Last year I wrote a post about my favorite classic holiday movies. It was a way to catalog for myself all the movies my family and I love to watch.
But this year I’ve been reviewing all of our favorite made-for-TV holiday movies. While these kinds of stories have been around for a while, Hallmark and Netflix have really made these movies commonplace instead of a special event. Pandemic lockdowns have only increased their popularity.
For the most part, these movies are kind of silly and sometimes bland. But there are standouts in this genre that are definitely worth mentioning. Every year, bloggers and magazine writers announce their favorites but for some reason they’re not my favorites. So I thought I’d share my own list with you.
These movies didn’t have big budgets or huge marketing campaigns, but the interesting thing about this list is that over 80% of the movies were books first. As a writer, I believe that makes a difference although there are plenty of instances where movies butcher books. Anyway, the movies I listed below all have three things in common besides a happy Christmas ending. They make me laugh, they make me cry, and they make me worry that the happy ending won’t ever come. And the fabulous tensions brings me back to these movies every single year.
These movies played on Lifetime, Hallmark, and Up channels. (And yes, Candace Cameron-Bure does appear in at least one these. LOL) And if I had to pick my top three, they would be A SEASON FOR MIRACLES and CHRISTMAS IN CONWAY and CHRISTMAS ANGEL.
