Christmas TV movie challenge: How one superfan manages to watch 100 each holiday season

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas, especially if you turn on the TV. Tyger Glauser Nicholas has already watched "Mystic Christmas," “‘Twas the Text Before Christmas” and “The Santa Summit.”

And she’s got over 75 more to go.

To say that Nicholas, manager of special events at University of Tennessee at Knoxville, loves Christmas movies in an understatement. As networks add Christmas movies to their schedules, she makes it a priority to watch all of them.

“I've always watched Hallmark Channel … and then once they really started making more Christmas movies and making it a thing and (doing) the countdown to Christmas, I kind of got more into it,” Nicholas explained to Knox News. “It's just kind of fun.”

Well, it's fun ... and some work. There are spreadsheets involved.

The passion and joy of (100) Christmas movies

Hallmark Channel is the premier place for holiday cheer, but Lifetime, Great American Family Network, BET and other networks have all sent elves to Santa’s magical television studio. Streamers such as Netflix, Hulu and Disney+ have gotten in on the Christmas movie craze, too.

Nicholas, 37, watched around 130 Christmas movies last year. About 100 new Christmas movies premiere each year, she said. Just over 90 movies are on the schedule this holiday season (so far), possibly a little lower than usual because of this year's entertainment industry strikes.

“It kind of became a competition to get through all of the movies every year,” she said. “It's my own little passion project and hobby every year.”

Nicholas' DVR gets overwhelmed with all her Christmas movie recordings as the holiday draws closer. Whether it’s binge watching on the weekends, catching up in the mornings, tuning in after work or just having a movie on in the background, Nicholas finds the time to check them off her list.

But how do you even keep up with 100 holiday films? Nicholas – a master digital organizer – began logging them on a Google spreadsheet. The list details the channel, premiere date, if she’s recorded or watched it and how many more movies she has left to watch. There’s even a space to jot down what she liked and didn’t like about each movie.

“I mostly focus on watching the new ones, no matter how bad they are. Sometimes they're really, really bad, but I still watch them anyway,” she said.

Anything with a good mix of comedy and Christmas makes for a great holiday TV movie, Nicholas noted. And feel-good films where the endings are easily predicted are her favorites.

“That's the best part about them. You don't have to really think about it. You can just kind of watch it and enjoy it and it makes you happy, and you don't have to really worry about suspense or thriller or anything like that,” Nicholas said.

Her love for holiday-themed movies only extends to those involving Christmas and Hanukkah, but is not limited to just the new ones of the year. She enjoys modern classics like “Elf” and adores Dolly Parton’s Christmas movies, including “Christmas of Many Colors” and “Christmas at Dollywood.”

And the one movie she must watch every season is “National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation.”

Spreading the Christmas movie spirit

The Christmas movie expert has obviously become the go-to person for her friends and family. They ask for suggestions and critiques on the films, especially the few that happen to be set in Tennessee. One friend texts her each time he sees a new movie on the guide to ask if she’s already watched it.

“And I'm like, ‘Let me check my sheet. Yes, I did. I’ve already watched it,’” Nicholas laughed. “Some of them probably think I'm crazy, but some friends really embrace it,” she added.

It’s no fun to keep the love of Christmas movies all to herself. Nicholas spreads the holiday spirit by sharing her comprehensive list of Christmas movies online for anyone to use.

“I figured if maybe there's other people out there that want to watch a hundred movies, maybe they just don't know where to look or they don't realize that there's so many more movies out there besides Hallmark,” she said.

Nicholas’ sharable Christmas movies list is available at https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/11Ubv2XCMCqtIyePNcfm7kqXyM3CoiczugfOibeQ97Tw/edit?usp=sharing.

Tyger’s top Christmas TV movie picks

It might be overwhelming trying to find a good Christmas movie because there are so many options. Hallmark is good place to start. The network has “mastered the genre” and has the best quality of Christmas movies, Nicholas said.

And with her expertise, here are few things you should know if you want to join the fun.

Best holiday TV movie of all time:

It’s tough to pick just one. These are Nicholas’ favorites from the past few years.

• Hallmark’s “The Christmas House” (2020)

• Hallmark’s “Next Stop, Christmas” (2021)

• Lifetime’s “A Christmas Spark” starring Jane Seymour and Joe Lando (2022)

Best set in Tennessee:

• “Dolly Parton’s Christmas of Many Colors”

Best (recent) animated:

• Netflix’s “Scrooge: A Christmas Carol”

Biggest disappointment:

• Hallmark’s “A Magical Christmas Village”

“I was very excited to see (this one) because of my own Christmas village obsession, but I felt like they could have done so much more with it,” Nicholas said. She’s hoping for another opportunity to see a movie about someone living in a Christmas village, like “Snowglobe” from 2007.

A special Knoxville Christmas village

Nicholas’ love for Christmas doesn’t end with TV movies. She also displays an elaborate miniature Christmas village each year, which she begins putting together before trick-or-treaters come knocking for Halloween candy.

She started with five pieces and has collected buildings and items over the past three years to add to the village. It’s grown so much that a table has been added to properly show off the village scene.

“My husband keeps joking that he's gonna have to buy me a bigger house just so I can fit my village in it,” she said.

Each piece in the village symbolizes a special person, place or represents a Knoxville location. Take a tour through the lit village and you’ll spot the Tennessee Theater, the Bijou Theater, Maple Hall, Ale' Rae's gastropub, Central Flats and Taps, Yee-Haw Brewing Company, Schulz Brau Brewing Company and other Knoxville and North Knoxville places she and her husband frequent.

“Everything has meaning. I can literally point to every single thing and tell you why it's there,” she said. And it’s important for the village to reflect the family and friends in their lives.

“I like sharing things with my friends and family of, like, this is what makes me think of you. … When they find out that they have a piece in the village, they're touched by the fact that I thought of them and that they're special,” she said.

In between catching up on dozens of Christmas movies she has recorded, Nicholas will continue to add to the village throughout the holiday season. “This time of year is always really fun,” she said.

Devarrick Turner is a trending news reporter. Email devarrick.turner@knoxnews.com. Twitter @dturner1208.

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This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: New Christmas TV movies to watch in 2023: One woman's spreadsheet