The best part about winter is staying in to watch your favorite cold-weather comfort movies. By the end of Thanksgiving, the best remedy from a turkey and pumpkin pie hangover is to watch movies in anticipation for your next binge. If department marketing teams have taught us anything, it’s that there’s no shame in celebrating Christmas early. So why not start with some holiday movies?

Little Women

Glamour

Growing up, Little Women was my go-to winter movie. As soon as the first snowflake fell, I would grab my worn out VHS tape and joyfully watch it, wishing I lived in colonial New England, minus the corsets, oppression, and racism, that is.

Love Actually

Fanpop

The best part about these movie is that it’s like getting a convenient packaged deal. It has an all-star British cast featuring an undiscovered Keira Knightley, Hugh Grant, Colin Firth and Bill Nighy. It is a family, comedy, romance, and holiday movie in one. And it has separate storylines that eventually intersect. If you want a fun, light rom-com for after Thanksgiving, this is the perfect film.

Edward Scissorhands

YouTube

Many people don’t consider this Tim Burton classic to be a Christmas movie, but it actually centers around the holiday season. Not to spoil the film, but at the very end, when the snow finally falls, it’s a metaphor that Johnny Depp sacrificed himself for our Christmas sins (don’t quote me on that). Even Amy Schumer agrees that Edward Scissorhands Johnny Depp is her favorite Johnny Depp.

If an alt Christmas movie is what you crave, Edward Scissorhands is it.

Nightmare Before Christmas

Disney

That brings me to my next pick, The Nightmare Before Christmas, another Tim Burton classic. There’s an ongoing dispute about whether the film is a Halloween or Christmas movie, but it’s up to your own interpretation. It’s safe to say that it’s an all-around great holiday movie.

Home Alone

Screen Rant

As a 90s kid, Home Alone was my jam. A rich white kid who lives in a Chicago McCansion is left alone to eat ice cream and fight burglars: this is what dreams were made of back then. Home Alone is probably the most delightfully violent holiday movie ever made, with the bad guys getting tarred and feathered, a hot iron to the head, and getting cut up by broken Christmas ornaments. Kevin McCallister was better at making booby traps than that Saw guy.

The Muppet Christmas Carol

Wikia

I don’t care about all the big budget Pixar films revolving around Christmas, The Muppet Christmas Carol will always reign supreme. Kermit the Frog makes a perfect Bob Cratchit and I was genuinely scared by by the “ghost of Christmas yet to come.” No one else has has come close to Dickensian drama like Jim Henson.

Elf

Athena Cinema

Will Ferrell as an oversized elf with daddy issues is an obvious recipe for hilarity. What else is there to say? Elf is a light-hearted, solid comedy starring one of Hollywood’s funniest actors.

Die Hard

YouTube

Ring in the holidays with this action-packed movie that explodes with yuletide joy. What better way to get psyched for Christmas than by watching Bruce Willis punch you in the face with with this epic holiday classic?

Bridget Jones’s Diary

Marie Claire

Art imitates life in this delightful rom-com that stars Renee Zellweger before plastic surgery tragically ruined her face. Anyone who has felt alone, bloated, and slightly depressed can relate to Bridget Jones. I know what I’ll be watching after I gorge myself on turkey, Glenlivet, and self-pity.

A Christmas Story

Huffington Post

I used to hate this movie because it was playing 24/7 on TBS for what seemed like eons. But the older I got, the more I appreciate A Christmas Story. It’s just one of those comforting, nostalgic movies you can put on the background while making mashed potatoes or stuffing.

The Santa Clause

Popoptiq

This film was the peak of Tim Allen’s acting career and he has never made a film that holds a cinematic candle to The Santa Clause. Best of all, the CGI for the film was amazing for 1994.

Batman Returns

Indiewire

Christopher Nolan should just quit now, because no other Batman movie comes close to the gothic, Christmas-time masterpiece that is Batman Returns. This film superbly encapsulates the animated Batman series (1992-1995) that seemed way too dark for children on Saturday mornings like no other film has. Plus, it has one of my favorite actors, Danny DeVito.

What’s your favorite post-Thanksgiving movie?

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