I love Christmas so much! As a very young child, I can remember all of the wonderful Christmas movies I watched every year, with my siblings and parents. This year, I want to rewatch all of those old Christmas movies I watched as a child with my kids. I can’t believe they are considered ‘vintage movies‘ or ‘old movies‘ sigh… I don’t feel old. Ugh.
Anyway, I searched the internet for my absolutely TOP old Christmas movies I watched as a child and have listed them all for you below. I hope you will remember some of these best old Christmas movies and watch them with your family too (or by yourself!).
I also included some really short Christmas show classics to this list because they were such a big part of my childhood! I hope you enjoy this list as much as I enjoyed creating it!
Feel free to add your favorite vintage Christmas movies with us all, in the comments below! I would LOVE to see what Christmas movies you loved as a child! It is so fun to take a walk down memory lane (if only for a season)!
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Old Christmas Movies I Watched As A Child
Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer!
The very first vintage Christmas movie I used to watch as a child HAS to be Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer! Oh my goodness, this old-fashioned Christmas movie is STILL an all-time favorite movie that I have to watch every Christmas season! LOVE IT!
Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer came out in 1964 (I wasn’t even born yet) and has been a beloved Christmas movie for so many families!
Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer
A Family Circus Christmas
A Family Circus Christmas was and still IS my most favorite Christmas movie ever and I mean it! This vintage Christmas animated movie is so underrated!!! I loved loved loved the Family Circus!!
This cute old Christmas movie is about Billy, Dolly, Jeffy, and PJ trying to behave as they prepare for Christmas and search for Grandad’s star. Billy, Dolly, Jeffy, and PJ try to behave as they prepare for Christmas and search for Grandad’s star.
A Family Circus Christmas came out in the year 1979. I tried to find it on Amazon but I only saw one person selling it on VHS. I sure wish I still had our VHS movie of this fantastic old Christmas movie! My kids have yet to watch this one, but it is on our list to watch this Christmas! Have you seen this one???
(You can watch this movie on YouTube! So happy I found it!) This is definitely one of the Old Christmas Movies I Watched As A Child that I enjoyed so much!
A Garfield Christmas!
A Garfield Christmas Special movie was another favorite of mine to watch every holiday! Garfield gives a thoughtful gift to Grandma and learns that Christmas is about spending time with your family and making others happy! Yay!!
This was an old Christmas movie that I watched with all of my siblings. I think it would come on only ONE time during the holiday season so we really had to plan to watch it! If you missed it, you missed it (unless of course, you bought the VHS tape or recorded it with your VCR!).
A Garfield Christmas came out in the year 1987 and has been a favorite Christmas movie ever since! You can only purchase the Thanksgiving and Christmas specials together on Amazon.com. But that is okay because the Garfield Thanksgiving is really really good too!!!
The Berenstain Bears’ Christmas Tree
This is another sweet memory for me! The Berenstain Bears’ Christmas Tree movie was a sweet movie that I would watch EVERY year with my siblings! Oh my goodness the memories it is bringing back just by typing this and featuring this movie! I just love it so much!
The Berenstain Bears set out to find the most perfect Christmas tree ever to be found! But, there is a little problem! The Christmas tree has a little family in it. What should they do?? Precious! You can dust off your VCR and put the VHS in it for some old-time family Christmas entertainment!
The Berenstain Bears’ Christmas Tree came out in the year of 1979 and it is truly a personal favorite vintage Christmas movie for me! Have you seen it?
The Berenstain Bears’ Christmas Tree
Santa Claus Is Coming To Town!
Oh my goodness, oh my gracious! This holiday movie, ‘Santa Claus Is Coming To Town’ was everything to me! I remember sitting in front of my HUGE wooden television set with rabbit ears on the top (and maybe a bit of tin foil on those rabbit ears too? Perhaps…) and watching this vintage Christmas movie with my siblings!
Santa Claus Is Coming To Town came out in 1970 and has been a beloved family Christmas movie ever since then! (No, I wasn’t born yet…)
So fun! And, you couldn’t pause it, nope! You had to wait until commercials to get up and take a potty break! Oh, the good old days!
Frosty The Snowman!
Oh, you betcha Frosty The Snowman was one of my favorite vintage movies to watch during Christmastime too! Oh my goodness, I watched it SO many times I lost count! I still watch it EVERY year with my kids! It used to make me cry when Frosty melted in the greenhouse (I am not the only one who was traumatized by this scene either)!
And, when the little girl went in to see him he was only a puddle of water on the ground with his little Cole eyes and button nose lying in the middle of the puddle that used to be Frosty! I really disliked that dang magician!!! Naughty naughty naughty!!!!
I am SO glad that the movie ended the way it did or I would have probably been scarred for life! It really pulled on the heartstrings! GAH!
Frosty The Snowman came out in the year of 1969 and has been a precious Christmas movie for families everywhere to watch during the holidays! What a great old Christmas movie!
A Charlie Brown Christmas
A Charlie Brown Christmas ALWAYS made me feel good inside whenever I watched it when I was young, and now when I watch it with my children. It is a feel-good old-fashioned Christmas movie that teaches some wonderful lessons to everyone who watches it!
There is something about good old Charlie Brown that I have always loved! He is such a good kid with a great heart! I don’t know about Lucy, but the rest of the cast is pretty incredible too!
A Charlie Brown Christmas came out in the year 1965, so it is definitely a vintage Christmas movie and one of the best I will say!
A Flintstone Christmas
A Flintstone Christmas is a classic for me! If you don’t like the Flintstones and if you never watched them then we really can’t be friends! The Flintstones were my absolute favorite cartoon to watch as a child and when they came out with their Christmas movie I was SOOO happy!!!
Fred, Wilma, Betty, Barny, and Dino! Can’t forget the kids, Pebbles, and Bam Bam!! This holiday cartoon is worth watching every year!
A Flintstone Christmas came out in the year 1977!
The Year Without a Santa Claus
The Year Without Santa Claus was a movie I feared! I mean, NO Santa Claus because he is sick? No! Unacceptable! As a child, this movie kind of freaked me and my siblings out a bit. Would IF Santa DID get sick???? Thank heavens, in the end, it worked out, but WHAT IF??? Just no.
The Year Without Santa Claus came out in the year came out the year I was born, 1974! Yep, I am an oldie, sigh…
Mickey’s Once Upon a Christmas
Mickey’s Once Upon A Christmas is a Christmas movie I really like. It is filled with all the Disney characters that I adore and is just such a sweet holiday movie to watch.
Mickey, Minnie, and their famous friends Goofy, Donald, Daisy, and Pluto gather to reminisce about love, magic, and surprises in three wonder-filled stories of Christmas past.
Mickey’s Once Upon A Christmas came out in the year 1999, so it is a ‘newer’ vintage Christmas movie, but still an oldie too!
Mickey’s Once Upon a Christmas
A Chipmunk Christmas
A Chipmunk Christmas was another very special movie I watched as a child with my siblings. I mean, you have to love Alvin and the Chipmunks, right? They are so cute!
This is a special story about giving to those in need without second-guessing it. An important message we all can learn especially during the holiday season.
A Chipmunk Christmas came out in the year of 1981 and has been a family favorite Christmas movie for years! I know it is one of mine!
Pluto’s Christmas Tree (Short Movie!)
Pluto’s Christmas Tree is an all-time favorite old animated Christmas classic movie I used to watch all the time too! I love Mickey Mouse and Pluto! So fun to watch!
This is about Mickey Mouse and Pluto finding and cutting down a Christmas tree. BUT, there are chipmunks in that tree! The chipmunks are NOT happy about their home being cut down and will stop at nothing to make Pluto know it is their tree, not his! They end up fighting. What will happen at the end? You must watch it to find out! Such a good Christmas classic!
Pluto’s Christmas Tree came out in the year of 1952, so it is definitely an oldie!! It is a short movie, but sweet!
Jack Frost
Who doesn’t love Jack Frost??? I love this movie because Jack Frost becomes human and now the whole world can actually see him!
But, it isn’t so good for him and he wants to go back to how he used to be! This movie captures real feelings so well and it is just an all-around great holiday movie! I always enjoy watching it!
Jack Frost came out in the year of 1978. Hey, I was about 4 years old by then! Yay! I remember watching this with my siblings and loving it so much!
National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation!
Who on EARTH could not LOVE Christmas Vacation???? This movie is so funny and I just LOVE it so much. I watch it NUMEROUS times every single Christmas season and each time, I enjoy it!
I never tire of Cousin Eddie or the abnormal things he says and does! And, Clark trying so dang hard to put up ALL those Christmas lights on their home to avoid what is going on inside of that home! Haha!
Ever since this movie came out, I have loved and watched it, year after year after year… It is probably one of my faves for sure!
National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation came out in the year 1989. It seems like it has been around much longer than that but alas, it hasn’t.
National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation
A Christmas Story
A Christmas Story has to be one of the most beloved Christmas movies of all time, well for me it is! This movie is awesome and funny! My older siblings and I would always watch this movie during Christmas time with Mom! Such great memories!
The grumpy dad, the sweet and understanding mom, the obnoxious younger brother, and of course, Ralphie and his pink bunny pajamas!
Oh, and don’t forget that leg lamp! Goodness me, this is a silly movie and brings back the best of memories from my childhood!
A Christmas Story came out in the year of 1983 and has been a hit ever since it came out!
Scrooge
This REALLY OLD Christmas movie, Scrooge features ghosts of the Past, Present, and Future. They appear taking Scrooge on a journey into the spirit of Christmas.
I remember watching this with my mom one night during the Christmas season. My other siblings had no interest but me and my mama sure loved this movie!
Scrooge came out in the year of our Lord (just kidding it came out in the year of 1935 so pretty close...) and is a great old Christmas movie to watch!
Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas
Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas has to be on this vintage Christmas movie list! The heartwarming story that is told and how the Grinch overcame his grinchy-ness is wonderful!
I loved watching this with my family on Christmas Eve! It was always a favorite to watch while me and my siblings sat on our shaggy, orange, and brown carpet and drank hot chocolate! Ahhhh, the memories!
Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas came out in the year 1966! So, this movie is definitely an OLD Christmas movie and definitely belongs on this list of the old Christmas movies I watched as a child!
Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas
Mickey’s Christmas Carol
Mickey’s Christmas Carol was one of those heartbreaking animated vintage Christmas movies that really hurt your heart at times! I know it hurt mine a few times (It still does when I watch it!)!
However, this feel-good old-fashioned holiday movie is a must-see during the Christmas season! It is wholesome, and has a great lesson to learn from watching it! I used to watch this with my whole family and we just loved it!
Mickey’s Christmas Carol came out in the year of 1983. Many families enjoy watching this movie each year! I know we do!
The Muppet Christmas Carol
I know there are a lot of people who don’t like The Muppet Christmas Carol, but this was definitely a part of my youth and all of my Christmases!
I would watch this every year, along with all the other numerous olden-day Christmas movies, and I just adored it! Miss Piggy and Kermit are so cute in it! All of the muppets are! I haven’t watched this movie in a few years but plan to watch it with my children again this year!
The Muppet Christmas Carol came out in December of 1992 and it is a wonderful movie filled with the Christmas spirit! It isn’t as old as the other vintage Christmas movies I have listed so far, but it is still an oldie but a goodie!
More Old Christmas Movies I Watched As A Child That We Love!
The Search for Santa Paws (2010)
Elf (2003)
The Santa Claus (1994)
Home Alone (1990)
The Night Before Christmas Disney Silly Symphony (1933)
Tom & Jerry’s Night Before Christmas (1941)
Miracle On 34th Street (1947)
It’s a Wonderful Life (1946)
Prancer (1989)
I hope you enjoyed my list of Old Christmas Movies I Watched As A Child! Which ones are your favorite???
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gloria patterson says
I watched a couple old movies with great niece the other evening. Surprise she had not saw one of them. She said they were fun to watch
Kim says
It’s always nice to hear that the newer generation likes to watch our older movies!
monique s says
I loved the grinch most and also frosty the snowman
Kim says
Me too! Total classics!
gloria patterson says
I am 70+ watched some of these as a kid and have nieces in mid 30’s so watched some with them. Now I am watching with 7 yr old
Love these old movies
Maria Egan says
I make some hot chocolate and cookies and I am set to watch these with my grandkids. I don’t think we have ever watched Jack Frost so I am going to look for that one.
Kim says
Yes, Jack Frost is soooooo good! You will love it!