Top 36 Essential Holiday Movies (Rotten Tomatoes)

We believe the essential holiday movie is the movie you can't wait to watch again. They're nostalgic movies you can't separate from memories of watching the leaves turn, the snow fall, and coming together with your family over warm food and even warmer drinks. The end of the year is a time of reflection and appreciation, and the holiday movies chosen for this list reflect our most hopeful side – whether it's seeing Scrooge's redemption (there's no shortage of Christmas Carol adaptations here!), the salvation of George Bailey in It's a Wonderful Life, or Charlie Brown's conquest of melancholia in his legendary Christmas special. Meanwhile, other movies picked here are simply good-natured fare with plenty of snowy moments, like Cool Runnings, Eight Below, and Paddington. And finally, we come to National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation, with perhaps the most valuable lesson: You can't choose family, but you can choose to smile and laugh. Happy Holidays from Rotten Tomatoes!