15 Best Christmas Lifetime Movies That'll Warm Your Heart This Holiday Season
Christmas movies are a quintessential part of the holiday season, and the Christmas romance films shown during It’s a Wonderful Lifetime and Hallmark Channel’s Countdown to Christmas bring family-friendly cozy vibes to get you in the spirit.
Hallmark holiday movies have become a rom-com genre of their own, and while these heartwarming films are often cheesy and follow similar tropes, these TV movies can be a positive part of your Christmas season traditions alongside classics like Home Alone, Love Actually, A Christmas Story, and It’s a Wonderful Life.
In our busy and uncertain world, these movies can be a cozy comfort to help get you in the holiday spirit. They have been shown to increase viewers’ dopamine levels and have also been shown to lower stress. The plots tend to be predictable, with characters getting into shenanigans, but things always work out in the end.
Related: The Top Christmas Movies of All Time
Whether you want a story about a girl’s return to her small town or a modern retelling of A Christmas Carol, there’s a Hallmark or Lifetime Christmas movie for you. Below are a few of the many fun films that will premiere this holiday season to help you get in the spirit of Christmas.
The Best Christmas Lifetime and Hallmark Movies to Watch This Year
1. Christmas on Mistletoe Lake
Premiered in 2022 on Lifetime
Rating: TV-PG
Runtime: 1h 27m
Synopsis:
At Christmastime, Reilly takes a trip to quiet Mistletoe Lake, where she is invited to stay on a boat with a single dad, Raymond, and his daughter, Emma. Emma and Reilly team up to try to convince Emma’s dad to participate in one final holiday festival before selling his boat.
2. The Dog Days of Christmas
Premiered Nov. 11 on Lifetime
Rating: PG-13
Runtime: 1h 28m
Synopsis:
Aid worker Annie Blake returns to her hometown in Vermont to visit family after a mission trip. While she is there, the animal shelter in town closes. Teaming up with her old school rival -- the local vet -- she works to save the shelter.
3. Under the Christmas Tree
Premiered Dec. 19, 2021, on Lifetime
Rating: N/A
Runtime: 1h 24m
Synopsis:
It isn’t love at first sight when Christmas tree whisperer Charlie finds the perfect pine for the Governor’s Holiday Celebration in Alma’s backyard, but time together and some holiday magic fairy dust make sparks fly.
4. Sweet Navidad
Premiered Nov. 17 on Lifetime
Rating: N/A
Runtime: 1h 28m
Synopsis:
Pastry chef Carmen wants to open her own pastry shop. Watch as Carmen teams up with another chef in this Christmas rom-com to create the perfect dessert menu for a big holiday event.
5. Radio Christmas
Premiered in 2019, now streaming on Lifetime and Amazon Prime’s Lifetime Movie Club
Rating: G
Runtime: 1h 27m
Synopsis:
Keshia Knight Pulliam stars as DJ Kara Porter, who has to move her broadcast to Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, a station known for year-round holiday tunes, when her Philadelphia radio station is closed for repair.
6. Single All The Way
Released in 2021, now streaming on Netflix
Rating: PG (Content suitable for older kids)
Runtime: 1h 41m
Synopsis:
Wanting to avoid questions from family about his love life Peter asks his best friend Tim to pretend to be his boyfriend when he goes home for the holidays to a small town, not realizing that his mom has been doing some matchmaking.
7. A Royal Corgi Christmas
Airing Dec. 16 on The Hallmark Channel and streaming on The Hallmark Channel website all season
Rating: TV-G
Runtime: 1h 30m
Synopsis: In A Royal Corgi Christmas, a prince and canine behavior expert fall in love while training a lively pup prior to an upcoming Christmas ball.
8. Ghosts of Christmas Always
Watch on the Hallmark Channel.
Rating: TV-G
Runtime: 1h 30m
Synopsis: In this modern adaptation of Dickens' "A Christmas Carol," a woman named Katharine embodies the Ghost of Christmas Present to help a man rediscover the meaning and magic of Christmas.
9. A Royal Christmas
Premiered in 2014 on Hallmark Channel. Now streaming on the Hallmark Channel website and Amazon Prime Video.
Rating: TV-G
Runtime: 1h 27m
Synopsis: Starring Lacey Chabert, as an American seamstress who is surprised to find out her boyfriend is a prince and heir to the Cordinia throne. A Royal Christmas is considered one of the top Hallmark movies.
10. A Holiday Spectacular
Premieres Nov. 27 on The Hallmark Channel
Rating: G
Synopsis:
Set in the 1950s, protagonist Maggie puts her wedding plans on hold to go to New York City and attempt to dance in the Radio City Music Hall Christmas Spectacular.
11. A Christmas Miracle
Available to stream now on Hallmark’s website and Amazon Prime Video
Rating: TV-G
Runtime: 1h 24m
Synopsis:
Tia Mowry plays Emma, a journalist whose boss steals her magazine cover story idea for the holiday issue. In the process of figuring out a Christmas miracle to write about, she starts to fall for her coworker, the staff photographer.
12. Falling For Christmas
Premiered Oct. 28, now streaming on Netflix
Rating: PG (Content may be better for older kids)
Runtime: 1h 33
Synopsis:
This Netflix Christmas film stars Hollywood star Lindsay Lohan as a hotel heiress with amnesia who falls in love with a single dad.
13. Christmas With You
Premiered Nov. 17 on Netflix
Rating: PG (Content may be better for older kids)
Runtime: 1h 30
Synopsis:
Aimee Garcia and Freddie Prinze Jr. star in this rom-com about a burnt popstar who takes a trip to a small town to escape, but finds love in the process.
14. The Princess Switch Series
Released 2018-2020, streaming on Netflix
Includes The Princess Switch, The Princess Switch: Switched Again, and The Princess Switch 3: Romancing the Star
Rating: PG/G
Synopsis:
Vanessa Hudgens stars as a Chicago baker who travels to Belgravia and meets the prince’s fiance, who could be her twin. This family-friendly Parent-Trap style holiday movie series is a trilogy of feel-good holiday Netflix original flicks. Some of the films are rating G while others are PG.
15. 12 Pups of Christmas (Hulu)
Released in 2019, now streaming on Hulu
Rating: PG
Runtime: 1h 30m
Synopsis:
If you want a heartwarming film suitable for older kids, follow the story of a woman who with the help of her co-worker, has to find homes for a dozen pups by Christmas.
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So snuggle up with your loved ones, grab some cozy blankets and enjoy some of the best new and old Hallmark and Lifetime movies at home for the holidays.
