Finest Classics To Watch With Your Household This Put up-Christmas Week

Binge-watching is a habit that’s usually good to avoid, especially when watching on your own. However, during the week after Christmas and before New Year’s — in which so many families find themselves sandwiched between big gatherings or parties and maybe even forgetting what day it is — spending a little extra time together in front of the silver screen with popcorn and in pajamas is to be expected, and can even prove restful.

The key to curating the perfect post-Christmas movie marathon experience, however, is knowing how to avoid all the streaming service slop so many platforms push on kids and parents this time of year. Whether you’re just watching one episode, hosting a double feature, or looking for new marathon material that isn’t watching The Lord of the Rings or Star Wars again, here is your ultimate guide to the best old-school films and T.V. series to watch with your family this holiday week.

Old Movies

Christmas movies like Home Alone or Elf — while delightful and sure to remain classics for generations to come — are often selected by families during the holiday season to the neglect of equally as delightful and arguably more timeless movies from the golden age (or thereabouts) of film. And yes, this era has far more to offer than Irving Berlin’s White Christmas or the ever-endearing It’s A Wonderful Life. This week is the perfect time to explore these holiday-adjacent movies you may have never heard of and develop a deeper appreciation for eras gone by — in which conservative values and familial sacrifice so often won the day.

Black-and-White

My siblings and I used to protest when our mom put on black-and-white movies, but I’m so glad she helped us appreciate the classics in spite of ourselves. My first recommendation is one of my all-time favorites, Holiday Inn (1942), starring Bing Crosby, Fred Astaire, and Virginia Dale. This movie about a hotel that’s only open on holidays has it all: humor, a love triangle, and iconic song and dance numbers — including Astaire’s famous Independence Day firecracker tap routine. (Parent disclaimer: this movie has come under fire for featuring a blackface scene. However, the song performed is in celebration of Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation, and, while you may decide to skip this part, resist the leftist urge to fully cancel classics just because certain scenes run against modern-day “political correctness.”)

Perhaps one of the earliest movies to follow the now Hallmark-dominated “corporate girl in a small town” storyline, Christmas in Connecticut (1945) tells the story of a “food writer who has lied about being the perfect housewife” and “must try to cover her deception when her boss and a returning war hero invite themselves to her home for a traditional family Christmas.” In a desperate stunt to preserve her reputation, the single New Yorker with no real homemaking skills of her own is forced to curate a clumsy housewife facade, only to end up finding true love.

The Bishop’s Wife (1947) is a heartwarming — and tearjerking — story of an Episcopalian Bishop, Henry, who is struggling at Christmas. While dealing with a manipulative church donor and efforts to build a new cathedral, “He is losing sight of his family and of why he became a churchman in the first place,” as one commenter on IMDb put it. After Henry prays for guidance, an angel named Dudley — played by movie star Cary Grant — is sent to intercede and becomes very involved in caring for Henry’s wife and daughter. The bishop becomes increasingly jealous and eventually realizes his family means more to him than anything — but this reordering of priorities was why Dudley was sent in the first place.

Another one of my absolute favorite old movies is titled Since You Went Away (1944). It follows a family during World War II after the father leaves to serve in the military, leaving the mother and her two daughters to take care of themselves while he is gone. Like many WWII movies produced at the time, the film movingly captures the grit and loyalty of families serving on the home front. (I found this high-quality version of the movie for free on YouTube.)

Starring a young Jimmy Stewart and Margaret Sullivan, The Shop Around the Corner (1940) tells the story of two rival shop workers who don’t know they are each other’s anonymous pen pal significant other. This classic story has inspired multiple remakes, including In the Good Old Summertime (1949) with Van Johnson and Judy Garland, and the more recent You’ve Got Mail (1998) with Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks.

In Glorious Technicolor

Speaking of Judy Garland, fans of her acting and singing voice can’t miss Meet Me In St. Louis (1944), a musical set in 1903 ahead of the Louisiana Purchase World’s Fair in St. Louis, Missouri. Garland plays Esther Smith, a young girl from a big family who falls in love with the boy next door. After her father announces that he plans to move the long-time Missouri-residing family all the way to New York, they prepare to follow his lead, only for all of them to discover they truly have it all right where they are.

And speaking of the boy next door, in the delightful and underrated early Doris Day film, On Moonlight Bay (1951), a tomboy eldest daughter, Marjorie, gives up baseball after catching the eye of the dashing, high and mighty scholar across the street (Gordon McRae). He claims he does not believe in marriage, but after falling in love with Marjorie, both he — and Marjorie’s father — eventually warm up to the idea. If you end up loving this movie as much as I do, be sure to follow it with the sequel, By the Light of the Silvery Moon.

In An Affair to Remember (1957), with Cary Grant and Deborah Kerr, an American celebrity and a nightclub singer — both unmarried but stuck in loveless relationships — meet on a cruise ship. At the end of the cruise, they agree to break off their current relationships and reunite the next year at the top of the Empire State building. But the plan fails when a tragic accident keeps one of them from making the rendezvous.

Although not explicitly holiday-related, for those looking for less feel-good and more suspense, I can’t recommend Alfred Hitchcock’s wonderfully directed mystery and thriller films enough. Rear Window, The Birds, Rope, The Man Who Knew Too Much, Vertigo, Psycho (black-and-white), and North by Northwest (another Cary Grant feature!) all showcase Hitchcock’s wonderful eye for intriguing camera angles, light, and character. They are sure to keep you on the edge of your seat — while of course maintaining that Golden Age glow.

For The Girls

There’s nothing like a good chick flick for mother-daughter bonding time. But if you’re tired of the same repeated Hallmark plots, give these a try instead.

While You Were Sleeping with Sandra Bullock and Sleepless in Seattle with Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan are two holiday-related ’90s rom coms that are great for watching back to back on a lazy day — if for no other reason than both titles mention sleeping. Sleepless in Seattle follows a widowed father struggling to open up his heart again after his wife’s death. In While You Were Sleeping, Lucy Moderatz, a single woman living in Chicago with no close relatives, is welcomed into a loving family when they mistakenly believe her to be engaged to their comatose son. (Tip: See if you can catch all the Affair to Remember references in Sleepless in Seattle.)

In The Family Man (2000), Nicholas Cage plays Jack Campbell, a rich New York investment broker who ultimately gave up his college girlfriend for an internship in London and a career on Wall Street. Years later, on Christmas Eve, he is given a “glimpse” of what life could have been if he instead settled down and started a family — only to realize he would rather have the love-filled chaos of single-family suburbia than the corner office.

The Preacher’s Wife (1996) is a modern-day remake of the aforementioned Bishop’s Wife. Rather than an Episcopalian cathedral, this rendition starring Whitney Houston and Denzel Washington centers on the family of the lead pastor at a black gospel church in Harlem.

Golden Age T.V.

Back before streaming services monopolized movie-watching, my family always tuned into the SyFy channel on New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day to watch the channel’s 48-hour Twilight Zone marathon. (Don’t worry, we did not watch all 48-hours, just tuned in at different points over both days. The marathon also happens on the Fourth of July, too!) At this point, I think I have seen every episode of the series written by — and starring — Rod Serling that ran from 1959 to 1964. The episodes explore culturally relevant and then-newly emerging themes like space, aliens, the mechanization of society, the Cold War arms race, and more. However, the series does not merely touch on these motifs for their own sake, but, overall, uses them to highlight why society must preserve human dignity, individuality, critical thought, and truth in an era of modernization. If you don’t have cable or access to the SyFy channel, The Twilight Zone is available to stream on Paramount+ or Tubi.

In addition to directing numerous films, the witty, dry-humored Alfred Hitchcock is also famous for hosting the television series Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1955-1962). Each episode centers on a murder or some sort of mystery to be solved in under half an hour. Like The Twilight Zone, every installment features different slates of actors and often concludes in a twist ending. This series is available on Peacock.

Looking for some my-ribs-hurt-from-laughing level humor? One New Year’s Eve, while waiting for the midnight countdown, my family and I watched multiple episodes of The Carol Burnett Show, which ran on CBS from 1967-1978. Hosted by actress and comedian Carol Burnett, the show was filmed in front of a live studio audience and featured unforgettable guest stars, hilarious original sketches, and the unbelievable physical comedy of Tim Conway. (Watching this show with my parents was also how I came to learn that my dad met Burnett while working as a valet at a fancy Cincinnati restaurant in the ’90s.)

The Muppet Show, which also ran throughout the ’70s, is another, more kid-friendly classic featuring performances from the beloved characters alongside a plethora of guest stars. Access to this show is one of the few reasons why Disney+ is still worth it.

I would like to conclude with the obligatory disclaimer that, while these suggestions are overall family-friendly (especially the old movies and T.V.), be sure to check ratings and parent advisories, as some situations in the more modern or thriller options may be distressing or too mature for young children. But otherwise, pop some popcorn, cue up some forgotten classics (share any I may have missed in the comments), and happy movie-watching!