A selection of the festive TV specials and movies streaming on Netflix in December 2025

With less than a week to go until the big day, it’s about time you started putting together your Christmas watchlist.

Fortunately, Netflix has a wide array of films and TV specials, both old and new, to help you lock into the festive mindset this year.

So, to help ease some of that oh-so-stressful festive planning, we’ve rounded up the good, the bad and the, frankly, bizarre on offer on Netflix this year…

Love Actually

Love Actually

Arguably the daddy of all Christmas movies, at least when it comes to the British ones, this year Love Actually is returning to Netflix (truth be told, it’s also available on Prime Video and Now in 2025, so you’ve really got no excuse not to indulge).

Richard Curtis’ classic rom-com has become a 21st century seasonal classic, helped in no small part by its different interwoven love stories and a star-studded cast, and even if not all of its content has aged the best, it’s still guaranteed to raise a smile as you tuck into your Celebrations.

The Holiday

How many times have you unknowingly landed on The Holiday around halfway through when channel-hopping and thought to yourself, “oh, I love this film, I’d love to watch it from the beginning some time”?

Well, your Christmas wish has finally been answered.

This year, it’s available to watch on Netflix from the start, without adverts, in all its dancing-to-Mr-Brightside-on-the-bed, I-wonder-if-Jude-Law-would-do-Mr-Napkinhead-in-person-if-I-asked-him-nicely, oh-yeah-I-forgot-Lindsay-Lohan-was-in-this, wait-how-long-does-this-staring-match-with-a-dog-go-on-for glory.

The Holdovers

Film fans are always calling out the fact that awards bodies rarely recognise the horror genre, but Da’Vine Joy Randolph did something arguably even more rare in 2024, and won an Oscar for her performance in a Christmas movie.

And there’s a reason The Holdovers is so revered (it received five Academy Award nominations in total, including Best Picture) – this story about chosen family, unlikely friendships, grief, class, and overcoming differences pretty much sums up the true meaning of Christmas.

Not only does it pack an emotional punch, it’s also guaranteed to raise plenty of smiles, which is how it’s already cemented its spot as a modern-day classic.

My Secret Santa

Alright, so long-time Netflix users will know that every year, the platform gifts us all with an array of new Christmas movies to enjoy and they’re often… well, let’s just say it, a little deranged.

Case and point, My Secret Santa, a film that essentially serves as a gender-flipped Mrs Doubtfire set at Christmas, with Alexandra Breckenridge playing a desperate single mother who transforms herself into a ski resort’s resident Santa Claus when she falls on hard times financially.

Do we wish Netflix would invest more into quality cinema rather than churning out an endless line of festive “comedies” that feel like they’re engineered specifically to wind up film critics and drum up interest from bored subscribers? Yes. Will we let that stop us streaming My Secret Santa with a mulled wine? No. Apols.

Jingle Bell Heist

Connor Swindells and Olivia Holt in Jingle Bell Heist

Another of Netflix’s new Yuletide comedies for 2025, Jingle Bell Heist stars Olivia Holt as a young woman who resorts to pulling off a Christmas Eve heist at the lavish department store where she works to pay for her mother’s cancer treatment.

To make it all go off with a hitch, she teams up with Sex Education and Barbie star Connor Swindells, and it’s probably not too much of a spoiler to say that the spirit of the season means a festive crush slowly starts to develop.

While Netflix’s Christmas offerings can often feel – let’s be honest – a little on the brainless side, the plot of Jingle Bell Heist is actually surprisingly layered, with plenty of twists thrown in along the way (including some you genuinely might not see coming).

A Merry Little Ex-Mas

A Merry Little Ex-Mas

And then we arrive at the somewhat more straightforward Merry Little Ex-Mas, in which a divorcing couple agree to spend one last family Christmas together with their kids.

Naturally, the good times lead to old feelings........

© HuffPost