My 31 Days of Holiday Movies
Watching my way through December 2022.
Check back as I update this blog post with which holiday movie I watch on each day of December. It will likely be mostly Christmas movies, but I’m open to anything festive — the cheesier, the better!
Rating System is based on the “12 Days of Christmas”
Highest score is 12 drummers drumming.
Lowest score is 1 partridge in a pear tree.
Thursday, December 1st
Title: “Falling for Christmas”
Year: 2022
Time Investment: 1h 35m
Big Name Celebrity: Lindsay Lohan
Fun Fact: Jack Wagner of “General Hospital” fame a long time ago is the father. He also recorded this pop song in the 80s. Separately, a LiLo “Mean Girls” reference!
Where to Watch: Netflix
Rating: 10 Lords A-Leaping
Thoughts: LiLo did a great job with this and it’s good to see her back.
Friday, December 2nd
Title: “A Christmas Prince”
Year: 2017
Time Investment: 1h 32m
Big Name Celebrity: Rose McIver who is “Sam” on the CBS show, “Ghosts.”
Fun Fact: Multiple sequels!
Where to Watch: Netflix
Rating: 8 Maids A-Milking
Thoughts: It’s your pretty standard movie of this genre that has all the right tropes. It’s interesting that there are so many sequels to dig into.
Saturday, December 3rd
Title: “The Noel Diary”
Year: 2022
Time Investment: 1h 40m
Big Name Celebrity: Bonnie Bedelia and Treat Williams
Fun Fact: Based on a book.
Where to Watch: Netflix
Rating: 12 Drummers Drumming
Thoughts: Instant classic. Highly recommend. Well done, although the cheese factor is low so it is still enjoyable.
Sunday, December 4th
Title: “Christmas Inheritance”
Year: 2017
Time Investment: 1h 44m
Big Name Celebrity: Andie MacDowell
Fun Fact: Filmed in Canada is the only fun fact I can find.
Where to Watch: Netflix
Rating: 7 Swans a-Swimming
Thoughts: It felt like Christmas was just tacked on to this movie and not really a character, so strangely it didn’t feel as much of a Christmas movie to me than it should have.
Monday, December 5th
Title: “Hotel for the Holidays”
Year: 2022
Time Investment: 1h 24m
Big Name Celebrity: The late John Belushi’s niece, Jamison Belushi.
Fun Fact: Filmed at the lovely Château Laurier in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.
Where to Watch: FreeVee / Amazon Prime Video
Rating: 10 Lords A-Leaping
Thoughts: Definitely gets higher marks for having more diversity than other films of this genre. The two leads are cute and it’s overall a pleasant little holiday film.
Tuesday, December 6th
Title: “Catering Christmas”
Year: 2022
Time Investment: 1h 26m
Big Name Celebrity: None
Fun Fact: It’s set in New Hampshire, but yet I don’t think they ever say that nor does anyone have a local accent.
Where to Watch: Check the Great American Family website for channels.
Rating: 8 Maids A-Milking
Thoughts: Despite the hard to believe plot lines and details, it’s still enjoyable but just don’t think about the logistics of all the kitchen and event planning stuff.
Wednesday, December 7th
Title: “A Cape Cod Christmas”
Year: 2021
Time Investment: 1h 29m
Big Name Celebrity: None
Fun Fact: The stars of the movie were in a real Cape Cod Christmas parade.
Where to Watch: Amazon Prime Video
Rating: 6 Geese A-Laying
Thoughts: This could have easily been a Thanksgiving or Easter movie. They didn’t really make Christmas more than background.
Thursday, December 8th
Title: “Christmas With You”
Year: 2022
Time Investment: 1h 30m
Big Name Celebrity: Freddie Prinze, Jr.
Fun Fact: Directed by a woman! Argentinian director Gabriela Tagliavini
Where to Watch: Netflix
Rating: 12 Drummers Drumming
Thoughts: This was truly thoroughly enjoyable. Freddie Prinze Jr.’s performance was very genuine and good. Loved the diversity, refreshingly not one of those cookie cutter types of Christmas movies. Seems like a missed opportunity not to call this movie, “Christmas Quinceañera!”
Friday, December 9th
Title: “Love Hard”
Year: 2021
Time Investment: 1h 46m
Big Name Celebrity: Nina Dobrev, Jimmy O. Yang
Fun Fact: I really can’t think of any. This is more of a movie you endure rather than enjoy. Also, I think I caught a blooper they didn’t fix. Not a spoiler, but at one point a character said that the main character was from New York City when the movie clearly established she was from Los Angeles.
Where to Watch: Netflix
Rating: 4 Calling Birds
Thoughts: I had to watch this in two different sittings because halfway through I needed a break. It’s not a good movie. I don’t want to give any spoilers, but I think the image below alone clues you into the predictable plot of this movie.
Saturday, December 10th — Double Feature!
Title: “A Christmas Story” & “A Christmas Story Christmas Story”
Year: 1983 & 2022
Time Investment: 1h 33m & 1h 38m
Big Name Celebrity: I guess in the original, Peter Billingsley was the big name? For the 2022 verision, the reappearance of many of the actors from the original are the draw.
Fun Fact: Based on the trivia for each film in IMDB.com, the original movie filmed a good chunk of it in Canada whereas the recent movie filmed a lot in Bulgaria.
Where to Watch: A variety of places, check online.
Rating: I give the original 5 Golden Rings and the 2022 version 7 Swans A-Swimming. I’m really not a big fan of this movie, but thought the 2022 version was more tolerable to watch.
Thoughts: I never watched “A Christmas Story” as a kid, so I don’t have the same sentimentality of it as other folks do. My husband wanted to see the 2022 version and recommended that we re-watch the first one for my benefit since I don’t know the movie that well. I highly recommend doing this because I know a lot of the 2022 version would have been lost on me otherwise.
Sunday, December 11th
Title: “Hometown Holiday”
Year: 2018
Time Investment: 1h 24m
Big Name Celebrity: None
Fun Fact: None that I could find
Where to Watch: Netflix
Rating: 2 Turtle Doves
Thoughts: It’s a bit of a fib by Netflix to lump this in with the other Christmas movies. The movie itself didn’t only involve the Christmas holiday, it included others around the year as well. So, for this weird “experiment” that I’m doing, it was a disappointment. Also, this was just a bad movie. I had a hard time keeping track of whatever plot was there. It also was using that tired trope of “big city people bad” versus “small town folk good.” *eye roll*
Monday, December 12th
Title: “A Naija Christmas”
Year: 2021
Time Investment: 2h 1m
Big Name Celebrity:
Fun Fact: Not sure, as some of these actors may be well known in Nigeria and I don’t know about them.
Where to Watch: Netflix
Rating: 7 Swans A-Swimming
Thoughts: I’ll admit that there were times in this movie that I had no idea what was going on, even with subtitles on. But, overall, it was very cool to see the Christmas movie genre from another culture!
Tuesday, December 13th
Title: “Double Holiday”
Year: 2019
Time Investment: 1h 24m
Big Name Celebrity: None
Where to Watch: Hallmark Channel
Rating: 9 Ladies Dancing
Thoughts: Although it was confusing as to why the boss was tasking employees to decorate her house for a holiday party, overall this was a nice mix of Chanukah and Christmas in one movie.
Wednesday, December 14th
Title: “A California Christmas”
Year: 2020
Time Investment: 1h 47m
Big Name Celebrity: None
Where to Watch: Netflix
Rating: 6 Geese A-Laying
Thoughts: This movie was kind of all over the place and also Christmas was sort of shoehorned into this. It has all the elements of a mindless movie that you want, but there’s almost too much in here to just let go. I don’t want to give any spoilers, but prepared for some plot holes the size of your head. It shocking to me that this is the first of a series.
Fun Fact: I started to watch this earlier in the month but turned it off because I thought it was too dumb. Then, I found out that The Bennington Show on SiriusXM was viewing this movie for their on-air #Netflixmas special, where they discuss the movie — so, I gave it another chance.
Thursday, December 15th
Title: “The Princess Switch”
Year: 2018
Time Investment: 1h 42m
Big Name Celebrity: Vanessa Hudgens
Where to Watch: Netflix
Rating: 7 Swans A-Swimming
Thoughts: Did you like “The Parent Trap?” Then you’ll love “The Princess Switch.” Why does every other holiday movie have the woman as a baker? Also, several of these movies have the main woman character as a small business owner, which is great, but where do they find the time for Christmas shenanigans?! Anyway, cute and mindless movie fits the bill.
Friday, December 16th
Title: “A Castle for Christmas”
Year: 2021
Time Investment: 1h 39m
Big Name Celebrity: Brooke Shields! Carey Elwes! Cameo by Drew Barrymore!
Where to Watch: Netflix
Rating: 11 Pipers Piping
Thoughts: I first watched this last year and rewatched it this year because honestly it is worth seeing again. I really liked this one a lot. It more or less felt more realistic in some way than other Christmas movies. It’s hard to explain why, but it just ticks all the boxes of drama, laughs, and weird plot holes that only Christmas movies can provide. Highly recommend.
Saturday, December 17th
Title: “The Night Before”
Year: 2015
Time Investment: 1h 41m
Big Name Celebrity: Many! For starters, the three main stars are Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Seth Rogen, and Anthony Mackie
Where to Watch: Amazon Video, FreeVee
Rating: 11 Pipers Piping
Thoughts: Note that this is an R-rated film: NSFW language, drug use, some nudity. But, yeah, this is a good Christmas movie, IMO. This was a rewatch as I did see it when it first came out in 2015. This is jam-packed with known actors. It’s not for kids or anyone sensitive to cursing and the other warnings above.
Sunday, December 18th
Title: “Your Christmas or Mine?”
Year: 2022
Time Investment: 1h 35m
Big Name Celebrity: Alex Jennings who played David, Duke of Windsor in “The Crown”
Where to Watch: Amazon Video
Rating: 9 Ladies Dancing
Thoughts: Pretty predictable but overall, it’s the formulaic Christmas movie you like to turn off your brain and enjoy during the holiday season.
Monday, December 19th
Title: “Holiday in Handcuffs”
Year: 2006
Time Investment: 1h 26m
Big Name Celebrity: Melissa Joan Hart, Mario Lopez, June Lockhart, Markie Post, Timothy Bottoms
Fun Fact: Filmed in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. From IMDB.com, “The movie became the highest viewed broadcast in the history of ABC Family with 6.7 million viewers and adults 18 to 49 (a 2.4 rating).
Where to Watch: Amazon Video
Rating: 7 Swans A-Swimming
Thoughts: Far-fetched, but not terrible. There’s definitely some adult themes, nothing graphic but some insinuations and double-entendre language.
Tuesday, December 20th
Title: “Hanukkah on Rye”
Year: 2022
Time Investment: 1h 25m
Big Name Celebrity: Singer Lisa Loeb, Jeremy Jordan who I know from NBC’s “Smash”
Fun Fact: Apparently it was inspired by the 1940s film, “Shop Around the Corner,” which was also apparently inspiration for the 1990s film, “You’ve Got Mail.”
Where to Watch: Hallmark Channel
Rating: 11 Pipers Piping
Thoughts: This is so close to getting a 12 Drummers Drumming. Overall, a quality holiday film. Better than average Hanukkah movie. It was just odd to me that SO MUCH emphasis was placed on the holiday when in actuality, it’s not “Jewish Christmas” which I feel this film was almost trying to convey? Otherwise, a nice holiday movie.
Wednesday, December 21st
Title: “Christmas in Mississippi”
Year: 2017
Time Investment: 1h 30m
Big Name Celebrity: Faith Ford, of “Murphy Brown” fame and Barry Bostwick of all kinds of stuff fame.
Fun Fact: It was actually filmed in Gulfport, Mississippi.
Where to Watch: Lifetime Network, Amazon Video
Rating: 10 Lords A-Leaping
Thoughts: Really not terrible, as far as Lifetime Christmas movies go. I enjoy seeing Faith Ford in anything. I know it’s a movie, but nobody had a Southern accent which kind of took me out of it at times. This was like if the Southern Living magazine made a Christmas movie, and I mean that in a good way.
Thursday, December 22nd
Title: “Spirited”
Year: 2022
Time Investment: 2h 7m
Big Name Celebrity: Ryan Reynolds, Will Ferrell, Octavia Spencer, and many more well-known stars.
Fun Fact: Hard to mention any fun facts without giving away spoilers!
Where to Watch: Apple TV+
Rating: 12 Drummers Drumming
Thoughts: It’s almost unfair to compare this to the other movies because this is a big budget movie with major star power. Some really good songs and I wouldn’t be surprised if this was turned into a musical on the stage.
Friday, December 23rd
Saturday, December 24th
Sunday, December 25th
Title: “Die Hard”
Year: 1988
Time Investment: 2h 12m
Big Name Celebrity: Bruce Willis, duh!
Fun Fact: Release date was July 20, 1988.
Where to Watch: Starz, Amazon Video, and more
Rating: 12 Drummers Drumming
Thoughts: Yippee-ki-yay. Not really much else to say. It’s a classic. Yes, I do believe this is a Christmas movie — for a variety of reasons.
Monday, December 26th
Tuesday, December 27th
Wednesday, December 28th
Thursday, December 29th
Friday, December 30th
Saturday, December 31st
Coming Soon!
xxxx, December xxth
Title: “Nagykarácsony”
Year: 2021
Time Investment: 1h 50m
Big Name Celebrity: TBD
Fun Fact: The title means “Christmas Eve” in Hungarian.
Where to Watch:
Rating: TBD
Thoughts: TBD
