It is unlikely that most of these will be watched again and again, year after year; the best festive films, however, are gifts that keep on giving. What distinguishes them is that they are not just seasonally appropriate but are great films by any measure: touching treatises on loneliness and human connection that just happen to have a few snowmen and carolers thrown in.

The Hallmark Channel has become one of the best places to watch holiday movies. While the company first launched on television in 2001, they quickly got into the Christmas spirit after seeing popularity with their 2006 film,