December 12 and 13Apple TV
A Charlie Brown Christmas
Free to stream for everyone that weekend.
Christmas traditions Movie nights
Christmas Movie Night
An opera for the Three Kings, Linus reading from Luke and a pot of cocoa before the opening credits
A tree before the curtain
Last December, nearly three in four Americans planned to watch a Christmas movie, and two in three planned to drink hot chocolate. Here is how the Christmas movie night came to be, from an opera on Christmas Eve 1951 to the specials and classics families still gather for, and everything to host your own: a recipe card for hot chocolate, the movie-night pantry and two movies from the guide to watch together.
Christmas Eve, 1951
An opera for the Three Kings
On Christmas Eve 1951, NBC broadcast a brand-new opera, live from its studio: Gian Carlo Menotti's Amahl and the Night Visitors, the story of a shepherd boy who meets the Three Kings on their way to Bethlehem. Hallmark sponsored the hour as a thank-you to everyone who bought its cards, and Hallmark still calls Amahl "the first original opera created especially for television."
Viewers sent thousands of letters, cards and telegrams to thank Hallmark, and that broadcast became the first of the Hallmark Hall of Fame. This Christmas Eve marks 75 years.
NBC and CBS, 1964 to 1966
The specials we waited for all year
Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer first flew on NBC on December 6, 1964, with Burl Ives as Sam the Snowman, and it has aired every Christmas since. NBC calls it the longest-running Christmas special in TV history, and after decades on another network, it came home to NBC in 2024.
Two years later, on December 18, 1966, CBS aired Chuck Jones's How the Grinch Stole Christmas!, with Boris Karloff reading the story and giving the Grinch his voice. It turns 60 this December. Both are NBC shows now, and NBC has said both return this year.
December 9, 1965
Linus and the Christmas story
A Charlie Brown Christmas premiered on CBS on December 9, 1965, with real children's voices, a jazz score and no laugh track. When Charlie Brown can't find what Christmas is all about, Linus steps into the spotlight and recites the angel's good news to the shepherds, from the Gospel of Luke, chapter 2, verses 8 to 14. Charles Schulz insisted on the reading, despite worries that it would put off part of the audience.
Watch for the moment Linus says "Fear not" and lets go of his blanket. The special won a Peabody and an Emmy. It no longer airs on broadcast TV. It streams on Apple TV, and it is free for everyone on Saturday and Sunday, December 12 and 13.
Bedford Falls, 1946
How George Bailey found his audience
It began as a short story, The Greatest Gift, that Philip Van Doren Stern sent to 200 friends as a Christmas card in 1943. The movie lost money when it came out in 1946, despite five Oscar nominations. Then, in 1974, its copyright lapsed, and TV stations could show it without paying. They played it again and again every Christmas, and a generation fell in love with George Bailey.
The copyright was restored in the 1990s, and the film has been an NBC tradition since 1994. In a YouGov poll, Baby Boomers named it their favorite Christmas movie. For its 80th birthday, it returns to theaters on Friday, December 18, with Leonard Maltin.
Mark the calendar
The season on TV
Since 1997, cable TV has played A Christmas Story twelve times in a row, from Christmas Eve to Christmas night, so the family can drop in on Ralphie whenever the wrapping is done.
And every fall now, the cable channels fill the season with new Christmas movies. Hallmark Channel has premiered new ones every Christmas since 2009, and this year it has 34. Great American Family has 18 and Lifetime 11, most of them on weekend nights. Our guide lists them night by night.
December 18In theaters
It's a Wonderful Life
The 80th anniversary on the big screen, with Leonard Maltin, the same day the Grinch special turns 60.
Every Christmas Eve since 1997TBS and TNT
A Christmas Story
Twelve showings back to back. Check the listings for this year's times.
Date to comeNBC
Rudolph, Frosty and the Grinch
NBC has said all three return this year.
Camden, New Jersey, 1933
Bring the drive-in home
America's first drive-in opened in June 1933, beside Camden, New Jersey. Its inventor, Richard Hollingshead, knew his mother found theater seats uncomfortable, so he set a projector on the hood of his car and tied bedsheets to the trees in the driveway. By 1958 there were about 4,000 drive-ins across the country.
About 280 are left, and most close for the winter. So for Christmas, bring the drive-in home: hang a sheet, set up a projector and park the children in cardboard-box cars. In Christmas at the Drive-In, on Great American Family, Danica McKellar fights to keep her hometown's drive-in open for the holidays.
From the parlor to the sofa
Popcorn comes home
Popcorn was a Christmas treat long before it was a movie snack. In the late 1800s and early 1900s, popcorn balls were among the most popular sweets in America and a favorite gift, and families decorated their mantels, doorways and Christmas trees with popcorn.
During the Depression, a bag of popcorn for a nickel or a dime was one of the few treats families could afford, and theaters that refused to sell it soon went out of business. When television kept families home in the 1950s, popcorn followed them to the sofa, and it has been part of movie night ever since.
Setting up the night
Blankets, a vote and a cocoa bar
Let everyone vote on the first movie, and save the classic for last. Pile blankets and pillows on the floor, set out the cocoa toppings in little bowls and keep a pot of hot chocolate warm on the stove. Matching pajamas are optional, but in a YouGov poll last December, 59 percent of parents with children under 18 planned to wear holiday pajamas.
Two cautions for a cozy night. Popcorn, marshmallows and hard candy like peppermint sticks are choking risks for children under 4, the American Academy of Pediatrics says. And Christmas is the peak day of the year for candle fires, so near the blankets, use flameless candles.
The recipe card
Make the hot chocolate
Christmas Movie Night JustChristmas
Hot Chocolate
Ready before the opening credits
- Makes
- 4 servings
- Prep
- 5 min
- Ready in
- 15 min
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar, plus more to taste
- Pinch of salt
- 4 cups whole milk
- 4 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped (about 2/3 cup chips)
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
For serving
- Mini marshmallows or whipped cream
Steps
- Put the cocoa, sugar and salt in a medium saucepan and pour in about 1/2 cup of the milk. Whisk for about 30 seconds, until it forms a smooth paste with no dry lumps.
- Whisk in the rest of the milk and set the pan over medium heat. Heat for 5 to 7 minutes, whisking often, until it steams and tiny bubbles appear around the edge. Do not let it boil.
- Add the chocolate and whisk for 1 to 2 minutes, until it melts completely and no specks remain.
- Move the pan off the burner and whisk in the vanilla. Taste, and add a spoonful more sugar if you like it sweeter.
- Pour into mugs and finish with a handful of marshmallows or a spoonful of whipped cream. Serve right away, while it is hot.
justchristmas.net/recipes/hot-chocolate
Shop the pantry
The movie-night pantry
Everything for a night on the sofa, from the cocoa and the popcorn to the blankets and the classics on disc.
For the cocoa
- Cocoa powderUnsweetened, for the recipe card. Paid link
- Semisweet chocolateA 4-ounce baking bar is just right for one pot. Paid link
- Mini marshmallowsA bowl of them for the cocoa bar. Paid link
- Peppermint sticksOld-fashioned stirrers for the grown-ups. Paid link
- Christmas mugsA set of four for the whole sofa. Paid link
- Slow cookerFour quarts or larger, with a warm setting, for a crowd. Paid link
- Cocoa bar toppingsSauces, sprinkles and a tray of little bowls. Paid link
For the popcorn
- Popcorn makerA hot-air popper makes a big bowl in minutes. Paid link
- Stovetop popperThe old-fashioned way, with a crank. Paid link
- Popcorn kernels Paid link
- Popcorn seasoning Paid link
- Popcorn boxesRed and white stripes, like the movie theater. Paid link
- Christmas popcorn tinFor a gift, or the second movie. Paid link
For the sofa
The classics on disc
- It's a Wonderful Life, 80th anniversaryThe new anniversary sets, out November 24. Paid link
- A Charlie Brown ChristmasNo waiting for the free weekend. Paid link
- Rudolph the Red-Nosed ReindeerOr the whole Rankin/Bass collection. Paid link
- How the Grinch Stole Christmas!The 1966 special, 60 this year. Paid link
- Home AloneLook for the double feature with Home Alone 2. Paid link
A drive-in at home
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Watch with it
A Christmas movie about a drive-in
Christmas at the Drive-In Great American Family Danica McKellar plays a property lawyer fighting to keep her hometown's drive-in open for the holidays, and falling for the man who is trying to sell it. Neal Bledsoe stars. Next on TV: Thursday, November 12 at 12:00 PM ET 
Watch with it
The Christmas movie nearly everyone has seen
Home Alone Freeform, 1990 Left behind when his family flies to Paris for Christmas, Kevin McCallister defends the house from two burglars. The house is a real home in Winnetka, outside Chicago, and in 2023 the Library of Congress added the film to the National Film Registry. Next on TV: Friday, November 13 at 6:00 PM ET/PT 
From our shop The movie-night set Settling in for the double feature? Our movie-night set has the joggers, the beanie and a tumbler for the cocoa. The JustChristmas email
Bring a little more Christmas home
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