8 Christmas Movies We’re Definitely Watching This Season

From the Hallmark Channel to Lifetime and more, there's plenty of ways to get into the holiday spirit

Stephanie Holland

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Christmas is about being with family, great food, fun gifts and seeing Santa. However, it’s also about a non-stop barrage of Christmas movies. From Hallmark to Lifetime to BET+ to Ion to OWN, every network has a lineup of holiday movies starring familiar TV faces.

In the past, they haven’t always featured a lot of Black casts, but it looks like that’s changing this year. Lifetime has gone all in on inclusivity, with the most diverse schedule of all the Christmas movie channels. To make your viewing easier, here are 8 Christmas movies we’re definitely checking out.

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Christmas Deja Vu - BET+

Thursday, Nov. 25

Synopsis: A woman with a downtrodden life who hates Christmas longs for the life she could have had as a singer. She meets an angel who grants her wish.

The “wish things could have been different” trope is very popular in Christmas movies. Apparently angels are just waiting to grant wishes at Christmastime. What makes this one different is the chance to hear Amber Riley sing holiday classics. Plus, Loretta Devine makes everything better.

Merry Liddle Christmas Baby - Lifetime

Saturday, Nov. 27 at 8/7c

Synopsis: This holiday, the Liddles have much to be merry about! Jacquie Liddle (Kelly Rowland) and her husband Tyler (Thomas Cadrot) are preparing for the arrival of their first baby. Meanwhile, Jacquie’s sister Treena (Latonya Williams) and her husband Julian (Jaime M. Callica) are thinking about adopting a baby themselves, and spirited, fashionista sister Kiara’s (Bresha Webb) relationship with Chris (Nathan Witte) is heating up. With Jacquie’s family expanding in ways she could never have expected, the Liddles are headed for a crazy Christmas filled with merry mayhem and lots of love and laughter.

This is a no-brainer. We’ve followed the Liddles through romance and marriage, so we definitely need to be there as they grow their family. Kelly Rowland is back for the third movie in the series, which means it’s time to plan a marathon. We’re already wondering how Lifetime plans to keep this franchise going next Christmas? Will there be another baby, or perhaps another wedding?

Miracle in Motor City - Lifetime

Sunday, Nov. 28 at 8/7c

Synopsis: Amber Dupont (Tia Mowry) bites off more than she can chew when she takes charge of her church’s annual Christmas pageant and inadvertently promises to deliver a special performance by Motown Legend Smokey Robinson. When her best friends secretly enlist Amber’s former flame Eddie (Mark Taylor) to help – the pair reconnect in a quest to find Smokey and convince him to appear. With the clock ticking, family, friends, and superstar Smokey Robinson come together to stage the most special pageant yet.

You had us at Smokey Robinson. Yes, we know Smokey will probably just make a guest appearance at the end, but we don’t care. We’re looking for a fun story, with a little romance, and some good holiday music. Seems like this checks all the boxes.

Welcome to the Christmas Family Reunion - Lifetime

Monday, Nov. 29 at 8/7c

Synopsis: Event planner Amy (Michelle Argyris) helps rising singer Tiffanie Christmas (Asia’h Epperson) plan her holiday family reunion. Along the way Amy must navigate some challenging family dynamics, especially amongst Tiffanie’s aunts as well as her own growing feelings for Tiffanie’s cousin, Calvin (Alonzo B. Slater). Will she be able to pull off an amazing Christmas family reunion?

Family reunions are never easy. Add in holiday stress, bickering aunts and unexpected feelings to the mix, and it’s a recipe for chaos. “Party planner falls for client” isn’t the most unique premise, but a star-studded cast of fan favorites Vanessa E. Williams, Wendy Raquel Robinson and Tim Russ will make any movie infinitely more watchable.

Adventures in Christmasing - VH1

Monday, Nov. 29 at 9/8c

Synopsis: Parker Baldwin, a highly successful and meticulous talk show host who plans everything to a T, finds her Christmas plans upended when her network persuades her to spend three days in the wild with superstar adventurer & television survivalist Finn Holt for a holiday television event. The two butt heads until they find themselves stranded together in the wild with no food, unreliable shelter and no form of communication. Unexpectedly impacting each other, they come to realize life is the greatest adventure. Kim Fields, Adrian Holmes, Kel Mitchell, Eva Marcille and Jonathan Silverman star.

If you’ve ever watched Bear Grylls take celebrities into the wilderness and thought “that would make a great Christmas movie,” then this is the one you’ve been waiting for. We applaud VH1 for going in a completely different direction from all the other networks, and trying to do something new. And we get instantly nostalgic anytime we see Kel Mitchell on our TV screen.

A Christmas Dance Reunion - Lifetime

Friday, Dec. 3 at 8/7c

Synopsis: Successful attorney Lucy Mortimer (Monique Coleman), along with her mother Virginia (Kim Roberts) returns to the Winterleigh Resort to help celebrate the hotel’s final Christmas season. Once there, Lucy is reunited with the owner’s nephew and her childhood Christmas Dance partner, Barrett Brewster (Corbin Bleu). Though the resort has fallen on hard times and has stopped most holiday events, Lucy leads the charge in recreating the beloved Christmas traditions, including the popular Christmas Dance, to bring together new families and new hope to the resort. Now, Lucy must decide if she’s willing to take a risk on love and partner up once more with Barrett for what could be the last Christmas Dance.

You know you’ve been waiting for that Taylor and Chad High School Musical reunion. Well, here it is, with Monique Coleman and Corbin Bleu playing childhood dance partners who we can only assume fall in love while doing amazing choreography. This is the Christmas movie we never knew we were waiting for.

Kirk Franklin’s A Gospel Christmas - Lifetime

Saturday, Dec. 4 at 8/7c

Synopsis: When Olivia (Demetria McKinney), a young assistant pastor, gets assigned to be a lead pastor at a new church a month before Christmas, she’s fearful she can’t manage the transition, including getting the choir ready to open the town’s annual Winter Jamboree. Banding together with her new congregation, Olivia discovers a new home for herself, and even finds a little Christmas romance along the way! Featuring a special appearance and songs written and arranged by Kirk Franklin.

Honestly, this is all about the music. We want a film with music from Kirk Franklin to just have us praising for two hours. We’re sure it also has a lovely story of the town coming together to make Christmas beautiful, but we’re here for some great gospel music.

My Favorite Christmas Melody - Lifetime

Sunday, Dec. 5 at 8/7

Synopsis: Once a promising singer-songwriter, Abby (Mýa) now finds herself writing uninspired jingles for commercials. As she heads home for the holidays, she’s enlisted by the local high school music teacher to help save the school arts program. In the process, Abby rediscovers her voice and regains the confidence to go after her dreams and lets the possibility of love in too. Rainbow Sun Francks also stars

How great is it to see Mya back on our screens? Lifetime movies are full of actresses from early 2000s TV shows, so we’re actually surprised it took this long for her to pop up in one of these movies. Of course, if they don’t find a reason for her to have a cool dance number, producers have failed us all.