19 Christmas Classics From the Past 30 Years

After having their shambolic way with Wallyworld and most of Europe, it was only natural the Griswold family would make a mess of Jesus's birth. It's a gift that keeps on giving, from John Hughes' script to Chevy Chase's physical comedy to Julia Louis Dreyfus' scene-stealing role as a snotty yuppie neighbor to the parade of endearingly annoying family members—many of whom were or would become some of Hollywood's most bankable comedians. —Lanford Beard

Over the past 20 years, ''All I Want for Christmas is You'' has become as much a staple of the holiday playlist as decades-older classics for good reason. It's catchy, it's upbeat, it's performed by pop music's biggest diva—and its role in Love Actually, another new Christmas classic, doesn't hurt either. —Ariana Bacle

The two-part special concluding the series revisits the offices of Wernham Hogg, where David Brent (Ricky Gervais) gets redemption while Tim and Dawn (Martin Freeman and Lucy Davis) finally hook up. A perfectly wrapped closer. —Marc Snetiker

It's easy to get sucked into Richard Curtis's intertwining stories, whether they be about over-the-hill rock star (Bill Nighy), a dancing prime minister (Hugh Grant), or a couple of people simulating sex (Martin Freeman and Joanna Page). Though Love Actually does have its warm and gooey moments, the parts that are tinged with melancholy (Emma Thompson listening to Joni Mitchell, for instance) are the most affecting. —Esther Zuckerman

Leave it to South Park to make its most enduring Christmas tradition literal crap. Mr. Hankey has endured since the first season in an episode that also produced two of the show's most memorable musical numbers. Hankey himself has appeared several times, released his own Christmas album, and even made a cameo with the entire Hankey family in 2014's South Park: The Stick of Truth videogame. So get used to the smell—Mr. Hankey is here for many Christmases to come. —Jonathon Dornbush

This pop song shows the flip side to that romantic notion that anything can happen during the holidays: ''Last Christmas, I gave you my heart/But the very next day, you gave it away.'' What makes it a true classic? The beat is so catchy, and George Michael's voice is so breathy, you're tempted to listen to it all year 'round. —Mandi Bierly

Kevin McCallister (Macaulay Culkin) is all things to all kids: A put-upon shrimp who finally gets his chance to run wild, a precocious smart-alec, a prankster extraordinaire, a friend to the lonely, and, above all, a fierce protector of home and hearth. He's also got a serious set of lungs on him. All together now: Aaaaaaaaaaah! —Lanford Beard

George (Jason Alexander) concocts a fake charity to avoid holiday gifting, but it's dad Frank's (Jerry Stiller) alt-holiday Festivus (you know, for the rest of us) that became one of Seinfeld's most enduring pop culture contributions. —Marc Snetiker

Sedaris first treated NPR listeners to his account of the season he spent working as an elf at Macy's. (He named himself Crumpet?then Blisters.) Two years later, Sedaris included the piece in his very first collection of essays—and two decades after that, his caustic, deadpan, utterly hilarious piece still stands as one of the most bleakly funny things ever written about the holiday season. Especially the part when Crumpet tells a kid that if he's bad, Santa will come to his house and steal things. —Hillary Busis

The series' debut serves a heaping helping of the family values that underpin the comedy (Homer moonlights as a mall Santa to ease their money woes). But its real legacy is the arrival of beloved dog Santa's Little Helper. —Marc Snetiker

It's hard to thinking of a piece of holiday entertainment more ebullient than Elf, which manages to be both filled with cheer (who can resist Zooey Deschanel singing ''Baby It's Cold Outside''?) while also being pleasantly subversive. What other Christmas classic features Santa giving advice about where to get Ray's Pizza? Elf also succeeds by being an ode to New York at Christmas time, with a loving wink to the city's seedier side. —Esther Zuckerman

Hanukkah and Christmas collide in Seth Cohen's (Adam Brody) merry mash-up Chrismukkah. Though The O.C. has been relegated to the depths of the DVD bin, the holiday ep is perhaps the shiniest remnant of a series gone awry. —Marc Snetiker

*NSYNC followed up their successful debut album with a Christmas record featuring this original song, co-written by Justin Timberlake and JC Chasez. While the rest of the record is full of not-too-special Christmas classics, ''Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays'' stands out as a track that feels like a Christmas song while also still feeling like an NSYNC song—and one that's just as fun as any of their other early (non-seasonal) singles. —Ariana Bacle

The drama's first Christmas finds Richard Schiff's communications chief Toby arranging a military burial for a homeless vet. The Emmy-winning episode set the bar for Wing's future holidays in the White House. —Marc Snetiker

Grounded by Michael Caine's commanding turn as Ebenezer Scrooge, The Muppet Christmas Carol is as genuinely moving as it is clever. Most of the comedy comes from Gonzo (as Charles Dickens, ''here to tell the story'') and Rizzo (as himself, ''here for the food''), but the wordplay and quotable one-liners are everywhere, interspersed among catchy songs that capture the heart of the source material without ignoring its darker side. Rizzo may not be ''suited for literature,'' but the Muppets definitely are. —Kelly Connolly

What's better than one gorgeous home in a Nancy Meyers film? Two. A pair of women—one who can't stop crying over an ex (Kate Winslet), and one who can't cry period (Cameron Diaz)—swap houses for two weeks in December. Jack Black and Jude Law costar as their respective love interests, but the relationship that makes this a movie you have to watch every time you spot it on cable is the one between Winslet's character and Eli Wallach's long-retired screenwriter Arthur, who teaches her about gumption. —Mandi Bierly

Abed (Danny Pudi) quickly became the emotional core of Community, but his pop-culture addled brain and family issues came to blows in the second season Christmas special. Funny, sad, and wonderfully animated—the stop-motion conceit is smartly played with throughout—''Abed's Uncontrollable Christmas'' is one of the show's high-concept episodes that keeps things grounded. Plus, what other Christmas story ends in a moral lesson delivered by a DVD of the first season of Lost? —Jonathon Dornbush

Bob Geldof's super-collab is?well?let's just call it very much of its era. Some of the lyrics to the Ethiopian famine relief tune are more condescending than compassionate, but they were also sung by one the starriest gatherings of pop stars of all time—Bono, George Michael, Boy George, Paul McCartney, Phil Collins, Simon Le Bon, and Sting?for starters. The single was such a smash that three more iterations have been produced, with Bono even returning for the 2014 Ebola relief rendition. —Lanford Beard

Though special honors go to ''The One With the Routine,'' which took place during the Christmas season but has a decidedly more New Year's Eve feel, ''Armadillo'' is the definitive Friends Christmas episode. Ross (David Schwimmer) falls down on his job as a Jewish parent and is reduced to renting an armadillo costume to explain Hanukkah to Ben, all while Chandler (Matthew Perry) looks on in Santa garb. —Lanford Beard