The Best Christmas Romance Movies I Have Loved In The Last Decade

True confession: before 2010 I did not watch Christmas romance movies. At all.

They were just not on my radar. December was books, food, and maybe a random movie on in the background, but “let’s sit down and watch a Christmas romance” was not a thing in my life.

Then one year my mother-in-law turned on Hallmark at Christmas and basically said, “No, no, you have to experience this properly.” We watched movie after movie together, commenting on the tropes, the small towns, the magical snowfalls that always arrive on cue. Somewhere between the meet cutes and the tree lightings, it stopped being ironic and started feeling like a tradition I never knew I needed.

Since then I have watched a frankly unreasonable number of holiday romances (and mysteries) across Hallmark, Netflix, and a few other streamers. A few were instant rewatches. Some were so forgettable I could barely remember the title by New Year’s.

These twelve are the ones that stuck.

Over the last decade they have become my go to recommendations when someone asks for the best Christmas romance movies to watch. They are cozy, chaotic, romantic, or some unhinged combination of all three, and they all pass the “I would actually watch this again on purpose” test.

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How I Picked The Best Christmas Romance Movies

There are a lot of Christmas movies. Not all of them deserve your December brain space. I’ve watched hundreds of these at this point and even built myself a little Notion tracker to keep it all straight. To make this list of the best Christmas romance movies, each pick had to:

• Be romance-forward, not just “there is a couple somewhere in the background of the tree lighting”
• Come out in roughly the last decade
• Pass the rewatch test
• Deliver either elite comfort or delightful chaos

You may not agree with every choice. That is half the fun. Oh, and these are in no particular order.

The Best Christmas Romance Movies Of The Last 10 Years

Falling for Christmas (Netflix)

• Where to watch: Netflix
• Vibes: heiress in crisis, small town lodge, found family
• Tropes: amnesia, fish out of water, rich girl meets regular guy

Lindsay Lohan returns to the romcom world in a movie that feels like a lost Hallmark script that got a Netflix budget. Is it ridiculous? Yes. Did I immediately want to book a ski lodge and wear too many layers of plaid? Also yes. Falling for Christmas has genuine warmth under the camp and it knows exactly what kind of movie it is.

The Princess Switch (plus 2 & 3) (Netflix)

• Where to watch: Netflix
• Vibes: baking, royal nonsense, made-up European countries
• Tropes: mistaken identity, royal romance

The Princess Switch trilogy is Christmas chaos in the best way. One movie is about a baker swapping lives with a princess. By the time you hit the third one, there are enough doppelgängers to qualify as a multiverse. It is silly, sugary, and completely aware of its own nonsense. If you want pure escapism with tiaras, this is the one.

Christmas in Evergreen (Hallmark)

• Where to watch: Hallmark
• Vibes: small town magic, snow globes, family traditions
• Tropes: big city vs small town, fate, cozy community, found family

Christmas in Evergreen is the kind of Hallmark movie that feels like stepping into a snow globe. It kicked off an entire little universe of Evergreen sequels for a reason. The town is charming, the romance is soft, and the whole thing feels like a warm mug of cocoa with extra whipped cream. Enchantingly magical.

Holidate (Netflix)

• Where to watch: Netflix
• Vibes: chaotic family holidays, millennial burnout, sarcastic banter
• Tropes: fake dating, friends to lovers, “we are absolutely not catching feelings”

If you like your Christmas romance a little messier and more modern, Holidate is it. It follows two single people who agree to be each other’s plus-one for every holiday of the year, which of course goes terribly and then romantically wrong. It is more explicit and less wholesome than Hallmark, but the chemistry and banter are perfect.

Something from Tiffany’s (Amazon Video)

Where to watch: Prime Video
Vibes: New York at Christmas, sparkly romcom energy, gift mix-up
Tropes: mistaken identity, almost-engaged, right person wrong partner

Something from Tiffany’s feels like a throwback to early-2000s romcoms, in a good way. A mix-up between two jewelry bags sets off a chain of romantic chaos in Manhattan. It is polished, pretty, and exactly the kind of movie you watch with twinkle lights on and a snack in hand. Especially if you prefer the big city Christmas vibe.

A Castle for Christmas (Netflix)

• Where to watch: Netflix
• Vibes: grumpy duke, American in Scotland, castle renovation
• Tropes: grumpy/sunshine, city girl in the countryside, enemies to lovers

Brooke Shields as a bestselling author who buys a Scottish castle and immediately clashes with the grumpy duke who owns it? Yes. The accents range from “solid” to “what is happening,” but the charm is undeniable. A Castle for Christmas is perfect if you want Christmas, kilts, and a little older-characters romance.

The Knight Before Christmas (Netflix)

• Where to watch: Netflix
• Vibes: fish-out-of-water knight, Ohio at Christmas, soft cinnamon roll hero
• Tropes: time travel, destined love, teaching someone how to use modern appliances

A medieval knight gets magically transported to present-day America, where he meets a science teacher who has given up on love. It is exactly as bonkers as it sounds and somehow completely adorable. If you like your Christmas romance with a side of time travel and earnest romance, this is for you.

Holiday in the Wild (Netflix)

• Where to watch: Netflix
• Vibes: second-chance life, Africa, baby elephants
• Tropes: fresh start, healing after heartbreak, slow-burn romance

This is the outlier on the list, in the best way. Holiday in the Wild is quieter, more reflective, and set mostly in Zambia rather than a twinkly small town. The romance is slower and the emotional core is more about a woman rebuilding her life, with Christmas as a backdrop. If you want something more grounded but still hopeful, it stands out and it’s absolutely delightful.

Marry Me at Christmas (Hallmark, based on Susan Mallery)

Where to watch: Hallmark
Vibes: small-town bridal shop, celebrity crush, wedding at Christmas
Tropes: girl-next-door meets movie star, opposites attract

Based on the Susan Mallery book, Marry Me at Christmas is pure Hallmark comfort. A bridal shop owner ends up helping a famous actor plan his sister’s wedding, and feelings happen. It hits that sweet spot of sweet, sincere, and slightly swoony. If you like celebrity romances in your books, this one is a no-brainer.

If you want to read the story first, I reviewed the book Marry Me at Christmas by Susan Mallery here.

Christmas Wishes and Mistletoe Kisses (Hallmark, based on Jenny Hale)

• Where to watch: Hallmark
• Vibes: interior decorating, big estate, single mom heroine
• Tropes: designer meets grumpy employer, holiday makeover, work and romance

Adapted from a Jenny Hale novel, this has strong book-to-screen comfort energy. A single mom gets the chance to decorate a mansion for Christmas and butts heads with the uptight owner. If your dream job is “getting paid to make everything pretty and festive,” this one scratches that itch.

This one is based on Christmas Wishes and Mistletoe Kisses by Jenny Hale, and I have a full book review if you want to start with the novel.

Single All the Way (Netflix)

• Where to watch: Netflix
• Vibes: big, meddling family, small-town Christmas, queer joy
• Tropes: friends to lovers, fake dating-ish, holiday matchmaking, found family

Single All the Way is exactly what I want from a queer Christmas romcom: cozy, funny, and full of genuine affection. Peter drags his best friend Nick home for the holidays and convinces him to pretend to be his boyfriend so his family will stop asking why he is still single. Naturally, his family immediately decides Nick is perfect for him and starts scheming. There is a blind date detour, plenty of family chaos, and a soft friends-to-lovers that feels like a warm hug.

Christmas at Mistletoe Farm (Netflix)

• Where to watch: Netflix
• Vibes: countryside, kids and animals everywhere, found family
• Tropes: city to country move, single parent, community pulling together

This one is extra cozy, very kid and animal heavy, and full of village shenanigans. Christmas at Mistletoe Farm is ideal for comfort and still has enough heart to make you care. If you like the idea of trading city stress for goats and fairy lights, this will hit.

Final thoughts on the best Christmas romance movies

So that is my current canon of the best Christmas romance movies from the last decade. It will probably keep evolving as new releases come out, but these are the ones I go back to when I want guaranteed cozy feelings.

Which ones are on your personal must watch list every year? Are any of your all time favorites on this list? Tell me in the comments so I can keep adding to my watchlist.

And if you want more reading material for the season, check out all our holiday books.

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