What To Know
- Turner Classic Movies (TCM) will showcase a diverse lineup of 20 Christmas films in December, spanning over 50 years of holiday cinema classics.
- The tentative schedule includes beloved titles such as The Bishop’s Wife, Meet Me in St. Louis, The Shop Around the Corner, and more.
TCM stands for Turner Classic Movies, but every December, that initialism might as well stand for The Christmas Movies, considering how much holiday programming fills the channel’s schedule.
The official TCM lineup for December 2025 isn’t out yet, but if the schedule posted at Escape Press is accurate, cinephiles have more than a half century of Christmas classics to look forward to. Below, find details on 20 highlights from that tentative schedule.
All Mine to Give (1957)
Katherine Eunson wrote the short story The Day They Gave Babies Away for a 1946 issue of Cosmopolitan, then collaborated with her husband to adapt the story into this melodramatic film about Scottish-born children marking their first Christmas as orphans. (Kleenex alert!) Wednesday, December 24, 10a/9c
Bachelor Mother (1939)
Moving on from her onscreen partnership with Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers starred in this Christmas-set comedy, playing a shop girl who pretends to be an abandoned baby’s mother figure to advance her lot in life. Who says this holiday is about selflessness? Saturday, December 20, 3:30a/2:30c
Bell, Book and Candle (1958)
Based on the same play that inspired Bewitched, this rom-com features Kim Novak as a witch who beguiles a neighbor played by James Stewart (of It’s a Wonderful Life fame) after they meet on Christmas Eve. Fun fact: Novak and Stewart also starred in Vertigo the same year. Friday, December 19, 11:30/10:30c
Beyond Tomorrow (1940)
Beyond Tomorrow might be beyond memory for most Christmas movie fans, but the fantasy film follows three businessmen who witness two younger strangers fall in love and then posthumously intervene to make sure those lovebirds actually end up together. Thursday, December 25, 4a/3c
Everett Collection
The Bishop’s Wife (1947)
The Denzel Washington–Whitney Houston film The Preacher’s Wife was a remake of this rom-com. As seen above, Cary Grant plays a bishop, Loretta Young plays his wife, and David Niven plays a magical angel who helps him but pines for her! Thursday, December 4, 11:30/10:30c
Bundle of Joy (1956)
The same year they welcomed their first bundle of joy — Carrie Fisher — Eddie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds starred in this remake of the aforementioned Bachelor Mother. (In fact, Reynolds was pregnant with Carrie during filming!) Saturday, December 20, 1:30a/12:30c
Carol for Another Christmas (1964)
The Twilight Zone mastermind Rod Serling scripted this TV movie starring Sterling Hayden, Eva Marie Saint, and Peter Sellers in a Christmas Carol update in which three ghosts teach an industrialist a lesson in keeping peace. That’s a lesson some modern industrialists should learn… Saturday, December 20, 5a/4c
A Christmas Carol (1938)
This more faithful adaptation of the Dickens classic was a family affair. Kathleen and Gene Lockhartplay Bob and Mrs. Cratchit, and their real-life daughter June Lockhart — the recently-deceased Lost in Space star — makes her screen debut as Belinda Cratchit. Sunday, December 21, 8a/7c
Everett Collection
Christmas in Connecticut (1945)
TCM notes Barbara Stanwyck, pictured above, tended to star in lighter movies to decompress from heavier roles. And after 1944’s weighty Double Indemnity, she starred in this rom-com, playing a magazine writer whose beau thinks her domestic doyenne persona is real. Sunday, December 7, 8/7c
Christmas Past (1901–1925)
Here’s a stocking stuffed with nine holiday-themed silent shorts: 1901’s A Holiday Pageant at Home, 1906’s A Winter Straw Ride, 1909’s Trap for Santa, 1912’s A Christmas Accident, 1914’s The Adventure of the Wrong Santa Claus, 1915’s Santa Claus vs. Cupid, and 1925’s Santa Claus. Monday, December 22, 12:30a/11:30c
A Christmas Story (1972)
No, this isn’t 1983’s A Christmas Story — this is the animated Hanna-Barbera TV special in which a pet dog (a beloved member of the family) and a stowaway mouse (a less-than-welcome cohabitant) team up to deliver a young boy’s letter to Santa. Wednesday, December 3, 11/10c
Holiday Affair (1949)
In this pic, Janet Leigh plays a war widow drawn to both her straitlaced fiancé (Wendell Corey) and a free-spirited stranger (Robert Mitchum, pictured with Leigh below). Like It’s a Wonderful Life, this was an RKO Studios production that flopped at the box office but gained popularity in TV airings. Sunday, December 14, 12/11c
Everett Collection
It Happened on 5th Avenue (1947)
When 1947’s Miracle on 34th Street won the Oscar for Best Writing, Original Story, it beat this other holiday pic, in which Victor Moore plays an unhoused man who moves into a New York City mansion and unknowingly invites its owners to move in. Saturday, December 6, 2/1c
Lady in the Lake (1947)
Robert Montgomery, father of Bewitched’s Elizabeth Montgomery, directed and starred in this Christmas-set film noir based on a Raymond Chandler story. Unlike other Chandler adaptations, though, this one is shot entirely from the perspective of the detective Philip Marlowe. Sunday, December 21, 12a/11c
Meet Me in St. Louis (1944)
The holiday anthem “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” got its big introduction in this Judy Garland film, a musical about one St. Louis family’s lives in the run-up to the 1904 World’s Fair. Garland’s character sings it to cheer up her sister, played by Margaret O’Brien. Sunday, December 14, 6p/5c
Mon Oncle Antoine (1971)
For decades, Toronto International Film Festival critics declared this film Canada’s finest cinematic export. It’s a coming-of-age tale set at Christmastime in a Quebec mining town, with Jacques Gagnon playing a teen living with his undertaker uncle and learning truths about life and death. Monday, December 22, 2:45a/1:45c
Everett Collection
Pocketful of Miracles (1961)
The final feature film from It’s a Wonderful Life director Frank Capra, this comedy stars Bette Davisas an alcoholic apple vendor who transforms into a society matron with the help of Glenn Ford’s gangster character (with Davis above) to impress her daughter, played by Ann-Margaret in her screen debut. Thursday, December 25, 1:30/12:30c
Remember the Night (1940)
Before Stanwyck spent Christmas in Connecticut, she and future Double Indemnity star Fred MacMaurray starred in this picture together. He was an assistant district attorney; she was the shoplifter he was prosecuting (and falling for). Saturday, December 20, 8/7c
The Shop Around the Corner (1940)
Margaret Sullivan and the aforementioned Stewart headlined this rom-com about business rivals who don’t know they’re each other’s romantic pen pal. You’ve Got Mail not only remade the story but named Meg Ryan’s bookstore after this film’s title. Sunday, December 14, 4/3c
Tenth Avenue Angel (1948)
After her turn in Meet Me in St. Louis, Margaret O’Brien got top billing in this holiday film, playing a tenement child forced to grow up too quickly. Her aunt, meanwhile, is played by Angela Lansbury, with whom O’Brien would reunite in Murder, She Wrote more than 40 years later. Saturday, December 20, 6:30a/5:30c