7 Best And 7 Worst Lifetime Christmas Movies

Lifetime Christmas movies are always ready to keep us entertained during the holiday season, as the network has a vast, ever-expanding roster of holiday flicks. 

According to Good Housekeeping, Lifetime decided to roll out 30 brand new movies for the 2019 holiday season, and that no doubt had some fans moving things around in their schedules so they'd have time to watch every one. As any Christmas fanatic knows, Lifetime's holiday movies have become somewhat of a seasonal staple. While often a bit over-the-top — and perhaps even a little cheesy — it's hard to deny the appeal of the network's cheery Christmas flicks. Even the "worst" of Lifetime's holiday movies are hard to look away from. After all, who wouldn't want to watch Melissa Joan Hart rediscover the true meaning of Christmas while saving her bakery and falling in love with a nutcracker? Lifetime's made-for-TV holiday movies certainly aren't for everyone — but to us, they are perfect.

To help you decide which movies to watch first, here's a list of the best and worst Lifetime Christmas movies. And, yes, we've checked it twice. Warning: Spoilers ahead!

In A Very Nutty Christmas, a recently dumped bakery owner named Kate is gifted a nutcracker that, as Kate is sleeping, magically transforms into a fully grown, human man. While Kate is startled to see a strange man in her home the next morning, she assumes he's her house share guest, despite his military uniform and many mentions of "battling the Mouse King." Kate doesn't seem to have any questions, but we definitely do. 

Later, the nutcracker (who goes by Chip) impresses Kate and her bakery employees by cracking thousands of nuts with his bare hands in a matter of minutes. This is the exact moment Kate starts to fall in love with Chip — and it's where A Very Nutty Christmas loses us for good. After all, nutcrackers crack nuts with their mouths, not their hands. Even more upsetting is the Lifetime Christmas movie's ending. Spoiler alert: Chip reverts back to being a regular ol' nutcracker — but not before implying he'd be back next Christmas. This kind of relationship is what the "it's complicated" option on Facebook was made for. 

Released in 2015 on Lifetime, The Spirit of Christmas could once be found on Netflix, where its description read, "As Christmas approaches, attorney Kate Jordan travels to Vermont to oversee the sale of an inn, where she falls for a handsome but cursed ghost."

"Cursed ghost" seems a tad redundant — but what do we know about the paranormal? The Spirit of Christmas follows Daniel (a.k.a. the handsome but cursed ghost) and Kate as they work together to try and solve his century-old murder. Of course, they fall in love along the way, but their relationship is complicated by the fact that Daniel is, you know, a ghost. However, as we soon learn, Daniel gets a break from his ghostly form each year from December 13 to December 26, because Lifetime Christmas movie logic is like no other. Surprisingly, Kate is fine with only seeing her new beau two weeks per year. 

While we're not the biggest fans of this cheesy Christmas murder mystery, we desperately want a sequel in which Kate has to awkwardly explain her relationship status to her family at Thanksgiving dinner. 

The contrived storylines and overall creepy vibe of the Lifetime Christmas movie Dear Santa only serve to solidify the film's title as one of the weirdest Lifetime holiday movies we've ever watched. 

Dear Santa follows 30-year-old Crystal — a spoiled, big city socialite who has seemingly never held down a real job, relying instead on her wealthy parents' financial support. However, after a day of shopping, Crystal receives word from her parents that they're planning to cancel her credit cards unless she changes her lifestyle. Not knowing what to do, Crystal happens upon a letter addressed to Santa Claus, written by a girl named Olivia who wants Santa to send her widower father a new wife. In a rather concerning move, Crystal stalks the little girl and her father to the soup kitchen he runs, and soon begins working there as a volunteer with the hope of sparking romance with the single dad. Of course, unlike Crystal herself, her weird little plan works. 

Honestly, if Dear Santa had taken place during any other season, it would definitely fit the bill for a psychological thriller. 

In Christmas Pen Pals, Sarah Drew plays Hannah, a tech wiz who talks to her Siri-like assistant, Marvin, more than anyone else in her life. After her dating app, Perfect One, begins to plummet in popularity, Hannah escapes to her small hometown for the holidays. There, she gets her widower father to sign up for the town's Christmas Cupid pen pal program, reluctantly joining herself at her father's request. 

It quickly becomes quite obvious that Hannah's pen pal is Sam — a café owner/hater of all things tech-related with whom Hannah had a relationship years ago. Sam realizes this pretty much immediately, but instead of fessing up to Hannah, the guy keeps his identity a big, unnecessary secret, despite being very much in love with her after all these years. 

The Lifetime Christmas movie ends with Hannah and Sam sharing a romantic holiday kiss, but the fate of Perfect One is never revealed. Will small town Sam move to the city with Hannah, or will the tech-obsessed gal magically come around to the idea of living in a technology-barren town?  Marvin, we need some answers.

As excited as we were to see Bethany Joy Lenz (best known as One Tree Hill's Haley James Scott) on our screens again, even she would have a hard time convincing us to spend nearly 90 minutes rewatching the 2018 Lifetime Christmas movie Poinsettias for Christmas. 

Look, there are hundreds of cheesy Christmas movies on the market, and they only continue to grow in number with each passing year. Obviously, not every made-for-TV holiday flick is going to be a winner. However, we can't get over the farfetched plot of Poinsettias for Christmas. The film follows Ellie, a woman who's forced to return to her family's poinsettia farm for the holiday season to try and solve the mystery of why the plants have yet to turn their vibrant, red hue. Eventually, she finds the answer in the stars — literally. Apparently, construction around town has blocked starlight from reaching the plants, subsequently causing them to remain green. 

While we're not convinced of the scientific accuracy of that conclusion, we are convinced that Poinsettias for Christmas could have benefited from a slightly more believable (and way more compelling) plot. 

According to PBS, Little Women — the 19th century coming-of-age novel penned by Louisa May Alcott — was adapted for the screen as early as 1917. Since then, Little Women has been brought to life in numerous films, television specials, and stage plays. Of course, perhaps the most highly anticipated Little Women adaptation was Greta Gerwig's 2019 directorial effort, which stars Saoirse Ronan as Jo March.

Unfortunately, The March Sisters at Christmas is a Lifetime Christmas movie that totally misses the mark. While we're all for taking creative liberty with classic texts and bringing them into the modern era, there's just something inherently wrong with the idea that the strong-willed Jo March would set her own aspirations and writing talent aside to make a living as a ghostwriter for celebrity tweets. 

In theory, modernizing Little Women for The March Sisters at Christmas likely seemed like a great idea. However, in reality, these versions of the beloved March sisters don't inspire the same sense of warmth as the literary characters on whom they're based.

As cheesy and unrealistic as they may be, Lifetime's library of holiday movies offer a needed escape from the hustle and bustle of Christmas. That said, Lifetime Christmas movie A Twist of Christmas is a holiday flick that might just leave you more stressed than you were when you sat down to watch it. 

Starring Vanessa Lachey and Brendon Zub as Abby and Ryan — two very busy parents with hectic work schedules who accidentally switch bags after purchasing gifts for their respective children — A Twist of Christmas follows the pair as they team up to correct the accidental gift swap. Upon fixing their mistake, the two single parents — who are virtual strangers — decide to spend the rest of the Christmas holiday together, deciding they've fallen madly in love only days after their incredibly stressful meet-cute. Nice try, Lifetime, but you can't trick us into emerging from our cozy holiday hole and venturing anywhere near a department store at Christmastime. 

On a more positive note, A Twist of Christmas will leave you with a renewed sense of gratitude for the miracle of online shopping.