There are many ways to celebrate the holiday season, but one that many people partake in is watching films! Today, I have for you a list of the greatest holiday movies of all time. Do keep in mind though, these are just the most popular and controversial movies during the holidays.

At number 1, we have The Grinch Who Stole Christmas: starring Jim Carey. This film is the story of how the Grinch came to be and what the people of Whoville do to right their wrongs. For those of you who haven’t watched The Grinch Who Stole Christmas (which I don’t know how you haven’t yet), the Grinch is super grumpy when holiday time comes around due to his childhood trauma. He then attempts to rid of Christmas forever to avoid his conflicts with his past. Overall, great movie, would highly recommend, 9/10.

The runner-up is the first Christmas Chronicles. For those of you who do not know what the Christmas Chronicles is, it is the story of a family who recently lost their father, and the children are out to cause some mischief. The daughter and son set a trap and catch Santa Claus putting presents under the tree, and somehow make it outside and into his floating sleigh. Then the three of them freak out while in the sky, the gifts get lost, the reindeer run away, and the sleigh breaks. It only gets worse from here. A little later in the movie, the daughter gets captured by a whole clan of elvish people, the son gets mixed up in a gang, and Claus gets thrown in jail! Due to a little Christmas magic, all three were able to escape their circumstances, find each other and the reindeer, fix the sleigh and save Christmas by delivering all the presents to the world in a very short amount of time, about 2 or 3 hours or so. Comical movie with a great plot, overall 8/10.

Home Alone is awarded 3rd place. The classic story of Kevin being forgotten at home during the holidays. The McCallisters, a very large and (portrayed as) wealthy family left for vacation in Paris. Now, during the holiday season, also happens to be the time of the highest crime rates. This being so, Kevin has to be the man of the household and defend it from the burglars, whether it cost his life, or theirs ;). This whacky film constructed by slap comedy is sure to be a thrill for the whole family during movie night. So sit back, take a bite of pizza on the couch, relax and enjoy! 10/10

4th goes to Klaus: a Netflix Original. Klaus is an origin story of how Christmas came to be. It starts off with Jesper, the mail service’s super intendant’s son who is a slacker. Everything he ever had has just been given to him. But the super intendant has had enough of Jesper being lazy and never doing anything or earning things for himself. Therefore, the super intendant sends his son to an island that is considered the North Pole, and the townsfolk consists of two warring families. The only way for Jesper to get his life of luxury back is to collect and mail a very large amount of letters. He attempts to get the citizens of the town to cooperate, but every last one of them has a grudge against the other. In doing so, there is a child he meets who dropped his drawing over the fence that has him in bars confined in the attic. He teaches him how to mail it, and sticks it in his pocket as he is met by the very threatening father of the boy. He runs and somehow manages to escape the bloodhounds. Later that night, Jesper realizes he hasn’t tried to convince the carpenter several miles from the town. The carpenter is Santa, and he sees the picture of the captive boy when Jesper drops the envelope without realizing. He then makes a large deal that the boy must have entertainment, and delivers a toy with Jesper to the boy. Jesper finds this as a way to make a profit, and the boy convinces the rest of the children to send Mr. Klaus a letter asking for toys. This then begins to become too much work, so Jesper and Klaus started only doing it for Christmas. Years later, Klaus dies, and the rest of the town grieves his passing. But, working with Klaus, Jesper still is allowed to see him once a year, delivering toys to all the girls and boys alongside his friend. Heartwrenching story, great movie and animation, 8/10.

And last but not least, we have A Christmas Story. A whacky story that takes place in 1940. This movie revolves around a family and their wants for the holiday season. The main character, Ralphie, really wants a BB gun for Christmas and fantasizes about all the evil he would stop and how he would be the man of the house. Ralphie, his brother, and his friends get bullied by a couple of guys from the school and are constantly picking on them. Ralphie and his family spend the days before Christmas doing various activities regarding the holiday. Then the day finally arrives. Ralphie opens up the last gift, and it just happened to be the Red Ryder BB gun that he was wanting. He goes out to practice, shoots a piece of paper attached to a tin cutout of a Coke bottle, and the bullet bounces back to hit him in the eye. Now his mother and all of his friends’ mothers have been telling him that he wouldn’t get a BB gun because he’ll “shoot his eye out.” So instead of being honest and telling his mom that he shot his eye out, he blamed the icicle, that just happened to lay beside him, saying that it fell on his face. Again, wacky movie, decently funny, thoroughly enjoyable, 7/10.

So there you have it! The top 5 holiday movies for you to watch and enjoy for yourself! I hope this was helpful in guiding you to decide which movies to view for yourself. Have an enjoyable break, happy holidays, and enjoy the snow that is sure yet to come!