As you gear up for a festive Netflix marathon, get ready to explore a dazzling array of Christmas-themed movies. Our expertly crafted guide highlights the cream of the crop in Netflix’s holiday offerings for this month.

Gosh, it can’t surely be 20 years since some of us rushed to the cinema to see this wonderful film from Richard Curtis, where we fell madly in love with Hugh Grant all over again as he danced that dance. In a recent interview he said he was very embarrassed every time he saw it. Bill Nighy had us in stitches as Billy Mack at the unlikely success of his hit song, Love Is All Around and little Thomas Brodie-Sangster won our hearts – he’s all grown up now and starring in The Artful Dodger series. The film tells of several interrelated stories of love and the search for happiness for a group of Londoners at Christmas. There’s a stellar cast attached. It’s not everyone’s favourite, of course, but my daughter in NYC texts me every Christmas Eve to make sure I’m watching it with her, even though she’s thousands of miles away.

An amnesia Christmas movie. Not sure we’ve had one before, but why not?! Lindsay Lohan is the girl who doesn’t know who she is, and her sister, Aliana, is also has a role. It all begins in the days leading up to Christmas, when a young and newly engaged heiress experiences a skiing accident. After being diagnosed with amnesia, she finds herself in the care of the handsome lodge owner and his daughter. And you don’t need me to enlighten you as to where it goes from there. It’s predictable and you’ve probably seen it all before, but it’s Christmas and one can always suspend belief with some of the plot lines.

This is a lovely film about family, love and Christmas from Belgium. You can also watch The Claus Family 2 and 3 for a holiday marathon. The story follows Jules Claus who doesn’t like Christmas after his father died the previous year. While his mother is working, Jules is spending lots of time in his grandfather’s toy shop. One day he finds a magic snow globe, which takes him to the farthest parts of the world. He discovers something out of the ordinary: his grandfather is the real Santa Claus. The tradition has been in the family for years and years, and now that his father is no longer there, Grandfather Claus has taken on this job once again. This is a good one to enjoy with the kids during the holiday season.

In the second film in this series, Jules Claus has embraced Christmas again and is getting ready for the busiest time of the year together with Grandpa Noël. Everything seems to go according to plan, until Jules receives a very special letter with an intriguing question.

Next up we have a new family Christmas movie, with a plot that has been used many times before, which is acknowledged in a scene by the family. It’s a bit cringeworthy in places, but there are some amusing moments. The Walkers are a nuclear family of five. When a mysterious event occurs at the Griffith Park Planetarium, the nuclear elements split and recombine, where mum and dad become the kids, and vice versa. While kids CC and Wyatt try to navigate the impossibly complicated world that is adulthood, parents Jess and Bill must work their way through the insanely intricate network of rites of passage that comes with being a teenager. So, this is one for the whole family to enjoy. It’s not amazing, but it’s entertaining.

There was a bit of a surprise when I read the cast list for this one as Jason Biggs appears as husband Rob Sanders and I didn’t recognise him! The story tells of Charlotte Sanders who, every Christmas, without fail, gets a boastful holiday newsletter from her friend Jackie that makes her old college friend Charlotte feel like she is a failure. When a twist of fate lands Charlotte, her husband Rob, and their family on Jackie and her husband Valentino’s snowy doorstep just days before Christmas, Charlotte seizes the opportunity to prove that her old friend’s “perfect” life can’t possibly be that perfect. But in her overzealous attempt to expose Jackie, Charlotte nearly ruins Christmas for both families. This is not a great movie by any means but see what you think. It might just be me.

This is not your usual family fun time Christmas movie, although it is about family. But the cast includes Luke Grimes, Dax Shepard, Tim Allen and Vincent D’Onofrio – who isn’t very nice here at all! Even the dad from That 70’s Show is in it. Luke Grimes stars as a young man who seeks out a father he has never met and, through no fault of his own, ends up barricaded in a liquor store with five other people on Christmas Eve. The story takes place in the fictitious town of El Camino, NV. This film has everything genre-wise, it’s a comedy, tragedy, and romance. This is a great little film, which was unexpected.

There’s nothing like a bit of time travel at Christmas, and for some reason I can’t fathom, I seem to enjoy this film. After a sorceress transports medieval knight Sir Cole to present-day Ohio during the holiday season, he befriends Brooke, a clever and kind science teacher who’s been disillusioned by love. Brooke helps Sir Cole navigate the modern world and tries to help him discover how to fulfill his mysterious one true quest – the only act that will return him home. But Sir Cole begins to wonder just how much he wants to return to his old life. This is one to sit back and relax and enjoy the ride… and it’s got Rob Lowe in it. What more could one ask for at Christmas!

From Nigeria we have a light-hearted family comedy with the sole purpose of making sure your mother is happy at Christmas, which is what everyone wants. Madam Agatha’s Christmas wish sets off a fierce competition between her three sons when she tells them that whoever is the first to marry and give her grandchildren by Christmas Day will inherit her house, where they all reside. This sets off a flurry of activity as they all scramble to bring home a wife for Christmas. This one has everything, plus it’s a vastly different location to most of the Yuletide fare.