We’ll take some cheese with that.
Did you know that since Hallmark first officially started making Christmas movies, they’ve released over 300 holiday films? This year alone, the network is releasing 31 new movies for the holiday season. Now, that’s a lot of content to deck the halls with.
While Hallmark has certainly got a roster of bonafide Holiday movie stars — Candace Cameron Bure, Lacey Chabert, and Holly Robinson Peete star in at least one flick a year — there are some major celebs who’ve graced the Hallmark small screen to spread Christmas cheer that will surprise and delight you. We’ve rounded up a selection of our favorite Hallmark Christmas movies and the rare Hanukkah film for you to watch this season. If you hate all of them, the good news is that you have literally hundreds of others to choose from! (Although, there are about 10 plots that seem to serve as the formula for all of these movies, and they almost all follow a single, work-weary woman finding love in a tiny picturesque town just in time for the holidays…and for some reason, carnival rides are also a big recurring theme — just go with it.) So put on your coziest PJs, make yourself a cup of hot cocoa, and let the sweet sounds of Hallmark cheer lull you into a Christmas coma.
The 15 Best Hallmark Christmas Movies of All Time
The Christmas Train
Let us be crystal clear — when it comes to Hallmark movies, they’re all very similar, especially in terms of quality. With that said, The Christmas Train is widely regarded as one of the best Hallmark Christmas movies made in recent history. Could it be because it stars silver fox Dermot Mulroney? That’s probably part of it. Could it also be because his character runs into legends like Danny Glover and Joan Cusack on the titular Christmas train? That’s probably part of it too. Hallmark loves nothing more than a story where a cynical character learns to love, and that’s exactly what happens here. When a journalist played by Mulroney takes a train from D.C. to L.A. to get inspired for a story, he meets a host of characters along the way who melt his cold, cynical heart.
Christmas Under Wraps
When this film, starring Candace Cameron Bure, premiered in 2014, a record-breaking 5.8 million people tuned in to watch. That’s quite a few Full House fans who turned up to watch DJ Tanner cement her reign as Hallmark Christmas queen. In this film, Cameron Bure stars as a hardworking doctor, who learns that the small town in Alaska she’s just moved to is hiding one big holiday secret (we’ll let you take a guess as to what that secret is).
The Christmas Doctor
Apparently, there’s something about female doctors finding love in small towns that just screams, “happy holidays,” because that’s also the plot of this Hallmark original! Holly Robinson Peete is — you guessed it — an ambitious traveling doctor who finds herself spending the holidays in the small town of Willow Brook filling in as the town’s only physician. Will she find love? Will she find a place to call home? Will she find holiday cheer? We have a feeling she’ll find all three!
A Season for Miracles
Laura Dern in a Hallmark movie? Now that’s what we call a gift. A Season For Miracles is not technically part of the official Hallmark channel canon, as it was first broadcast as a Hallmark Hall of Fame presentation on CBS in 1999. But don’t you worry — even though it can be a bit dark at times, it’s still got all of the hallmarks of a Hallmark movie. So here’s the dark part: A young woman basically kidnaps her niece and nephew so they aren’t put in foster care after their drug-addicted mother (played by national treasure Laura Dern) overdoses just before Christmas. Don’t worry — the trio ends up hiding out in the happy Christmas town of Bethlehem, where a literal guardian angel (played by the inimitable Patty Duke) finds them and puts their lives back on track. A Christmas miracle!
Christmas Comes Twice
We love nothing more than when Hallmark throws some casual time travel into the mix. In this film, a successful astrophysicist (which begs the question — are there unsuccessful astrophysicists?) attends a Christmas carnival, where a ride on a bewitched carousel takes her back in time to give her a second chance at changing her future with her one true love. Sounds amazing already, right? Well, it gets better — the astrophysicist is played by none other than Sister, Sister star Tamera Mowry.
Love, Lights, Hanukkah!
Finally, Hallmark got with the program and realized that Christmas isn’t the only major holiday celebrated in December. For one of their rare forays into Hanukkah fare, the team at Hallmark called in a heavy hitter: Ben Savage, a.k.a. Cory Matthews from beloved sitcom Boy Meets World. (Now if they could just put him, Cameron Bure, and Mowry in a movie together, all of our ‘90s dreams would come true.) In this film, a restaurant owner takes a DNA test that reveals she’s Jewish. This leads to a whirlwind adventure and an eight-night romance with one sexy Savage (Ben Savage, that is).
A Royal Christmas
Rumor has it that Lacey Chabert is one of the kindest people in Hollywood, so it makes sense that she would be tapped as one of Hallmark’s holiday stars. In the film, Chabert plays a regular American gal who learns that her boyfriend has been keeping a big secret from her when he invites her home for Christmas: he’s actually Prince Leopold, heir to the throne of Cordinia! What a world! Also since it’s a movie about a fake, vaguely British country with a royal family, obviously Jane Seymour makes an appearance.
A Christmas Tree Grows in Colorado
If Hallmark has taught us anything, it’s that when it comes to Christmas festivals in small-town America, there can be a lot of drama. In this film, a woman named Erin is in charge of her town’s Christmas celebration, and she finds the perfect spruce tree to display. The only problem? It’s growing on the property of a (very handsome, single) firefighter named Kevin, and he doesn’t want to give up the goods! Will the tree fall for Erin? Will Erin fall for Kevin? Time will tell!
The Christmas Spirit
The premise of this movie is absolutely bonkers, and we are here for it. A woman named Charlotte (played by Nicollette Sheridan) is left in a coma after a car accident. Somehow her spirit leaves her body (could you have guessed that from the title?!) and goes on a quest to stop a greedy businessman from signing a development deal that will ruin her little town before it’s too late. Nothing says Christmas like a ghostly warning to change your ways!
The Christmas Ring
It took a while, but in 2020 Hallmark cast Nazneen Contractor as the first South Asian lead in one of their Christmas movies. The Indian-born Canadian actress plays Kendra, a reporter who finds a beautiful antique engagement ring. Like anyone in her field, Kendra smells a good story, and with the help of the grandson of the ring’s owner, she searches for the love story behind the unique piece of jewelry.
Double Holiday
Another movie about Hanukkah? Thank you, Hallmark! In this one, an ambitious woman named Rebecca is up for a promotion at work, and it ends up ruining her Hanukkah plans. The company’s CEO asks her to co-host the company Christmas party alongside a man named Chris, who also happens to be her main competition for the promotion. Forced to work together, Chris learns about the meaning of Hanukkah from Rebecca, and we have a feeling that Rebecca might learn a thing or two about love from Chris.
The Christmas House
In 2020, Hallmark finally got with the times and included their first same-sex couple in a holiday movie. That movie is The Christmas House, and it stars our favorite Mean Girls hunk, Jonathan Bennett. Partners Brandon and Jake are anxiously awaiting news about their request for adoption when Brandon’s parents summon the couple home for Christmas with some big news.
A Christmas Love Story
We like this one because the title could be the title of literally any Hallmark Christmas movie ever made, and frankly, we are shocked that it took until 2019 for them to use it. This film stars Broadway goddess Kristin Chenoweth as a youth choir director (pause to think about how amazing it would be if Chenoweth were your youth choir director) who is tasked with writing a Christmas song for the annual holiday show. When a gifted young boy joins the choir, Chenoweth’s character is thrilled, until she learns his widower father has no idea what he’s been doing.
Christmas Everlasting
Hold onto your sweet potato pies, everyone: This Hallmark movie features none other than Patti LaBelle. You can cross everything else off your Christmas watch list. This story has a sad start but a happy ending (obviously). When a woman named Lucy learns that her sister has passed away, she has to take time away from her new role as a law partner to return home to learn the strange terms of her sister’s will.
Christmas in Conway
Mandy Moore, Mary-Louise Parker, and Andy Garcia together in a Christmas movie? It’s the trio we never knew we needed. Garcia plays a cranky old mayor whose one joy in life is to make his ill wife, played by Parker, smile (…does he have a brother?). Moore moves in as a live-in nurse, and Garcia reluctantly enlists her to help find and build a ferris wheel in the backyard as a Christmas surprise. Cheri Oteri makes a delightful appearance as a stuck-up neighbor who cannot stand the eyesore of a ferris wheel potentially making property values plummet in her fancy neighborhood.
