Mama, What Shows Are You Streaming This Christmas Season?
In normal years, December feels like one of those slide puzzles where you rearrange the pieces inside a fixed frame. Just when you think you have them all lined up, you find yourself one piece off and you have to keep rearranging.
While COVID Christmas is keeping our December quieter, the feeling to be cozy and comfortable at the end of the day is even higher.
So after the kids have gone to bed and after my early-to-rise husband goes to be, I like to fill my December evenings with Christmas TV shows while I look through my stack of Christmas magazines & catalogs. It’s a tradition that I look forward to every year. {Along with working on Project Life’s December Daily.}
I have a great list of winter-themed shows & documentaries {free printable} for your homeschool. I enjoy watching those shows with my kids. But when the kids are in bed? As my sister says, “It’s like choosing a late-night snack. An apple is better for you but chips sound so much better.”
Innnnnnnnnn-deed.
(Originally published in 2017, updated December 2023.)
Christmas Shows on Netflix
Christmas in New York, bookstores, letters & new love. Just the right amount of Christmas fun & cheesiness.
Yes, it’s a young adult book. And hopelessly naive. And a must-watch.
Last December, I finally took the plunge into the world of Gilmore Girls. Why I waited so long, I have no idea! It was so good and not at all what I expected. Season 1’s “Forgiveness and Stuff” is the Christmas episode I’ll be sure to watch with Season 5’s “Women of Questionable Morals” a close runner-up.
Holiday Secrets is a new 3-episode series from Netflix about a family’s reunion over Christmas.
Gianna, unmarried & feeling the pressure, lies to her family about her relationship status. Now she has to find someone before their Christmas celebration. Two seasons (six episodes each) of this dubbed-over Italian comedy is a great after-the-kids-go-to-bed choice.
Even if you’ve never watched an episode, the Christmas episodes of Call the Midwife need to go on your list this year. Gentle TV, likable characters, low-key drama. It’s my go-to cozy show.
{They’re the first episode of each season on Netflix.}
The Great British Baking Show Holidays is definitely one of the best cooking competition shows. So a holiday edition of it? Yes, please!
Bonus: There are five seasons of it.
Perfectly Predictable (and that’s why we love them!)
What’s Christmas without a bit of cheesy, made-for-TV movies with predictable plots?!
1. Christmas As Usual (Netflix) — She’s Norwegian, he’s Indian. How will they make the holidays work?
2. Christmas in Santa Fe (Hulu) — His family owns a beloved toy store. Her corporation wants to take him over. What happens to the toy story and their love?
3. Christmas on the Square (Netflix) — When a Scroogey lady wants to sell her hometown’s land, an angel arrives to save her from herself.
4. Five Star Christmas (Hulu) — When a widowed father is bored & lonely, he finds a project. But what happens when the kids come home for Christmas, and he needs their help with his project?
5. A Christmas Movie Christmas (Hulu) — One sister loves Christmas (and Christmas movies), the other doesn’t. When a Christmas movie becomes real life, what happens next?
Christmas Episodes of GenX TV Shows
One of my favorite Christmas traditions is watching the Christmas episodes of the TV shows we grew up watching. I miss the way TV was back then — less selection and more collective watching, the longer TV seasons, etc. These episodes feel familiar & nostalgic.
(Amazon has a pretty good selection of older shows, even more so if you’re willing to buy them.)
Most of these TV shows have numerous Christmas episodes, but these are some of the best ones.
- Seinfeld (Netflix) — Season 3: Episode 12 and Season 6, Episode 12
- Happy Days (Amazon) — Season 2: Episode 11 and Season 6: Episode 16
- Laverne & Shirley (Amazon) — Season 4: Episode 76
- Webster (Amazon) — Season 5: Episode 12
- Brady Bunch (Amazon) — Season 1: Episode 12
More Christmas Shows & Movies on Amazon Prime
Prime Video has a Happy Holiday section, but I want to make sure you don’t miss these.
- The Christmas Lodge
- History Through the Decades
- Season 2’s Christmas at Downton Abbey is a must-watch every year.
- Christmas in Connecticut (also on Hulu)
- Something from Tiffany’s
- Noelle (also on Disney+)
- Christmas Cookie Challenge
Do you have a favorite Christmas episode of a TV show?
About Tricia
Tricia is a 40-something mom to three. She loves Netflix, people, and laughter. And she firmly believes that homeschooling should include all three.
After years of ‘doing life’ — homeschooling, military life, homemaking — like others, she’s charting her own way… and loving it!
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