmas. Plus, there are very few sequel names that can beat “Die Hard 2: Die Harder” (1990). I mean, seriously, what I wouldn’t give to be a fly on the wall when they thought of that one.
4. “The Muppets Christmas Carol” (1992)
Speaking of things I’ve written The Phoenix articles on, I would be remiss to discuss my favorite Christmas movies and not bring up “The Muppets Christmas Carol.” I began the semester writing about Gonzo the Great, and you bet your butts I’m going to end it the same way! “The Muppets Christmas Carol” truly is the crème de la crème of Dickens adaptations and possibly of book adaptations of all time. It manages to blend the whimsy of classic Muppet humor with remarkable fidelity to Dickens’ original text. Plus, it features some of the finest Rizzo-Gonzo banter ever committed to film, and as someone who once dressed as Rizzo the Rat for Halloween in high school, I take that point very seriously. Christmas just isn’t Christmas for me until I hear Gonzo yell, “And Tiny Tim, who did not die!”
5. “A Charlie Brown Christmas” (1965)
I rated this movie five stars on Letterboxd last year — I mean, what other rating could it possibly deserve — and was met with criticism on the part of my family. That’s how I found out that not everyone thinks “A Charlie Brown Christmas” is a perfect and necessary part of the holiday season. However, I haven’t let this faze me, I choose to ignore the haters (my loving parents) and push through the heavy swamp of negativity (a very small comment they soon after forgot). For the uninitiated, the film follows Charlie Brown who attempts to direct the school Christmas play while wrestling with the commercialization of the holiday, ultimately finding clarity (and a little hope) thanks to his blanket-wielding bestie Linus, a tiny, wilting tree, and Christmas spirit in the form of friendship. Isn’t that just the cutest? Charlie Brown, I’d love to give you a hug.
6. “A Christmas Story” (1983)
Hi Daddy, I know you’re reading this and you’re probably thinking, “What? Ali doesn’t even like this movie. How did it make the list?” It’s honestly because of how much I’ve heard you say, “Fra-gi-lé! It must be Italian!” over these past eighteen Christmases. This movie really has it all: leg lamps, soap bars in mouths, hideous gifts from an aunt, and a racist scene in a Chinese restaurant that I always forget exists and then am immediately, deeply shocked by. This movie really is the epitome of a family Christmas film because of how enshrined it is in my memory. I know that the minute the narrator starts talking, the whole Lopes clan will settle into the couch, repeat the same family-famous quotes, and laugh the same familiar laughs. So yes, Daddy, you’re right: I don’t love “A Christmas Story,” but I can’t wait to watch it again soon.
I understand some of you may be mad that some of your favorite films didn’t make the list (I deeply apologize to “Miracle on 34th Street” (1947), “Meet Me in St. Louis” (1944), and “It’s a Wonderful Life” (1946) fans), but I hope that if you take anything away from this article, it’s that Christmas movies are amazing. There are so many great ones out there — so watch all of them, none of them, or pick the ones that make you happiest. Either way, from the bottom of my heart, I wish you all the happiest of holidays. Oh, and just a friendly warning: don’t get a BB gun, I have it on good authority that you’ll probably shoot your eye out.
