The Best Christmas movies ever is a pretty big topic, and it’s also a remarkably difficult list both to narrow down to the top few and also to put them in order from best to worst. This is not exactly the time of year when Best Christmas Movie lists are very hard to find, but you can be certain of one thing – this is definitely the most accurate one ever!

10. A Charlie Brown Christmas (1965) TV-G, 25 mins.

Okay, so I’ll start with one that’s not even a movie, but such a classic that it simply can’t be omitted. Who could forget getting all bundled up at Grandma’s house on a cold December morning, content in the kind of happiness that only seems to come to little kids when school is out and the snow is falling and the only thing you have to do all day is sit by the fire drinking hot chocolate and watching things like this on TV.

All the way back in 1965 Charlie Brown complained about the rampant materialism shrouding what is by leaps and bounds America’s most commercially successful holiday. As a kid, the only thing that we really cared about was how many presents we got, or if we got that one thing we so desperately wanted – the cool remote control hovercraft or the Nintendo Entertainment System or a Pogo Ball (remember those?) or that G.I. Joe aircraft carrier or whatever it is that girls liked.

But now it’s all about just trying to afford gifts for everyone on our lists. Somewhere along the line Christmas has a tendency to transform from a time of pure magic and happiness and into a time of stress and spending money. But it is the shows like A Charlie Brown Christmas that first showed us, and now remind us, of what the true meaning of Christmas really is.

9. Gremlins (1984), PG, 106 mins.

So I just watched The Goonies the other day. Remember that scene where Chunk is stuck in the basement at the Fratelli’s place and he calls the sheriff to report everything that’s going on, and the sheriff says something like, “Is this another one of your pranks, Lawrence? Like the story about the cute little animals that multiply when you throw water on them?” So then I got this urge to watch Gremlins again, and that’s why it’s here on this list. Isn’t it amazing the way the world works?

It’s interesting that the story is about a cute little animal called a Mogwai that a guy buys in a strange curio shop in Chinatown. I have been living in China for two years now and the people here tend to be uniformly perplexed by the beginning of this movie.

At any rate, the Mogwai comes with a series of rules, like you can’t get it wet or expose it to bright light and never, ever feed it after midnight. This will definitely be the scariest movie on this list. I remember being pretty terrified by it when I was a kid, but I loved it nevertheless. Christmas is sort of a backdrop to the truly unique story, but the whole movie is developed around it. Definitely a holiday classic!

8. Scrooged (1988), PG-13, 101mins.

Speaking of The Goonies, two years later director Richard Donner tries his hand at a modern adaptation of Dickens’ A Christmas Carol. Bill Murray plays a cynical television executive who missed out on the kind of happy childhood that results in a natural love of Christmas.

Three truly unique ghosts of Christmas past, present, and future show up in his life to help him appreciate the meaning of Christmas and to learn that he needs to make some changes in his life.

Much was made of the fact that Murray was starring in another movie about ghosts after two successful Ghostbusters films, although some people complained that his character of Frank Cross was unlikeable. I haven’t read A Christmas Carol for many years, but I seem to remember that Ebenezer Scrooge was kind of a stick in the mud, you know? The phrase “miserly old git” comes to mind.

The tagline for the movie is “Bill Murray is back among the ghosts. Only this time, it’s three against one.” Murray gets the chance to prove that, even though he’s alone this time, he still ain’t afraid of no ghosts.

7. Elf (2003), PG, 97 mins.

When I first started compiling my list of Christmas movies in putting together this article, I expected that Elf must be pretty high on the list, but it was tough even to squeeze it in even at #7. Scroll down the rest of the list and you should see why.

Will Farrell has to be one of the two or three funniest men alive right now, but it’s strange that occasionally he comes out with movies that are just so childish and profane that it can be difficult to enjoy them even on a toilet humor level.

Even the good ones are for wildly different audiences. I doubt that much of the target audience for Elf has much use for Old School or the disappointing Step Brothers, but Elf is of that rare breed of Christmas movie that can be enjoyed by just about anyone at any maturity level.

Farrell plays Buddy, a six-foot man raised as an elf at the North Pole after stowing away in Santa’s sack as he left the orphanage where Buddy had been living. I would have thought that stowing away would qualify as naughty behavior, but Santa is pretty forgiving. He allows Buddy to travel to New York to search for his real parents after he begins causing more and more trouble in the elf community because of his prodigious size.

Buddy’s father turns out to be a heartless, money-driven jerk, and Buddy’s efforts to reunite with him and also become accustomed to the pace and reality of New York City life make for a truly heartwarming and entertaining Christmas comedy.

6. How The Grinch Stole Christmas (2000), PG, 104 mins.

Okay, I know I’m gonna get a lot of grief for this one, but I loved this movie. There is a long history to how this movie came to be made, since Dr. Suess refused for decades to sell the movie rights, insisting that the 1966 TV special could never be surpassed. Even after his death in 1991, his widow, Audrey Geisel, still refused to sell the rights. But with the modern magic of CGI effects (and a generous offer from Universal), Mrs. Geisel changed her mind, and even approved the casting of Jim Carrey. Personally, I feel like a blessing from the Good Doctor’s wife is enough for me.

We get a lot more backstory into the childhood of the Grinch than was in the original story, but of course it is the set design and the make-up, along with Jim Carrey’s storied performance, that really makes the movie work.

In the magical town of Whoville, which exists in a snowflake like the one on your sleeve, comes along a story that you must see to believe. The town is defined by the magical time of Christmas, except for one citizen, the Grinch, who lives just outside of town. Christmas causes such misery for him that he sets about a plot to try to steal it from the Whos, until a little girl sets about on her own mission to do what no one ever thought to do, meet the Grinch and become his friend.

5. Die Hard (1987), R, 131 mins.

What, you forgot Die Hard was a Christmas movie? Legendary action director John McTiernan teamed up with Bruce Willis back in 1988 (when gas was 75 cents a gallon) to bring us really the only kind of Christmas movie that people like McTiernan and Willis could bring us.

Willis is John McLane, a New York cop who flies to Los Angeles on Christmas Eve to spend Christmas with his wife. Living on opposite sides of the country because of differing career directions, they have been growing apart, and John has come back to try to convince her to come back to New York with him.

Unfortunately, during a special Christmas party in the Nakatomi Plaza building, where McLane’s wife works, a group of terrorists take everyone hostage and begin to make bizarre demands. McLane is the only person in the  building who manages to escape the attention of the terrorists, so it is up to him alone to deal with a situation involving dozens of hostages, 12 armed terrorists, one estranged wife, and a partridge in a pear tree. Happy Holidays!

4. Edward Scissorhands (1990), PG-13, 105 mins.

Edward Scissorhands was definitely a defining moment for Tim Burton, Johnny Depp, and the spirit of Christmas. With a title character that would have been unacceptably bizarre in the hands of anyone other than Tim Burton, it is probably one of the most unique and original presentations of a Christmas movie ever made. Until three years later, of course.

Edward is a gentle and soft-spoken young man who lives on the edge of society because he is the unfinished creation of an inventor who died before he could be completed, leaving Edward with metal scissors for hands.

A kind Avon lady named Peg meets him and invites him into the community, where he is an object of fascination and lust, until the reality of what he is begins to set in and things take a turn for the worse.

The drama and romance and fantasy are all set against the backdrop of Christmas with remarkable results. Christmas plays a relatively small part in the movie, but the meaning and spirit are always center stage.

3. The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993), PG, 76 mins.

Just three years after Edward Scissorhands, Tim Burton returns with another of his own brand of Christmas movie. Like Edward, Jack Skellington discovers seemingly insurmountable differences between himself and a world that he desperately wants to join.

He is the King of Halloweentown but soon grows bored and disillusioned with his life as the Pumpkin King, and when he discovers Christmas he learns that darkness and death might very well not be the best things that life, or the lack thereof, has to offer.

Unfortunately, Jack encounters some difficulties related to his appearance when he tries to take over the job of Santa, and his plans of bringing Christmas to the world begin to fall apart.

Incidentally, the movie wasn’t directed by Tim Burton, but the stunning go-motion animation and the world of Halloweentown and Christmastown are something that could only belong in a Burton film, and the fascinating combination of Christmas and Halloween allows for a unique and interesting perspective in how we appreciate two of our most popular holidays. Even among the most enduring classics, The Nightmare Before Christmas is definitely one of the most popular and widely-loved Christmas movies ever made.

2. National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation (1989), PG-13, 97 mins.

Interestingly enough, Christmas Vacation was the last movie written by John Hughes, and surely not by coincidence, the last one that was any good. It’s impossible for me to think about Christmas anymore without my head flooding with hilarious memories of the Griswold family Christmas of 1989.

Shunning any classic Christmas stories, Hughes gives us a story about Clark Griswold, his wife and two teenage children as they prepare for a major family Christmas gathering at their home. In true National Lampoon form, everything goes wrong but the Griswold’s all struggle to maintain happy faces and the Christmas spirit as things go from bad to worse.

The endless stream of disasters wreak havoc of the Griswold’s, particularly Clark, as they prepare for the holiday gathering and then deal with their nightmarish family. Filled with enduringly classic scenes, Christmas Vacation rests comfortably among the best Christmas movies, the ones that you never seem to get sick of watching even numerous times every year.

“I don’t know what to say, except it’s Christmas and we’re all in misery.”

Bring on the eggnog!

1. Miracle on 34th Street (1947), G, 96 mins.

Okay mom, this one’s for you! All my life, Miracle on 34th Street has been a holiday staple in the DeZubiria (and Wirth) households, and it remains one of my own beloved mother’s all-time favorite movies, something that cheers her up whether it’s the holiday season or not. For that reason alone, it earns the #1 spot on my list of the Best Christmas movies ever made.

A charming old man discovers a department store Santa Claus to be drunk and berates him for his behavior, earning himself the job. He becomes a major hit with customers and their kids, but his no-nonsense boss, Ms. Walker, has reservations about him when she learns that he calls himself Kris Kringle and claims to be the real Santa Claus.

Ms. Walker has trained herself and her young daughter to reject any fantastical notions like the thought that Santa Claus might be real, but people begin to notice that there is certainly something special about this Kris Kringle, who brings about the true meaning and spirit of Christmas in the most unlikely ways, even among the rampant commercialism that surrounds him.

Sadly, Kringle suffers the fate that would probably welcome Jesus himself were he to visit us here on earth and attempt to celebrate his own birthday with us. Kringle is subjected to a cruel interrogation by an incompetent psychologist, ultimately landing himself in a mental institution where he deliberately fails a mental examination, virtually ensuring that he will get himself committed.

Just when all seems to be hopelessly lost for him, support and belief in him blossoms from the most unlikely places, culminating in a peculiar hearing where the very beliefs of the masses are put to the test to determine whether or not the man who calls himself Kris Kringle really is the true Santa Claus.

Miracle on 34th Street has now been one of the most universally loved Christmas movies in the world for over 60 years, and even six decades after its release it remains one of the most heart-warming and wonderful celebrations of Christmas ever filmed. Bravo!

Honorable Mention

It’s A Wonderful Life (1946) – I know, this is a serious omission, but in a time when Best Christmas movies are making their annual take-over of the internet, I had to at least do one thing that was different from all the rest! Don’t miss this one!

The Polar Express (2004)

Frosty the Snowman (1969) (TV)

How The Grinch Stole Christmas (1966) (TV)

A Christmas Story (1983)

Home Alone (1990)

Conspicuously Absent

Bad Santa (2003) – Bad Santa is not included in this list because it has the most profanity of any Christmas movie ever made. Oh, and also because it sucked.