Come December, as fairy lights are untangled and batches of cookies find their way into the oven, there is one ritual that definitively announces the arrival of Christmas—pressing play on a familiar holiday film. It might be Home Alone, with Kevin’s ingenious traps and the comforting chaos of family reunions, or It’s a Wonderful Life, whose gentle reminder—that every life leaves a mark—feels as profound today as it did in 1946.
Bengaluru’s Thara Nandikkara usually ends up watching the same Christmas movies every year— The Holiday, Home Alone, It’s a Wonderful Life, The Polar Express etc. “I think it’s because they feel familiar and comforting. I already know what is coming, and that’s kind of the point. There are so many new Christmas movies on OTT now, but these older ones just have more warmth. They don’t feel rushed. Watching them feels comforting, just like Christmas,” she says.
The enduring charm of these classics lies in their emotional simplicity. Miracle on 34th Street taps into the magic of belief, asking viewers—young and old alike—whether they are willing to leave room for wonder. A Christmas Carol, in its many cinematic avatars, continues to resonate because its promise of redemption feels timeless, especially at the close of a long year. Even the irreverent humour of Die Hard, now a debated festive staple, works because it folds high-stakes action into a story about finding one’s way back to family.
Ketki Gadre, a travel blogger from Ahmedabad religiously watches Home Alone and The Holiday during this time. “I’ve been watching Home Alone since I was in school and I’m still drawn because it is the best mix of everything a movie should have—a full on entertainer with a mix of holiday cheer,” she says.
Being a traveller herself, The Holiday makes sense for Gadre because it showcases the best of travel, love, holidays and new friendships. According to her, “the cast and characters have a comforting charm that draws me in”.
Speaking of yours truly, I do sometimes surf through the bizarre array of romance movies that keep popping up on Netflix every season, but then, I keep swirling back to Sandra Bullock and Ryan Reynold’s The Proposal, although it has nothing to do with Christmas. I suppose living in India, Christmas certainly feels like the perfect time to indulge into movies set in colder landscapes, like how Bullock flies to Sitka in Alaska to avoid being deported, and enter into a false marriage to her American colleague.
Or, I would resort to the other genre of animation films and watch Happy Feet and its sequel on loop. For some like Joydeep Mondal, an Architect, favourites are the fairly newer ones like the 2018 film ‘The Grinch’. “At its core, it is less a tale about hating Christmas and more a study of emotional isolation,” he explains. The Grinch’s bitterness isn’t directed at the season’s joy, but at the hollowness he perceives in it—an ache shaped by loneliness and feeling left out. “What ultimately softens him is not spectacle or excess, but the quiet force of warmth and inclusion, proving that genuine kindness can thaw even the most guarded heart,” Mondal told FPJ.
For older audiences, these films are steeped in memory—of childhood holidays, crowded living rooms, and traditions passed down without ceremony. For newer viewers, they offer something rarer—stories that move at an unhurried pace, where kindness triumphs and endings feel earned. In a world of endless new content, Christmas films endure not because they are perfect, but because they feel like coming home—predictable, reassuring, and warmly familiar, year after year.
Young couples also incorporate holiday cheer with movie marathons this season. “Every year, my boyfriend Abhinav and I have a little tradition where we kick off our Christmas movie marathon as soon as December begins. But come Christmas Eve, there’s only one non-negotiable watch that is, Home Alone. It’s our classic favourite, the ultimate OG Christmas movie, and no matter how many times we’ve seen it, it never gets old,” informs Janvi from Mumbai.
She adds, “Abhinav was never really a big Christmas person, but ever since Kevin McCallister taught him the true meaning of festive chaos, there’s been no turning back. From laughing like it’s our first watch, to quoting ‘Keep the change, ya filthy animal’, the film has officially turned him into a Christmas believer.” Safe to say, once you survive the Wet Bandits, you’re in it for the holidays—every year, without fail.
Christmas films surely have a way of slipping past age and generation, becoming shared cultural shorthand for comfort, hope, and togetherness, because in the end, Christmas doesn’t change the Grinch—connection does.