The Best Hallmark Christmas Movies to Watch Now
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It's the most wonderful time of the year: the Hallmark Channel's Countdown to Christmas!
For two full months, the Hallmark Channel and Hallmark Movies & Mysteries will be premiering 40 brand-new holiday classics, the lineup for which was released in late September. You don't have to wait for them to debut to get your fill of holiday cheer, however: some of the best Hallmark Christmas movies of all time are available to watch right now. Starring top talent (more than one Oscar winner has been known to dabble in Hallmark) and huge names in Hollywood (ahem, Mariah Carey), we've rounded up some of the best flicks the network has put out over the years.
While you'll have to catch most of the network's newer films live on the Hallmark Channel, which requires a cable or live streaming subscription, the older classics (2018 and prior) have begun making their way to alternate streaming services, including Peacock, Amazon Prime and of course, Hallmark Movies Now ($6 per month/$60 per year).
Below, we gathered a selection of our top picks from the network that you'll want to watch again and again, year after year.
Three Wise Men and a Baby
Bettina Strauss/Hallmark Media
For 2022's Three Wise Men and a Baby, three of the channel's most popular leads (Andrew Walker, Tyler Hynes and Paul Campbell) star as three brothers who — you guessed it — team up to care for a baby during the holiday season. The Three Men and a Baby-inspired comedy (which is Hallmark's first film to feature three male leads) follows the trio as they rebuild their brotherly bond and rediscover their love of Christmas.
Watch Three Wise Men and a Baby on the Hallmark Channel
The Christmas Lodge
Hallmark
Guaranteed to put you in the Christmas spirit, the Christmas Lodge sees Mary (Erin Karpluk) revisiting the grand old property that she and her family spent the holidays at in her youth ... only to find that it's not so grand and not so Christmas-y anymore. Determined to save it, she sets out on a restoration, but she's running out of time, and she might need more help than she bargained for.
Watch The Christmas Lodge on Amazon Prime
November Christmas
Erik Heinila / © CBS / Hallmark
Be warned: this one's an absolute tearjerker. Centered on a little girl with cancer living in a small town, it serves as a reminder of the many lives one person can touch and how far a little kindness at Christmastime can go. The all-star cast, which includes Sam Elliott, John Corbett, Sarah Paulson and Scrooge's Karen Allen, certainly doesn't hurt, either.
Watch November Christmas on Hallmark Movies Now
Holly & Ivy
Crown Media
Starring Janel Parrish, Jeremy Jordan and Marisol Nichols, Holly & Ivy follows Melody (Parrish) on her journey to find a job and renovate her new house after moving to the small town of Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin. After befriending her neighbor Nina (Nichols) and her two daughters, Holly and Ivy, Melody learns that Nina's illness has returned. In order to keep her promise to make sure Nina's girls stay together, Melody must turn her fixer-upper into a suitable home. Luckily, she has the help of local contractor — and potential love interest — Adam (Jordan).
Watch Holly & Ivy on Hallmark Movies Now
A Nutcracker Christmas
Christos Kalohoridis/Hallmark
Lead actors Amy Acker and Sascha Radetsky aren't phoning in the dancing on this one: Radetsky is a former soloist with the American Ballet Theater (you might also recognize him from 2000's Center Stage) and Acker studied ballet and modern dance for 14 years before undergoing knee surgery in high school. Together, they make magic on the screen as a former ballerina named Lily (Acker), who swears off dancing after her sister is killed in a car crash, and Mark (Radetsky), a ballet director and Lily's former love interest, who just might change her mind.
Watch A Nutcracker Christmas on Peacock
A Gift to Remember
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It's a tale as old as time: a bookstore employee (Ali Liebert) runs into a man on a bike (Peter Porte), causing him a temporary bout with amnesia. While she helps him to remember his life — which may or may not include a mystery fiancé — she falls in love with him herself. But what will happen when his memory starts to return?
Watch A Gift to Remember on Hallmark Movies Now
The Christmas House
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Released in 2020, The Christmas House is a relatively new addition to the Hallmark lineup, but already, it's being billed as one of the network's best holiday films of all time. It's also the first Hallmark film to feature a same-sex couple prominently. It follows older couple Bill (Treat Williams) and Phylis (Sharon Lawrence), who seek to reunite with their older sons, Mike (Robert Buckley) and Brandon (Mean Girls' Jonathan Bennett), to revive their old Christmas traditions. Each character is dealing with a problem that they don't want to burden the others with, but they just may find they all need each other more than they thought.
Watch The Christmas House on Hallmark Movies Now
Heart of the Holidays
Vortex/Crown Media
The plot of this 2020 addition to the Hallmark lineup will likely be familiar. A big city career girl named Sam Wallace (Vanessa Lengies) visits her small town, only to fall in love with its charms, including one she left behind in the form of an old flame (Corey Sevier). As she discovers all her old life has to offer her in the present, she also rediscovers herself.
Watch Heart of the Holidays on the Hallmark Channel
Switched for Christmas
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Candace Cameron Bure gets the Parent Trap treatment in 2017's Switched for Christmas, which sees her playing two twin sisters, Chris and Kate Lockheart. Polar opposites, Kate is a sophisticated real estate mogul with a killer wardrobe, while Chris is a single mom who works as an art instructor and lives for cozy comfort. When they switch places for Christmas, however, their lives are turned upside down — in the best way possible.
Watch Switched for Christmas on The Hallmark Channel
A Christmas Wish
Hallmark
A down-on-her-luck mother of three (Buffy the Vampire Slayer's Kristy Swanson) finds herself with no money, no job and no home right before the holidays. She's about to find out, however, that a little kindness from a stranger (or two or three) can go a long way toward making things seem far more merry and bright — as long as her past doesn't get in the way.
Watch A Christmas Wish on Hallmark Movies Now
Naughty or Nice
Crown Media
One Tree Hill fans will delight in Hilarie Burton's 2011 Hallmark hit, Naughty or Nice. Her character, Krissy Kringle, a disgruntled former ad executive, finds herself in an unexpected position of power to expose the naughty deeds of others around her when she comes into possession of Santa's checklist. But as Krissy will soon discover, the list has its nice side, too…
Watch Naughty or Nice on Peacock
The Perfect Christmas Present
MarVista Entertainment
Tom Jacobs (Sam Page) has made a career out of finding the perfect gift for strangers. When he's hired to find a present for his frat brother's girlfriend Jenny (Tara Holt), however, what he finds instead is an unexpected romance that could complicate all of their lives — big time.
Watch The Perfect Christmas Present on Hallmark Movies and Mysteries
A Christmas to Remember
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Oscar winner Mira Sorvino stars in this heartfelt 2016 flick about a TV star named Jennifer Wade, who heads to a mountain retreat for an escape from her own reality. Her trip is derailed, though, when she gets into a crash and develops amnesia. It's only through the help of a stranger and an unfamiliar place that she will remember who she really is.
Watch A Christmas to Remember on Hallmark Movies and Mysteries
The Christmas Ring
Allister Foster/Crown Media
An antique ring brings two strangers, Kendra (Nazneen Contractor) and David (Michael Jones) with a shared love of old architecture and decor together as they try to solve the mystery behind the ring's backstory for an article Kendra is reporting on. Inevitably, they start to fall for each other, but not before Kendra's boss decides to change the focus of her piece … to David.
Watch The Christmas Ring on Hallmark Movies & Mysteries
Christmas in Toyland
Vortex Pix/Crown Media
Christmas in Toyland was one of Hallmark's Christmas in July premieres for 2022. In it, Charlie Sawyer (Vanessa Lengies) is a data analyst assigned to check out a brick-and-mortar store called Big Teddy Toy Company to determine if it's worth keeping the doors open. Grant (Jesse Hutch) is the store's bull-headed but kind-hearted manager, who doesn't think he needs her help. Together, they find they make a pretty good team when it comes to making dreams come true — including ones they hadn't dared to hope for.
Watch Christmas in Toyland on Hallmark
A Royal Christmas
Crown Media
All is going well for Prince Leopold (Stephen Hagan), who has just revealed his royal identity to his new fiancée (Lacey Chabert), a Philadelphia seamstress, until their plans to marry hit a snag in the form of his disgruntled mother, Queen Isadora (Jane Seymour). Putting the couple's love to the test, Isadora invites Leopold's ex-girlfriend Natasha (Katherine Flynn) to join the group for Christmas and stir up a little holiday trouble.
Watch A Royal Christmas on the Hallmark Channel
A Blue Ridge Mountain Christmas
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Willow (Rachael Leigh Cook) attempts to pull off a Christmas miracle by securing her sister's dream wedding venue — an old inn that their family used to own — and restoring it to its former cheery glory in time for the big day — and to prove to its current (and handsome!) owner David (Benjamin Ayers), who intends to sell it, that it just might be worth keeping around.
Watch A Blue Ridge Mountain Christmas on Hallmark Movies & Mysteries
My Christmas Family Tree
Allister Foster/Crown Media
Family means everything when it comes to Christmas — unless, of course, you're not sure who they are. Vanessa (Aimee Teegarden) thinks she might have just found hers thanks to the results of a DNA test in this 2021 flick, but her quest to get to know her new relatives — and their dashing family friend (Andrew Walker) — is quickly derailed by the unthinkable.
Watch My Christmas Family Tree on the Hallmark Channel
A Christmas Love Story
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Kristin Chenoweth and Scott Wolf star in the aptly named A Christmas Love Story. One plays a former Broadway star-turned-choir director who gave her child up for adoption as a poor young mother. The other is a widowed dad whose son has a real talent as a vocalist. And when they meet by chance via a ride-share app, both of their worlds will be forever changed.
Watch A Christmas Love Story on The Hallmark Channel
Merry & Bright
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Starring Stephanie Tanner (aka Jodie Sweetin) as a candy cane company CEO and Andrew Walker as a corporate analyst looking to make her operation more profitable, Merry & Bright gives us a crash course into what happens when two people who got off on the wrong foot are brought together by the magic of Christmas.
Watch Merry & Bright on Hallmark Movies Now
Christmas List
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Christmas is best shared with the one you love … unless the one you love is determined to spend the holiday somewhere else. So what do you do if you're a quirky-yet-loveable woman (Alicia Witt), who has unexpectedly found yourself alone? You make the most of all your best-laid holiday plans with the ones you're with — including that incredibly charming local man (Gabriel Hogan) who has taken a keen interest in you.
Watch Christmas List on the Hallmark Channel
The Christmas Train
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The stellar casting of this 2017 hit, which includes everyone from Dermot Mulroney and Kimberly Williams-Paisley to Joan Cusack and Danny Glover, makes this quirky romance a must-watch. It follows a group of strangers who become enmeshed in each other's lives after they travel together just before Christmas. While there are certainly some twists and turns along the way, Tom Langdon (Mulroney) and Eleanor will ultimately find it's the journey that truly matters.
Watch The Christmas Train on Peacock
Broadcasting Christmas
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Everyone's favorite teenage witch Melissa Joan Hart switches gears in this holiday rom-com (2016) about two exes, Emily and Charlie (Dean Cain), who are up for the same co-hosting spot for a popular television show. In addition to competing for the chair, however, they'll have to contend with the fact that they're not quite over each other just yet.
Watch Broadcasting Christmas on Peacock
Christmas at Dollywood
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Dolly Parton can do no wrong, including her 2019 Hallmark film, Christmas at Dollywood. Co-starring Danica McKellar as an NYC event planner who is hired to help with Parton's Dollywood Christmas celebrations in Tennessee, and Niall Matter as the obstinate park director who opposes her presence, it's the classic dilemma of two people who just don't see eye to eye … until they do.
Watch Christmas at Dollywood on Hallmark Movies Now
Finding Christmas
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Think The Holiday, but from a guy's perspective. 2013's Finding Christmas follows advertising exec Sean (Mark Lutz) and musician Owen (J.T. Hodges) as they swap residences, only to find that their newfound surroundings just may have something that each of them was missing before — like romance.
Watch Finding Christmas on Hallmark Movies & Mysteries
A Christmas Melody
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Yep, even the Queen of Christmas herself, Mariah Carey, has starred in a Hallmark movie. In fact, her 2015 flick about a single mother (Lacey Chabert) who moves back to her hometown with her growing daughter marked the songstress's directorial debut. As the story goes, the move isn't easy for the little girl, who turns to her music teacher, Danny (Brennan Elliot) for help adjusting. Kathy Najimi also stars.
Watch A Christmas Melody on Hallmark Movies Now
A Kiss Before Christmas
Daniel Crump/Crown Media
Desperate Housewives stars James Denton and Teri Hatcher are reunited in this 2021 rom-com about a guy who wishes for his life to have turned out differently, only to have it come true. Now, he's realizing he might have had it right all along — but will he be able to set it right before it's too late?
Watch A Kiss Before Christmas on The Hallmark Channel
Crown for Christmas
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Everyone loves a good commoner-turned-royal flick, and this one delivers in spades. Allie (Danica McKellar) comes to the country of Winshire after unwittingly taking a job as a governess for King Maximillian (Rupert Penry-Jones)'s daughter, Thedora. Though the young girl is a tough nut to crack, Allie bonds with her quickly, leaving the young girl to believe that she might make for a better stepmother than Lady Celia (Alexandra Evans), the woman her father is being pressured to wed.
Watch Crown for Christmas on The Hallmark Channel
Christmas Comes Twice
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Tamera Mowry plays the role of Cheryl, a senator's aide who is attending a winter carnival in her hometown. Instead of meeting the handsome mayor, as she'd hoped, however, she runs into an old flame (Michael Xavier) and takes a ride on a magic carousel that takes her back in time. It seems as though Cheryl is being presented with the option to make different choices about her life, but it's up to her to take them.
Watch Christmas Comes Twice on the Hallmark Movie Channel
Christmas at the Plaza
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Nearly 30 years after New York's Plaza Hotel made its mark on cinematic history with Home Alone 2, Hallmark viewers were treated to its festive splendor once more with 2019's Christmas at the Plaza. In it, an archival historian (Elizabeth Henstridge) is hired to create its holiday display with the help of a handsome decorator (Nick Perrelli) — whom, of course, she's destined to fall for.
Watch Christmas at the Plaza on The Hallmark Channel
Write Before Christmas
Allister Foster/Crown Media
The only thing worse than getting dumped? Getting dumped right before the holidays. Yet that's Jessica (Torrey DeVitto)'s reality in this 2019 flick. Instead of wallowing in her misery, the musician decides to spread some cheer by sending out five Christmas cards to people who have heavily influenced her life in a positive way to some pretty magical results. Chad Michael Murray is also featured in this one.
Watch Write Before Christmas on The Hallmark Channel
The Christmas Card
Crown Media
Sending a Christmas card may seem like a small gesture, but for a more solid Cody Cullen (John Newton), it's a lifeline. Upon his discharge, he tracks down the woman who sent it to him with her parish (Alice Evans), and their lives become much more complex, as there's a romantic spark between them — only she's just gotten engaged.
Watch The Christmas Card on Hallmark Movies & Mysteries
Baby, It's Cold Inside
Johnson Production Group/Crown Media
There are two types of people in this world: those who hate winter, what with all its cold snow and ice, and those who embrace it wholeheartedly. This film caters to that second type, as its heroine, travel agent Hannah (Jocelyn Hudon), is sent to check out Canada's Ice Hotel. Set in the Hôtel de Glace (North America's only real ice hotel), it's the perfect setting for her to embark upon a Christmas romance with the hotel's hunky co-owner, Ben, who opens her eyes to all of its delights.
Watch Baby, It's Cold Inside on Hallmark Movies Now
The Christmas Secret
Bettina Strauss/Crown Media
Burton and Murry aren't the only One Tree Hill alums to star in a Hallmark Christmas flick. Bethany Joy Lenz, who played Haley James Scott on the show, also had a stint on the network with 2014's The Christmas Secret. While it starts out on a downtrodden note, as Joy Lenz's character of Christine takes blow after blow, losing her home and getting hit with a lawsuit from her ex over custody, her luck is about to change with the discovery of an old family secret.
Watch The Christmas Secret on Hallmark Movies Now
A Gingerbread Romance
Kailey Schwerman/Crown Media
Home is where the heart is — a lesson architect Taylor Scott (Tia Mowry) is about to learn. On a mission to create a life-sized gingerbread house as part of a contest she won, she enlists the help of a local chef (Duane Henry), who shows her that the best ingredient in a winning confection is always love.
Watch A Gingerbread Romance on Hallmark Movies Now
Dashing Through the Snow
Eike Schroter/Crown Media
A modern take on Planes, Trains and Automobiles, this one sees two strangers (Meghan Ory and Andrew Walker) falling for each other after they decide to share a rental car to their shared destination of Seattle to make it there by Christmas. Of course, they won't arrive without experiencing a few bumps along the way…
Watch Dashing Through the Snow on Hallmark Movies Now
The Christmas Promise
Allister Foster/Crown Media
For those who like their Hallmark movies to have a little more substance, this 2021 drama just might do the trick. It follows a woman (Torrey DeVitto) who lost her fiancé around the holidays and sends a text to his old phone expressing her grief, only to receive an unexpected reply.
Watch The Christmas Promise on Hallmark Movies & Mysteries
Once Upon a Christmas Miracle
Allen Fraser/Crown Media
Heather Krueger (Aimee Teegarden) wishes for more than a shiny bauble under the tree — she needs a liver transplant for her stage-4 disease. Not only does she wind up with a generous donor, but she also winds up with a new love interest in Chris Dempsey (Brett Dalton) — all based on true events that really occurred.
Watch Once Upon a Christmas Miracle on Hallmark Movies Now
'Tis the Season for Love
Bettina Strauss/Crown Media
Yes, this is another Hallmark film about a down-and-out actress (Beth Baker) who returns to her hometown, only to find it more fulfilling than she left it. She also predictably finds romance along the way. But it will still give you the same warm fuzzies you come to Hallmark for in the first place, cementing its spot on our list.
Watch 'Tis the Season for Love on Hallmark Movies Now
Silver Bells
Hallmark
Late actress Anne Heche stars as a Manhattan woman who gave up on Christmas after her husband died. She's not completely lonely, though, having made friends with a young runaway (Michael Mitchell) whom she pays for his photography. What she doesn't know is that the boy's father (Tate Donovan), who is actively looking for him, is the same Christmas tree salesman who shows up on her doorstep every year.
Christmas in Conway
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Part of the Hallmark Hall of Fame, this 2013 hit follows Duncan Mayor (Andy Garcia) in his race against time to build a Ferris wheel in his backyard like the one he proposed to his sick wife (Emmy winner Mary Louise Parker) on many moons ago. Not everyone is thrilled with his plans, however, making his job even more difficult than it already is.
Watch Christmas in Conway on The Hallmark Channel
Christmas in Rome
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Travelers will appreciate Lacey Chabert and Sam Page's stint as tour guide Angela and executive Oliver, who are exploring Rome together to better help Oliver understand the core of the ceramics company he seeks to buy. With Rome and Bucharest serving as its backdrop, there are plenty of cultures to take in.
Watch Christmas in Rome on The Hallmark Channel
Boyfriends of Christmas Past
Albert Camicioli/Crown Media
The Hallmark Channel flips the script on Matthew McConaughey's 2009 hit Ghosts of Girlfriends Past with 2021's Boyfriends of Christmas Past. Instead of a playboy, though, it's marketing executive Lauren Kim (Catherine Huena Kim) that needs to change her noncommittal ways — something she won't come to truly see until she gets a little help from her boyfriend's past.
