Wholesome Christmas Movies for the Entire Family
A Time to Slow Down and Gather Together
We are about one week out from advent and the Moder house is in full Christmas mode already. We do a slow build to decorating the home, bringing out the Christmas books, and of course playing all the Christmas movies. There’s so many out there, and so many kinds, but I want to take a moment to highlight some wholesome Christmas movies to watch together.
Whether you like the classics, or tear jerkers, or you’re just in it to laugh a bit, I’m confident there’s something for everyone on this list.
Animated Shorts/Specials
With kids at varying ages, sometimes we just need to watch a quick something that’s not quite a movie but still has that Christmas sweetness. What I love about these is that many of them are adaptations to Christmas books, which makes it even more fun.
The Stick Man— our kids love this quick special taken from the book of the same title. The animation is so sweet, and the stick family you can’t help but fall for. The Stick Man gets separated from his family, and while everyone is missing him and hoping for his return, a most unlikely helper (Santa) brings him home just in time.
Click clack moo: Christmas at the Farm — this is a quick and entertaining one for the family. Our kids love this book series, and we are always big fans of talking animals.
Little bear— there’s technically no Christmas episodes of little bear, but we like to watch these ones around Christmas. “Snowball Fight/Winter Solstice”, “Gingerbread cookies” ”Favorite Tree”. Little Bear is always so wholesome and classic, you can’t go wrong.
Frog and Toad winter episodes— we love this show on Apple plus. We usually subscribe for November and December so we can watch all the peanuts specials and episodes, as well as the frog and toad show. It’s so gentle and not overstimulating, and almost as sweet as the books!
Annabel’s wish— this is so heartwarming, and is over in one hour. A boy who lives through a barn fire and can no longer talk finds a companion in his Christmas gift— Annabel. Annabel is a cow who gives up her special Christmas gift from Santa to help her owner and friend.
Jingle Bells— this is another sweet one that might make you cry. It’s a family with little money who all want to bless each other with a gift for Christmas. Themes of generosity and sacrifice make this sweet animated short a family favorite for us.
The snowman
The Snowy Day
The Grinch (original)
Franklins Christmas Special
The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Tomey
Full Length Movies
A muppet Christmas Carol— this one we save mostly for our 6+ kids as it can be a bit scary. We loved the Little Christmas Carol that came out last year and read it for our Christmas school. After reading the book we showed the kids this movie and found they were more prepared and less scared than we thought because they knew what was coming. We used Sarah Mackenzie’s guide with RAR and highly recommend!
A very Merry Pooh Year— our family loves any and all Winnie the Pooh.
Curious George: a very monkey Christmas
The Polar Express
Eloise at Christmas Time
The Santa Clause 1&2 — we LOVE these as well. This is another watch together set of movies as we do skip a few parts. Although we are very upfront about Santa being made up (but how St. Nicolas was real and inspired the legend), we don’t mind enjoying Santa movies. We see it in the same light as super heroes etc. We all know Spider-Man isn’t real but we don’t care if our kids play Spider-Man and super heroes for fun.
Classic Wholesome Christmas Movies
Ok this may be different for all families but these are ones that are tried and true, and have stood the test of time for generations.
It’s a Wonderful Life— need I say more? It doesn’t really feel like Christmas yet until we have watched this movie. It’s truly one of a kind and if for some reason you’ve never seen it, please got watch it right now! Truly one of the most wholesome Christmas movies out there.
White Christmas— so dreamy! And the best music. I’m not a musical girl but this one gets me. I’ll admit the kids are hit and miss to liking this one, but they all love the songs at the very least.
The grinch (Jim Carey)-lovingly referred to as the “real one” in our home. We do skip a few parts here and there in this movie, but my goodness it’s my all time favorite. It’s hilarious, it’s sweet, unhinged, this has it all! This is one we like to watch all together and not let the kids watch alone, but I sure do love it— who doesn’t?!
Just for Laughs
Elf— I’m sorry I can’t not put this on here! I know some say it’s overrated, but I don’t care! We skip a couple parts in this as well, but for the most part we find it a fairly wholesome Christmas Movie.
The Grinch (illumination) — the kids love this one, though Cameron and I don’t care for it as much. The side characters are very funny, and it’s still a sweet movie!
Christmas with the Kranks— this one always has us laughing. The kids love the “free frosty” scene, and the scene with the dad’s Botox. It’s so outrageous, we just love it.
Shaun the Sheep Christmas
All About Jesus
As much as I love the whimsy and fun of Christmas, the true reason we celebrate and go all out is Jesus. I love having media that points to our greatest gift and reason we celebrate.
The Star— we saw this when our firstborn was almost 2 and loved it ever since. It’s told from the perspective of donkey, and his ragamuffin team that tries to protect Mary. It’s full of adventure and so much funnier than I expected, its a staple in our home around Christmas.
A Charlie Brown Christmas
The Chosen Christmas Special
The Nativity Story
The Legend of the Candy Cane – This is an adaptation from the book that we love! We like to watch this after reading the book, and having a “Candy cane day”. You can get dye free candy canes from yum earth and either make hot coco or chocolate chip cookies and add candy canes to either. We will also go on a “candy cane hunt” where we hide the candy canes and the kids go find and collect them. It makes a fun and easy activity for a special Christmas memory.
The Three Wise Men
Cozy Nights and Wholesome Christmas Movies
I encourage you to make some special and cozy memories as a family this advent season. I know in a lot of ways it’s “just TV” but it’s also a time be together and not just “do” all the holiday things.
Are any of your favorites on this list? Are there any you would add that I left out? Let me know in the comments.
Merry Christmas!
– Toni
