Journalist Elizabeth Lane is one of the country's most famous food writers. In her columns, she describes herself as a hard working farm woman, taking care of her children, and being an excellent cook. But this is all lies. In reality, she is an unmarried New Yorker who can't even boil an egg. The recipes come from her good friend Felix. The owner of the magazine she works for has decided that a heroic sailor will spend his Christmas on *her* farm. Miss Lane knows that her career is over if the truth comes out, but what can she do?
Boyd Mitchler and his family must spend Christmas with his estranged family of misfits. Upon realizing that he left all his son's gifts at home, he hits the road with his dad in an attempt to make the 8-hour round trip before sunrise.
After a break up, Jenny moves in with writer Kelly, her filmmaker husband, and their child. Despite a rocky start, Jenny's influence helps Kelly realize that an evolution in her life, career and relationship is necessary for her happiness.
Madea dispenses her unique form of holiday spirit on rural town when she's coaxed into helping a friend pay her daughter a surprise visit in the country for Christmas.
Six years after their Guantanamo Bay adventure, stoner buds Harold Lee and Kumar Patel cause a holiday fracas by inadvertently burning down Harold's father-in-law's prize Christmas tree.
At Chicago O'Hare International Airport, a group of Marines have just returned to the US from Iraq. As the Marines leave, one Marine remains and makes his way towards the exit. The Marine's name is Jesse Rodriguez (Freddy Rodriguez (actor)). The film cuts to a house where a man, Edy Rodriguez (Alfred Molina) is on a ladder nailing up a welcome home sign for Jesse. The woman, his wife, Anna Rodriguez (Elizabeth Peña) gives him a rather disgruntled look before leaving to prepare for Jesse's return.
LA movie-trailer editor Amanda and London journalist Iris try to escape their romantic troubles by swapping houses for two weeks during the holidays.
An angel is sent from Heaven to help a desperately frustrated businessman by showing him what life would have been like if he had never existed.
Bishop Henry Brougham (David Niven), troubled with funding the building of a new cathedral, prays for divine guidance. His plea is seemingly answered by a suave angel named Dudley (Cary Grant), who reveals his identity only to the clergyman.
A successful song-and-dance team become romantically involved with a sister act and team up to save the failing Vermont inn of their former commanding general.
A man must struggle to travel home for Thanksgiving with a lovable oaf of a shower curtain ring salesman as his only companion.
With Christmas only a few weeks away, Chicago resident Clark Griswold decides it is time to get a Christmas tree. He gathers his wife Ellen, daughter Audrey, and son Rusty and drives out to the country where he picks out a huge tree. Realizing too late that they didn't bring any tools to cut the tree down, they are forced to uproot it instead, before driving home with the tree strapped to the roof of their car.
A hopelessly romantic Chicago Transit Authority token collector is mistaken for the fiancée of a coma patient.
Claudia Larson, a single mom who has just been fired from her job as an art restorer due to budget cuts, flies from Chicago to spend Thanksgiving at the Baltimore home of her parents, Adele and Henry Larson, while her only child Kitt decides to stay home and spend the holiday with her boyfriend. As she is dropping her mother off at the airport, Kitt informs Claudia that she intends to have sex with her boyfriend for the first time while she's gone. While on the plane, Claudia makes a phone call to Tommy, her younger brother and confidante who she believes won't be attending the Thanksgiving dinner, telling him that she lost her job, made out with her boss, and knows that her daughter is going to sleep with her boyfriend.
An old bitter miser who makes excuses for his uncaring nature learns real compassion when three ghosts visit him on Christmas Eve.
Eight London couples try to deal with their relationships in different ways. Their tryst with love makes them discover how complicated relationships can be.
Just before Christmas, wealthy advertising executive Drew Latham surprises his girlfriend Missy with first class tickets to Fiji, but she is horrified that he would want to spend Christmas away from his family. Citing the fact that Drew has never even introduced her to his family, she concludes that he will never get serious about their relationship and dumps him. Drew has his assistant send her a Cartier bracelet to apologize. Desperate not to spend Christmas alone, Drew calls all of his contacts to find a place to stay on Christmas, but he is not close enough to anyone to be invited.
When their daughter Blair leaves the family nest for the Peace Corp, a pair of aging parents -- Luther and Nora Krank decide to skip their annual Christmas celebration. However, when Blair calls on Christmas Eve to announce that she's making a surprise visit, the Kranks must swiftly pull together in order to organize a traditional Christmas celebration on little notice.
Set in the fictional town of Thayer, Connecticut, the story focuses on Meredith Morton, a successful Manhattan executive whose uptight, conservative demeanor is a sharp contrast to that of her boyfriend Everett Stone and his liberal and rambunctious family. Meredith is dreading meeting the rest of the family after already being given the cold shoulder during dinner with Everett's youngest sister Amy.
Georgia Byrd, an employee in the cookware department at Kragen's Department Store in New Orleans, is a shy, unassuming woman who longs to cook professionally, and who records her dreams of a better life in a journal labeled "Possibilities". It is the Christmas holiday season. While flirting with a co-worker named Sean Williams, she bumps her head on a cabinet door and is taken to the store's health center for a CAT scan. There, she is told by company physician Dr. Gupta she has several brain tumors resulting from a rare neurological disorder called List of fictional diseases#In film. Since her Health maintenance organization will not cover the exorbitant cost of an operation, Georgia resigns herself to the fact she has only a few weeks to live, quits her job, liquidates her assets, and sets off on a dream vacation at the deluxe Grandhotel Pupp in the spa city of Karlovy Vary in the Czech Republic.
Two neighbors have it out after one of them decorates his house for the holidays so brightly that it can be seen from space.
As her Christmas Eve wedding draws near, Jennifer is visited by an angel and shown what could have been if she hadn't denied her true feelings for her childhood best friend.
The intertwined stories of four generations of Coopers unfold right before the annual family reunion on Christmas Eve. Can they survive the most beautiful time of the year?
In December 2001, Ethan Miller loses both of his parents in a car accident. His best friends, Isaac Greenberg and Chris Roberts resolve to spend every Christmas Eve with Ethan. One year, the friends learn of the Nutcracker Ball, a tremendous, invite-only Christmas Eve party. Unable to find the party, the friends continue with their tradition.
As Stephanie prepares to move in with her boyfriend, he breaks up with her, leaving her heartbroken and homeless for the holidays until she decides to fly home to Connecticut. On a red-eye the day before Christmas Eve, Stephanie finds herself seated next to Michael, who is planning to propose to his long-term girlfriend. Stephanie and Michael argue with one another over relationship skills before the pilot announces that an unexpected snowstorm is crossing the country. Their flight is diverted to Bozeman in Montana where Stephanie takes the last available room at the town's bed and breakfast. Despite their differences, she offers to share the room with Michael where they try to get along and end up realizing that they are becoming attracted to each other. Not wanting to interfere with Michael's relationship, Stephanie sneaks out to the airport and leaves without telling him. He soon discovers her absence and immediately follows her to the airport. The two say goodbye before her flight. Michael later breaks up with his girlfriend and searches for Stephanie online to reconnect with her.
Walter Meyers (Danny Glover) is a retired automotive engineer who lost his wife, Grace (Rachel Kylian) one year earlier. Now that the holiday season is here, he invites his four grown children and the rest of the family to his house for a traditional celebration. Walter knows that if his daughters Cheryl (Kimberly Elise) and Rachel (Gabrielle Union) and sons Christian (Romany Malco) and Evan (Jessie Usher) can spend five days together under the same roof, it will truly be a Christmas miracle. As his children arrive, Walter realizes a perfect Christmas without his wife is easier said than done. Cheryl, a doctor and the eldest child, arrives for the holidays with her goofy husband Lonnie (J.B. Smoove), a previously famous basketball player who develops a mutual interest in a young grocery store worker (Keri Hilson) shortly after arriving in town. His eldest son and second born, Christian, struggles with balancing his campaign to become a congressman and his desire to spend time with his family. Christian invites his campaign manager along, so they can get more work done. Meanwhile, Rachel, his youngest daughter and third born, struggles to financially support herself and her daughter due to her recent divorce and studying to become a lawyer. Lastly, Evan (Jessie Usher) is a successful football player recovering from a shoulder injury, but when his coach tells him his arm is completely healed, Evan struggles to give up the pain medication.
In December 2016, Josh Parker (Jason Bateman), Chief Technical Officer of Zenotek's Chicago branch, meets with his lawyer, Ezra (Matt Walsh (comedian)), to finalize his divorce in time for the holidays. Zenotek meanwhile has failed to meet its quarterly quota, and interim CEO Carol Vanstone (Jennifer Aniston) threatens to lay off 40 percent of the staff, cut bonuses, and cancel the annual Christmas party. Her brother, branch manager Clay (T.J. Miller), is desperate to keep his staff. Carol harbors resentment toward Clay, whom she believed was her father's favorite, and threatens to shut down the branch. Josh and Clay, along with Josh's head of tech, Tracey Hughes (Olivia Munn), propose partnering with financial giant Walter Davis (Courtney B. Vance), whom they are having lunch with later that day, and Carol gives them the chance to win his business. Walter is pleased with the pitch, but concerned with another recent branch closure at Zenotek, and feels the company is more about the budget than their people. Clay invites him to their Christmas party in hopes of showing him that their company is in good standing. Before leaving town, Carol offers Josh a position at her New York headquarters to which he declines.
In 1843, two years after the success of ''Oliver Twist'', Charles Dickens (Dan Stevens) is suffering financial hardship from the failure of his last three books. Rejected by his publishers, he sets out to write a new book to restore his finances. Seeing inspiration around London, most notably a rich man's funeral that is largely unattended, he begins writing ''A Christmas Carol'', due in six weeks in order to be published by Christmas. As Charles begins to develop his story, he interacts with the characters he is writing about, most notably Ebenezer Scrooge (Christopher Plummer). Dickens is helped by one of his servants, Tara, an Irish immigrant who is literate and able to provide advice.
39-year-old bachelor King Charles of Baltamia endeavors to track down his American college sweetheart. He discovers that she has never married, but has instead chosen to raise her 17-year-old daughter on her own, who could very possibly be his daughter and heir.
A young woman named Kate accepts a job at a department store during the holidays as one of Santa's elves. Certain that this may be her worst Christmas yet, she is surprised to meet Tom there, who just may represent something truly unexpected.
A movie about a medieval English knight who is magically transported to present day where he ends up falling for a high school science teacher.
