1. "Jack Frost"
   "The Little Drummer Boy"
2. "The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus"
   "The Star"

Rankin and Bass, the people who brought us 1964's "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer," followed up their holiday hit with 1968's "The Little Drummer Boy." Based on the popular Christmas song, the movie tells the story of Aaron, a poor orphan who offers the Christ Child a gift of music.

1. "Frosty the Snowman"
   "The Spirit of Christmas"
2. "Rudolph and Frosty's Christmas in July"
   "Snow Foolin'"

Rankin/Bass Productions scored yet another holiday hit with 1969's "Frosty the Snowman." Based on the popular song about a snowman who comes magically to life, this animated special features the voice talents of Jimmy Durante, Jackie Vernon and June Foray.

1. "A Flintstones Christmas Carol"
   "Mickey's Christmas Carol"
2. "Bugs Bunny's Christmas Carol"
   "Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol"

1962's "Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol" finds the nearsighted old gent (voiced by Jim Backus) cast as Ebenezer Scrooge on Broadway. As always, Magoo brings down the house. "Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol" was both the first animated TV Christmas special and the first hour-long animated TV production.

1. "It's a Wonderful Life"
   "White Christmas"
2. "Holiday Inn"
   "Miracle on 34th Street"

Starring Sebastian Cabot, best known as Mr. French from "Family Affair," as the "nice old man with whiskers," this 1973 retread of "Miracle on 34th Street" hews closely to the 1947 film. Cabot performs ably, but overall this very dated TV film works better as a '70s time capsule than a remake.

1. "Santa's Enchanted Village"
   "Santa Claus Conquers the Martians"
2. "Santa's Fantasy Fair"
   "Santa's Workshop"

Regularly listed among the worst films ever made, "Santa Claus Conquers the Martians" is a must-see for fans of cult cinema. When the children of Mars become bored and listless, an invasion force is sent to abduct Santa in hopes of bringing them some much-needed holiday cheer.

1. "It's Christmastime Again, Charlie Brown"
   "I Want a Dog for Christmas"
2. "A Charlie Brown Christmas"
   "You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown"

An instant holiday classic upon its first airing in 1965, "A Charlie Brown Christmas" marked the TV debut of Charles Schulz's "Peanuts." With its sophisticated humor and endearingly neurotic protagonist, "A Charlie Brown Christmas" has delighted generations with its warmth and sincerity.

1. "A Family Circus Christmas"
   "Father Knows Best: Home for Christmas"
2. "The Gift of Love"
   "A Very Brady Christmas"

The story of insurance man Jim Anderson (Robert Young) and his family came to a heartwarming end with the 1977 TV movie "Father Knows Best: Home for Christmas." With Jim and Margaret (Jane Wyatt) now empty nesters, the Anderson kids come for one last holiday before the family home is sold.

1. "An American Christmas Carol"
   "Black Christmas"
2. "Holiday Affair"
   "Christmas Town"

In the waning days of his fame as the Fonz from ABC's "Happy Days," Henry Winkler took on a variation of Dickens' classic character Ebenezer Scrooge in "An American Christmas Carol." Set in New England during the Great Depression, businessman Benedict Slade (Winkler) is visited by three ghosts.

1. "'Twas the Night Before Christmas"
   "The Candlemaker"
2. "How the Grinch Stole Christmas"
   "The Fat Albert Christmas Special"

The animation of Chuck Jones, the words of Dr. Seuss and the voice of Boris Karloff come together in a perfect mix of holiday redemption in "How the Grinch Stole Christmas." Remade twice, the original "Grinch" is a work of Seussian brilliance. The holidays are not complete without it!

1. "'Twas the Night Before Christmas"
   "Nestor, the Long-Eared Christmas Donkey"
2. "Rudolph and Frosty's Christmas in July"
   "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer"

A holiday tradition for over 50 years, Rankin and Bass' "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" has become as essential to Christmas as Santa himself. Based on Johnny Marks' 1939 song about an outsider who makes good, the 1964 production builds on Rudolph's world with a cast of new characters.

1. "Babes in Toyland"
   "Home for the Holidays"
2. "The Nutcracker"
   "The Steadfast Tin Soldier"

Walt Disney's 1961 adaptation of Victor Herbert's beloved operetta stars Annette Funicello, Tommy Sands and "The Wizard of Oz's" Ray Bolger in his first villainous role. A very loose adaptation, the Disney film bears only a faint resemblance to the original. Nevertheless, its cast is a delight.

1. "Trading Christmas"
   "I'll Be Home For Christmas"
2. "The Man in the Santa Claus Suit"
   "The Holiday"

Fred Astaire stars as the owner of a costume shop who's not what he seems in this 1979 TV film. Over the holiday season, three men buy Santa suits in hopes of solving their respective problems. When the suits change their lives for the better, Astaire is revealed to be the real St. Nick.

1. "Santa Claus is Comin' to Town"
   "Here Comes Santa Claus"
2. "Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer"
   "Little Saint Nick"

Rankin and Bass created yet another animated holiday classic with 1970's "Santa Claus is Comin' to Town." Featuring the voices of Fred Astaire and Mickey Rooney, this films ignores the historical basis of Santa and other Christmas traditions for its own trippy mythology.

1. "A Season For Miracles"
   "The House Without a Christmas Tree"
2. "It Came Upon a Midnight Clear"
   "Christmas Lilies of the Field.

"The House Without a Christmas Tree" stars Jason Robards as an embittered widower father with a grudge against the holidays after his wife's death. It's up to his daughter to rekindle his long-extinguished Christmas spirit. A critical and popular favorite, it earned a primetime Emmy in 1973.

1. "The Magic Christmas Tree"
   "Don't Open till Christmas"
2. "Santa Claus and His Helpers"
   "Santa's Giant Film Festival of the Brothers Grimm"

"The Magic Christmas Tree" is a surprisingly bleak exercise in holiday exploitation from 1964. The convoluted tale of a little boy who uses a magic ring to grow a sentient, wish-granting Christmas tree, this film makes "Santa Claus Conquers the Martians" look like high art by comparison.

1. "A Cosmic Christmas"
   "Ziggy's Gift"
2. "Quincy's Quest"
   "The Ghosts of Christmas Eve"

Produced by Nelvana in 1977, "A Cosmic Christmas" was an early success for the fledgling animation studio. In the film, three aliens resembling the biblical magi wind up on present-day Earth after having tracked the Star of Bethlehem for 2,000 years.

1. "The Christmas That Almost Wasn't"
   "Santa Claus Has Blue Eyes"
2. "How the Toys Saved Christmas"
   "The Stingiest Man in Town"

Songwriter Paul Tripp stars in "The Christmas That Almost Wasn't" from 1966. Based on Tripp's book of the same name, the film finds Santa up to his beard in back rent owed to his miserly landlord. Santa winds up getting a day job at a department store, but in the end, kids come to St. Nick's rescue.

1. "The Lemon Drop Kid"
   "The Apartment"
2. "The Odd Couple"
   "The Out-of-Towners"

Although it's not specifically a Christmas film, the holidays loom large over Billy Wilder's 1960 comedy "The Apartment." With its unforgettable portrayal of a boozy office Christmas party and mid-century holiday atmosphere, "The Apartment" is a nice adult diversion from typical Christmas fare.

1. "Emmet Otter's Jugband Christmas"
   "The Donny and Marie Christmas Special"
2. "Rich Little's Christmas Carol"
   "The Star Wars Holiday Special"

Airing only once in November, 1978, "The Star Wars Holiday Special" is the stuff of TV legend. A surreal and inexplicable blend of "Star Wars" and hokey, '70s variety show schmaltz, George Lucas once said he wished he could personally smash every copy with a hammer.

1. "Saving Santa"
   "Santa's Apprentice"
2. "The Year Without a Santa Claus"
   "Rudolph's Shiny New Year"

Based on the 1956 children's book by Phyllis McGinley, "The Year Without a Santa Claus" was Rankin and Bass' holiday offering for 1974. Featuring Shirley Booth of TV's "Hazel" as Mrs. Claus, Santa's spouse has to rouse him from his holiday doldrums before the big night.

1. "It Happened on 5th Avenue"
   "Pocketful of Miracles"
2. "The Anniversary"
   "The Shop Around the Corner"

Bette Davis stars as Apple Annie, a hard-drinking panhandler, in 1961's "Pocketful of Miracles." In the film, Davis strikes a deal with mobster Glenn Ford to disguise her as a socialite to fool her daughter, who's engaged to royalty. Overflowing with the holiday spirit, it was Frank Capra's last film.

1. "Bah, Humduck! A Looney Tunes Christmas"
   "Mickey's Christmas Carol"
2. "Peace on Earth"
   "The Cricket on the Hearth"

Based on the novella by Charles Dickens, 1967's "Cricket on Hearth" was Rankin/Bass' second Christmas special following "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer." Shot in a traditional animation style rather than the studio's signature stop-motion, "Cricket" is among Rankin/Bass' lesser-known works.

1. "The Winter's Tale"
   "The Lion in Winter"
2. "Twelfth Night"
   "Chimes at MIdnight"

Katherine Hepburn stars as the deposed Eleanor of Aquitaine in 1968's "The Lion in Winter." Set against the backdrop of royal Christmas celebrations, Eleanor, freed from prison for the holiday, vies for her son Richard to take the throne against the wishes of her husband Henry II (Peter O'Toole).

1. "The Gathering"
   "The Christmas Card"
2. "Saving Christmas"
   "The Family Man"

"The Gathering" from 1977 stars Ed Asner as a stubborn man facing regret over the family he walked out on when he learns he's terminally ill. In hopes of reconciliation, he convinces his estranged wife and children to reunite with him for Christmas while hiding his sickness. Maureen Stapleton costars.

1. "Christmas in Connecticut"
   "A Christmas Wish"
2. "The Christmas Wife"
   "A Christmas to Remember"

Based on Glendon Swarthout's novel "The Melodeon," "A Christmas to Remember" first aired on CBS in 1978. Taking place during the Great Depression, the film tells the story of a city boy who develops a special bond with his grandfather (Jason Robards) when he's sent to live on his grandparents' farm.

1. "One Magic Christmas"
   "The Best Christmas Pageant Ever"
2. "It Happened One Christmas"
   "A Carol Christmas"

"It Happened One Christmas" is among a number of films that made the ABC Network the reigning champ of made-for-TV holiday movies in the 1970s. Basically a gender-swapped "It's a Wonderful Life," Marlo Thomas is shown how the world would be without her by an angelic Cloris Leachman.

1. "A Christmas Memory"
   "The Thanksgiving Visitor"
2. "Among the Paths to Eden
   "Homecoming: a Christmas Story"

Based on Truman Capote's heartwarming tale of the same name, 1966's "A Christmas Memory" is an underappreciated gem. Narrated by the author and starring Geraldine Page, the film, produced as a segment of "ABC Stage 67," was released theatrically in 1969 as part of "Truman Capote's Trilogy."

1. "A Carol for Another Christmas"
   "The Christmas Tree"
2. "Silent Night, Lonely Night"
   "Of Sleds and 40 Winters"

Directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz from a script from "Twilight Zone" scribe Rod Serling, "A Carol for Another Christmas" was commissioned by the United Nations to foster the ideals of international cooperation. Standing in for Scrooge is Grudge, an isolationist, who's haunted on Christmas Eve.

1. "The Homecoming: A Christmas Story"
   "Young Pioneers' Christmas"
2. "A Christmas They Never Forgot"
   "Spencer's Mountain"

The CBS television movie "The Homecoming: A Christmas Story," from 1971, tells the story of the Waltons as they face a difficult holiday during the Depression. The eldest son, an aspiring writer, helps hold the family together in the absence of their father who's missing on Christmas Eve.

1. "Six Weeks"
   "The Holly and the Ivy"
2. "Christmas Miracle in Caufield, U.S.A."
   "We're No Angels"

Also known as "The Christmas Coal Mine Miracle," 1977's "Christmas Miracle in Caufield, U.S.A." stars Mitch Ryan, Kurt Russell and Melissa Gilbert in the true story of a holiday mining disaster. Set in 1951, the film tells the story of a group of miners trapped in a cave-in on Christmas Eve.

1. "Christmas on Honeysuckle Lane"
   "A Smoky Mountain Christmas"
2. "Young Pioneers' Christmas"
   "Christmas at Grand Valley"

"Young Pioneers' Christmas" from 1976 was a second attempt to sell the ABC network on a "Young Pioneers" series. Starring Linda Purl and Roger Kern as a pioneer couple facing a hard Christmas on the prairie after the death of their baby, the film failed to ignite interest among audiences.

1. "The Santa Clause"
   "Santa Claus the Movie"
2. "Santa and the Ice Cream Bunny"
   "The Night They Saved Christmas"

1972's "Santa and the Ice Cream Bunny" falls squarely into the category of films that must be seen to be believed. Just days before Christmas, Santa is stranded in sunny Florida, and it's up to a group of neighborhood kids to help him save Christmas.

1. "The Christmas Tree"
   "Threads"
2. "Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence"
   "The Snowman"

1969's "The Christmas Tree" is the definition of melodrama. When his young son gets radiation poisoning (it's a long story), William Holden makes the kid's last six months the best ever by buying him tractors and stealing wolves. Spoiler alert: The kid dies under the Christmas tree, hence the title.

1. "Silent Night, Deadly Night"
   "Christmas Evil"
2. "Black Christmas"
   "The Dorm That Dripped Blood?

1974's "Black Christmas" stars Olivia Hussey and Margot Kidder as sorority sisters stalked by an unseen killer over the holidays. The film's director, Bob Clarke, would go on to helm another Christmas film with a decidedly different tone in 1983 with "A Christmas Story."

1. "Never a Dull Moment"
   "Some Kind of a Nut"
2. "Fitzwilly"
   "The Wrong Way Kid"

In 1967's "Fitzwilly," Dick Van Dyke is the butler of an aging heiress; he also just happens to be a criminal mastermind. In order to keep his destitute employer in her lavish lifestyle, Van Dyke leads the help on a series of criminal enterprises culminating with a Christmas Eve heist of Gimbels.

1. "The Nativity"
   "Jesus of Nazareth"
2. "The Greatest Story Ever Told"
   "The Star of Bethlehem"

"The Nativity" recounts the birth of Jesus as told in the gospels of Matthew and Luke. However, it takes some liberties with its sources. Starring Madeleine Stowe as Mary, "The Nativity" was directed by Bernard Kowalski, whose credits include "Night of the Blood Beast" and "The Killer Leeches."

1. "All Through the House"
   "Home For the Holidays"
2. "Silent Night, Bloody Night"
   "To All a Good Night"

The 1972 Christmas thriller "Home For the Holidays" packs some high-caliber, A-list talent for an ABC movie of the week. With a cast that includes Sally Field, Julie Harris and Walter Brennan, this holiday shocker revolves around a dying man's suspicion that his wife has poisoned him.

1. "The Nine Lives of Christmas"
   "It's Like This, Cat"
2. "J.T."
   "The Incredible Journey"

A troubled young boy finds his purpose when he nurses a sick, one-eyed cat back to health during holiday season in "J.T." from 1969. Produced as part of the CBS "Children's Hour" Saturday morning program, it proved so popular that it was re-aired in primetime. Have a handkerchief nearby for this one!

1. "The Small One"
   "Balthazar"
2. "The Star"
   "Nestor, the Long–Eared Christmas Donkey"

Based on a children's book by Charles Tazewell, "The Small One" was released to theaters by Walt Disney in 1978. The story of a young Nazarene boy forced to sell his beloved donkey, "The Small One" is a funny and touching tale of friendship, compassion and faith.

1. "A Christmas Carol"
   "Scrooge and Marley"
2. "Scrooge"
   "The Muppet Christmas Carol"

A surprisingly faithful musical adaptation of Charles Dickens' "A Christmas Carol," 1970's "Scrooge" features Albert Finney as the film's titular protagonist. Nominated for four Academy Awards. the film strikes a balance between drama and musical numbers that's rare in the genre.