The 13 Best Movies to Watch on Christmas Morning

The gifts have been opened, the wrapping paper has been appropriately recycled (ahem), and now it’s time for the best Christmas movies—especially if your Christmas Eve was spent hitting the eggnog and you’re feeling couch-bound. (No judgment!) Below, Vogue shares its favorite holiday films, from yuletide classics to feel-good rom-coms to even a surprise action flick. Can’t be bothered to make it out of the house? You don’t have to wonder what to watch on Christmas morning with our 13 best Christmas movies below:

National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation

This is a classic in a lot of homes on Christmas morning. It’s hilarious and such a disaster—it gives a little perspective when your own family squabbles begin.

White Christmas

There’s just something about watching Bing Crosby and Danny Kaye that means the holidays are finally here. Maybe it’s the number where they pretend to be the Haynes sisters—nothing says holiday spirit quite like helping two gorgeous strangers escape the landlord, right?

It’s a Wonderful Life

Perhaps the most classic Christmas movie of all time, It’s a Wonderful Life doubles as an anti-capitalist parable about standing up to big business. Hurrah!

Love Actually

A must-have on any list of the best Christmas movies: You know the holidays are coming when you see Keira Knightley in her best wedding crop top and feathers in Love Actually.

A Charlie Brown Christmas

Delight your inner 6-year-old with A Charlie Brown Christmas—and hear the Vince Guaraldi Trio’s now-iconic music in its original animated context.

The Nightmare Before Christmas

For some distinctly non-Christmas Christmas fare, the Tim Burton classic will give you feel-good cheer with a bit of a darker side—think of it as a holiday movie for Halloween-lovers.

Home Alone

Kevin McCallister gets the ultimate gift (or nightmare, depending on how you feel about your family): spending the holidays alone! Of course, in this beloved Christmas flick, he eventually finds his way back, but not before taking on the notorious Sticky Bandits.

Die Hard

Die Hard is such a good screwball action movie that it’s easy to forget that it’s also a Christmas movie. Bruce Willis as the self-deprecating John McClane is the genre’s perfect triple threat: MacGyver thinking coupled with dry one-liners and exposed vulnerability (he braves most of the film in bare feet).

Meet Me in St. Louis

Even though it takes place in 1904, this 1944 film also speaks to the country’s upheaval and desire for unity during World War II. Judy Garland’s gorgeous rendition of “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” is unforgettable.

Elf

If you don’t laugh out loud when Will Ferrell is run over by a New York City cab, then you are most definitely a Christmas scrooge.

Edward Scissorhands

Another Tim Burton film to add to the unconventional Christmas canon! The excellent Edward Scissorhands serves as both visual and cinematic inspiration and as an explanation for why it snows every year on Christmas.

A Christmas Story

There are too many notable quotes from this ’50s family comedy to list, but the infamous sexy leg lamp might be its greatest contribution to the Christmas pantheon.

The Muppet Christmas Carol

All classic literature would frankly be better if told through a chorus of Muppets.