20 Famous Christmas Movie Characters, Ranked by Staying Power

Ebenezer Scrooge first said “Humbug!” in December 1843, more than 50 years before anyone projected a film for a paying audience. He is still the most copied of all Christmas characters.

This list ranks 20 famous Christmas movie characters by staying power: how strongly each one still shapes what December looks like on screen. That means the lines people quote, the costumes they wear, the films they rewatch every year and the films that copy them.

Four TV specials count, because Rudolph, Charlie Brown, Frosty and the Grinch reached most of us through a television. For the films themselves, see our list of Christmas movies to watch. Spoilers ahead.

20) Krampus, Krampus (2015)

Krampus is the anti-Santa, a horned creature from Alpine folklore who comes for the families that have given up on Christmas.

• Film: Krampus, released 4 December 2015
• Played by: Luke Hawker in the suit, voiced by Gideon Emery (uncredited)
• Director: Michael Dougherty
• Character type: Holiday villain
• Arc: None. He is the punishment, not the lesson
• Box office: $61.5 million worldwide
• Best line or moment: “The shadow of Saint Nicholas.” Omi, the grandmother, naming him
• Dress as them: Goat horns, a long shaggy cloak and a sack of toys
• Fun fact: Weta Workshop built the creatures, and Hawker ran its model shop

A family Christmas goes wrong in the usual ways, until the cousins read young Max’s letter to Santa out loud. He tears it up. A blizzard knocks out the power, and something with horns is on the roof.

Dougherty chose practical effects over digital ones, so Krampus is a real suit with a bearded mask and a cloak of hand-stitched panels. He is at number 20 because he is new to American screens. The name already gets about 301,000 US searches a month.

19) Kate McCallister, Home Alone (1990)

Kate McCallister is the mother who leaves one child behind by mistake, then flies back across the Atlantic and rides with a polka band to get back to him.

• Film: Home Alone, released 16 November 1990
• Played by: Catherine O’Hara
• Director: Chris Columbus, from a script by John Hughes
• Character type: Parent at breaking point
• Arc: Changes. From sending Kevin to the attic in anger to doing anything to reach him
• Box office: $476.7 million worldwide for Home Alone
• Best line or moment: “KEVIN!” The realisation, on the plane to Paris
• Dress as them: A long brown coat, a bob of auburn hair and a plane ticket
• Fun fact: John Candy shot his scenes in about 23 hours and was paid $414, as a favour to Hughes

The family oversleeps, rushes to the airport and nobody counts the children. Kate’s scream on the plane is the moment the comedy gets a spine.

The rest of her film is a road movie. She begs, bargains and ends up in a van with Gus Polinski and the Kenosha Kickers, a travelling polka band led by John Candy, who improvised all of his lines. O’Hara, who died in January 2026, also voiced Sally at number 8.

18) Billy Mack, Love Actually (2003)

Billy Mack is a washed-up rock star who records a cynical Christmas single for the money and spends Christmas with the one person who stuck by him.

• Film: Love Actually, released 14 November 2003 in the US
• Played by: Bill Nighy
• Director: Richard Curtis, in his first film as director
• Character type: Reformed miser
• Arc: Changes. From sneering at his own record to admitting who matters
• Box office: $245 million worldwide in its first run
• Best line or moment: “Don’t buy drugs. Become a pop star and they give you them for free.”
• Dress as them: A metallic green snakeskin suit and a studded belt
• Fun fact: Curtis asked for an actor he would never think of casting, and was given Nighy

Billy’s comeback is “Christmas Is All Around”, a festive rewrite of the Troggs’ 1967 song “Love Is All Around”. He tells every radio host that it is rubbish, and the honesty sells it.

He starts as the film’s joke and ends as its warmest thread, turning up at Christmas at the home of Joe, his long-suffering manager. Nighy won the BAFTA for Best Supporting Actor for the part.

17) Frosty, Frosty the Snowman (1969)

Frosty is a snowman brought to life by a magic hat, and his whole story runs against a melting deadline.

• Special: Frosty the Snowman, a half-hour TV special
• Voiced by: Jackie Vernon, with Jimmy Durante narrating
• Directors: Arthur Rankin Jr. and Jules Bass
• Character type: Believer
• Arc: Stays the same. He melts, comes back and is just as cheerful
• First broadcast: CBS, 7 December 1969, the No. 1 programme of its week
• Best line or moment: “Happy Birthday!” His first words
• Dress as them: A white padded top, a battered top hat, a corncob pipe and a button nose
• Fun fact: It was Jimmy Durante’s last film role

Karen and her friends build a snowman, a failed magician’s hat lands on his head, and Frosty wakes up. The only safe place for a snowman is the North Pole, so Karen heads north with him on a refrigerated train car.

Frosty is a child’s version of a Christmas miracle, told in under half an hour. It aired on CBS for 55 years before moving to NBC in 2024.

16) Scott Calvin, The Santa Clause (1994)

Scott Calvin is a divorced toy company executive who startles Santa off his roof, puts on the suit and finds out he has signed up for the job.

• Film: The Santa Clause, released 11 November 1994
• Played by: Tim Allen
• Director: John Pasquin
• Character type: Believer, a late one
• Arc: Changes. From a dad who explains Santa away to the man in the suit
• Box office: $190.5 million worldwide
• Best line or moment: “When I get home, I’m getting a CAT scan!”
• Dress as them: A red Santa coat over pyjamas, a white beard and a pillow for the belly
• Fun fact: The suit’s bells rang so much that Allen re-recorded most of his dialogue

The joke is that Scott’s body believes before he does. He gains weight, his beard grows back as fast as he shaves it and his hair turns white. His son Charlie is delighted. His ex-wife and her psychiatrist husband are alarmed.

In one week of November 1994, Allen had the top film, the top TV series and the No. 1 bestseller in America. Two sequels and a Disney+ series followed.

15) Cindy Lou Who, How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2000)

Cindy Lou Who is the one Who in Whoville who asks the Grinch a question instead of running from him.

• Film: How the Grinch Stole Christmas, released 17 November 2000
• Played by: Taylor Momsen, aged six. June Foray voiced her in the 1966 special
• Director: Ron Howard
• Character type: Kid with a wish
• Arc: Stays the same. Her kindness is what changes the Grinch
• Box office: $346.3 million worldwide in its first run
• Best line or moment: Catching the Grinch in the act, and asking him why
• Dress as them: Braids wired up into tall loops and a red cape with white trim
• Fun fact: Momsen sings “Christmas, Why Can’t I Find You?” in the film

In the 1966 special, Cindy Lou is a toddler who catches the Grinch taking the tree, and he lies to her. The 2000 film turns that one scene into a character who is tired of Whoville’s shopping frenzy and wants to know why the Grinch hates Christmas.

She nominates him as the town’s Holiday Cheermeister, and the plot follows. Her name gets about 246,000 US searches a month, more than anyone on this list except the Grinch.

14) Harry and Marv, Home Alone (1990)

Harry and Marv are the Wet Bandits, two burglars who pick the wrong house on Christmas Eve and walk into every trap an eight-year-old can build.

• Film: Home Alone, released 16 November 1990
• Played by: Joe Pesci (Harry) and Daniel Stern (Marv)
• Director: Chris Columbus
• Character type: Holiday villain
• Arc: None. They leave in the back of a police car
• Box office: $476.7 million worldwide for Home Alone
• Best line or moment: “We’re the Wet Bandits.”
• Dress as them: A black beanie and grey coat for Harry, a brown coat and fingerless gloves for Marv. Share a paint can
• Fun fact: The tarantula on Marv’s face was real

Marv floods every house they rob by leaving the taps running, which is where the name comes from. Off camera, Pesci deliberately kept his distance from Macaulay Culkin so the boy would stay a little afraid of him.

13) Rudolph, Hermey and Yukon Cornelius, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (1964)

Rudolph, Hermey and Yukon Cornelius are three misfits who save Christmas because of the very thing that made them misfits.

• Special: Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, a stop-motion TV special
• Voiced by: Billie Mae Richards (Rudolph), Paul Soles (Hermey) and Larry D. Mann (Yukon), with Burl Ives as Sam the Snowman
• Director: Larry Roemer
• Character type: Misfit
• Arc: Changes. Rudolph goes from hiding his nose to leading the sleigh
• First broadcast: NBC, 6 December 1964
• Best line or moment: “Bumbles bounce!” Yukon, on the Abominable Snow Monster
• Dress as them: Rudolph needs antlers and a red nose, Hermey a blue elf suit and a blond quiff, Yukon a big red beard and a toy pickaxe
• Fun fact: The original puppets sold at auction in 2020 for $368,000

Rudolph is mocked for his nose. Hermey is an elf who would rather be a dentist. Yukon Cornelius is a prospector forever searching for silver and gold. Together they land on the Island of Misfit Toys and face down the Abominable Snow Monster.

It is the longest continuously running Christmas TV special in the US. The Misfit Toys only got their happy ending in 1965, after viewers wrote in to ask what happened to them.

12) Charlie Brown, A Charlie Brown Christmas (1965)

Charlie Brown is the misfit who picks the saddest tree on the lot and asks the question every Christmas film is trying to answer.

• Special: A Charlie Brown Christmas, a half-hour TV special
• Voiced by: Peter Robbins
• Director: Bill Melendez, from a script by Charles M. Schulz
• Character type: Misfit
• Arc: Changes, a little. From gloom to hope, once his friends rescue the tree
• First broadcast: CBS, 9 December 1965, to about 15.5 million homes
• Best line or moment: “Isn’t there anyone who knows what Christmas is all about?”
• Dress as them: A yellow shirt with a black zigzag and a tiny tree with one red bauble
• Fun fact: Melendez told the producer, “I think we’ve ruined Charlie Brown.”

Lucy makes Charlie Brown director of the Christmas play, and he comes back with a small, real tree that bends double under one ornament. Everyone laughs. Linus answers him by reciting Luke 2, alone on the stage, and the gang fix up the tree.

CBS executives thought the voices, the jazz and the pacing were all wrong. It won an Emmy and a Peabody, and the Vince Guaraldi Trio soundtrack has sold about 5 million copies in the US.

11) Kris Kringle, Miracle on 34th Street (1947)

Kris Kringle is a department store Santa who says he is the real one, and the film puts that claim on trial in a New York court.

• Film: Miracle on 34th Street, released 11 June 1947
• Played by: Edmund Gwenn
• Director: George Seaton
• Character type: Believer
• Arc: Stays the same. He changes Doris and Susan instead
• Box office: $2.7 million in US rentals
• Best line or moment: “Christmas isn’t just a day, it’s a frame of mind.”
• Dress as them: A dark overcoat, a bowler hat and a full white beard
• Fun fact: The parade scenes were shot at the real 1946 Macy’s parade, with Gwenn in it

Kris becomes Macy’s Santa when the hired man turns up drunk, then sends shoppers to Gimbels when Macy’s does not stock what they want. The people he has to win over are Doris Walker, the store’s no-nonsense events director, and her daughter Susan.

Gwenn won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor, and the film won two writing Oscars. Fox released it in June because Darryl Zanuck wanted warm weather, so a Christmas classic began as a summer picture.

10) Cousin Eddie, National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation (1989)

Cousin Eddie is the relative who arrives unannounced in an RV and stays for Christmas.

• Film: National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, released 1 December 1989
• Played by: Randy Quaid
• Director: Jeremiah S. Chechik, from a script by John Hughes
• Character type: Holiday chaos
• Arc: None. Eddie is the weather Clark has to survive
• Box office: $71.3 million in its first run
• Best line or moment: “Save the neck for me, Clark!”
• Dress as them: A white V-neck sweater over a black dickey and a green hat with ear flaps, or a white bathrobe
• Fun fact: Eddie got his own TV film in 2003, the only Vacation film without Chevy Chase

Eddie parks his rusting RV on Clark’s drive, empties its toilet into the storm drain in his bathrobe and admits he cannot afford the kids’ presents, so Clark buys them. His last gift to the family is kidnapping Clark’s boss.

Randy Quaid plays him with complete sincerity, which is why he is funny instead of cruel. “Cousin Eddie costume” gets about 5,400 US searches a month. See where Cousin Eddie’s island sequel was filmed.

9) Hans Gruber, Die Hard (1988)

Hans Gruber is the thief in a good suit who takes a Christmas Eve office party hostage, and he carries the whole “is Die Hard a Christmas movie?” argument.

• Film: Die Hard, released 15 July 1988
• Played by: Alan Rickman, in his first feature film
• Director: John McTiernan
• Character type: Holiday villain
• Arc: None. He is the same man at the bottom of Nakatomi Plaza as at the top
• Box office: $143.6 million worldwide, all releases
• Best line or moment: “Who said we were terrorists?”
• Dress as them: A charcoal double-breasted suit, a pale blue shirt, a maroon tie and a trimmed beard
• Fun fact: For the fall, Rickman was dropped before the count of three, so the shock is real

Hans poses as a terrorist to keep the police busy while his team empties the vault. He is polite, well read and without mercy, and Rickman makes every threat sound like an after-dinner speech. Rickman also pushed for the suit instead of combat gear.

Hans is No. 46 on AFI’s list of the greatest screen villains, and Die Hard joined the National Film Registry in 2017. The Christmas question gets its own answer below.

8) Jack Skellington and Sally, The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993)

Jack Skellington is the Pumpkin King of Halloween Town, bored of his own holiday, who tries to take over Christmas and learns it was never his to run.

• Film: The Nightmare Before Christmas, released 13 October 1993
• Voiced by: Chris Sarandon (speaking) and Danny Elfman (singing). Sally is Catherine O’Hara
• Director: Henry Selick. Tim Burton created the characters and produced
• Character type: Misfit
• Arc: Changes. From wanting someone else’s holiday to loving his own
• Box office: $50 million in its first run, $108.8 million with re-releases
• Best line or moment: Renaming Santa “Sandy Claws”
• Dress as them: A black pinstriped suit, a bat bow tie and skull face paint for Jack. A patchwork dress, a red wig and drawn-on stitches for Sally
• Fun fact: Jack had about 400 interchangeable heads, among 227 puppets in the film

Jack stumbles into Christmas Town, falls for it and has Halloween Town build its own version. The presents bite, Santa is kidnapped, and Jack is shot out of the sky.

Sally, the rag doll who stitches herself back together, sees the disaster coming before anyone else. She is why Jack gets a second chance, and why the pair turn up at costume parties in October and December alike.

7) Ralphie Parker, A Christmas Story (1983)

Ralphie Parker is a boy with one Christmas wish, a Red Ryder BB gun, and every adult he asks gives him the same warning.

• Film: A Christmas Story, released 18 November 1983
• Played by: Peter Billingsley, with Jean Shepherd narrating as the adult Ralphie
• Director: Bob Clark
• Character type: Kid with a wish
• Arc: Stays the same. He gets the gun, nearly loses an eye and loves it anyway
• Box office: $19.3 million in its first run
• Best line or moment: “You’ll shoot your eye out.” His mother, his teacher and Santa all say it
• Dress as them: Round glasses and a pink bunny suit, with a toy Red Ryder rifle
• Fun fact: TNT has run a 24-hour marathon of the film since 1997, and TBS since 2004

Ralphie drops hints, writes a school theme about the gun and asks a department store Santa, who sends him down the slide with a boot.

The film was a modest hit in 1983. Television made it a fixture, and the marathon made it a ritual, though Peter Billingsley first thought the marathon was a horrible idea. It joined the National Film Registry in 2012.

6) Clark Griswold, National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation (1989)

Clark Griswold is the father who wants a perfect old-fashioned family Christmas and gets 25,000 lights that will not switch on.

• Film: National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, released 1 December 1989
• Played by: Chevy Chase
• Director: Jeremiah S. Chechik
• Character type: Parent at breaking point
• Arc: Bends, breaks and recovers in the last few minutes
• Box office: $71.3 million in its first run
• Best line or moment: “A grand total of 25,000 imported Italian twinkle lights.”
• Dress as them: A teal parka with a fur-trimmed hood and a Chicago Bears cap
• Fun fact: Chris Columbus was set to direct but clashed with Chase, and Chechik took over

Clark plans the tree, the relatives, the lights and a swimming pool paid for with his Christmas bonus. The tree is too big, the relatives bicker, the lights refuse to work and the bonus is a year’s membership of the Jelly of the Month Club.

Chase plays the breakdown straight, which is why it lands. Anyone who has hosted Christmas recognises Clark. John Hughes built the film from his own 1980 story, “Christmas ’59”.

5) Kevin McCallister, Home Alone (1990)

Kevin McCallister is the eight-year-old who wishes his family away, gets his wish and defends the house alone against two burglars on Christmas Eve.

• Film: Home Alone, released 16 November 1990
• Played by: Macaulay Culkin, aged 10 at release
• Director: Chris Columbus
• Character type: Kid with a wish
• Arc: Changes. From wishing his family gone to wishing them back
• Box office: $476.7 million worldwide, a live-action comedy record for about 20 years
• Best line or moment: “This is my house! I have to defend it!”
• Dress as them: A red cable-knit sweater, and both hands pressed to your cheeks
• Fun fact: The hands on his face in the aftershave scream were Culkin’s own accident

Kevin starts as the family nuisance. Then the house is his: junk food, a gangster film on video, the bed he is not allowed to jump on. The fun wears off, he talks to his neighbour Old Man Marley in church, and he decides to fight for the place.

The traps are the famous part. The heart is Kevin learning that he misses the people who drove him mad. It is one of our iconic movies filmed in Chicago, and you can find the house in where Home Alone was filmed.

4) Buddy the Elf, Elf (2003)

Buddy is a human raised by elves at the North Pole who goes to New York to find his father, and he believes in everything.

• Film: Elf, released 7 November 2003
• Played by: Will Ferrell
• Director: Jon Favreau
• Character type: Believer
• Arc: Stays the same. New York changes to fit him
• Box office: $220.4 million worldwide in its first run
• Best line or moment: “The best way to spread Christmas cheer is singing loud for all to hear!”
• Dress as them: A green elf coat with white fur trim, yellow tights and a pointed hat
• Fun fact: The North Pole sets were built at two scales, so that Ferrell towers over the elves

Buddy crawls into Santa’s sack as a baby and grows up thinking he is an elf. Told the truth, he walks into Manhattan in green tights and treats it like the North Pole. His father, Walter, is a children’s book publisher on Santa’s naughty list.

Favreau kept digital effects to a minimum and made the film a tribute to the Rankin/Bass specials. Buddy never changes. By the end, New York’s Christmas spirit is strong enough to lift Santa’s sleigh, and that is the believer’s victory.

3) The Grinch, How the Grinch Stole Christmas (1966 and 2000)

The Grinch is the reformed miser drawn by Dr. Seuss: he steals Christmas from Whoville, finds that it came anyway, and his heart grows three sizes.

• Special and film: The 1966 TV special, and the film released 17 November 2000
• Voiced and played by: Boris Karloff (1966), Jim Carrey (2000) and Benedict Cumberbatch (2018)
• Directors: Chuck Jones (1966) and Ron Howard (2000)
• Character type: Reformed miser
• Arc: Changes. From stealing the feast to carving the roast beast
• First broadcast and box office: CBS, 18 December 1966. The 2000 film took $346.3 million and the 2018 film $512.7 million
• Best line or moment: The slow, spreading smile when he gets his “wonderful, awful idea”
• Dress as them: Green fur or face paint, a Santa suit and a dog with a single antler tied on
• Fun fact: Carrey spent 92 days in the makeup, and trained with a torture resistance expert to get through it

Chuck Jones turned the 1957 book into a CBS special, with Boris Karloff narrating and Thurl Ravenscroft singing “You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch”. The Grinch was made green for television.

The 2000 film won the Oscar for Makeup, and Illumination’s 2018 version is the highest-grossing Christmas film ever made. Three versions, three generations, one arc. “Grinch” is in the dictionary now, as a word for anyone who spoils the fun.

2) George Bailey, It’s a Wonderful Life (1946)

George Bailey is the man who gives up every dream to keep his town’s Building and Loan open, and on Christmas Eve he wishes he had never been born.

• Film: It’s a Wonderful Life, premiered 20 December 1946
• Played by: James Stewart
• Director: Frank Capra
• Character type: Parent at breaking point
• Arc: Changes. From despair on the bridge to running home through the snow
• Box office: $3.3 million at release, and a $525,000 loss for RKO
• Best line or moment: “Merry Christmas, you wonderful old Building and Loan!”
• Dress as them: A long overcoat, a snow-dusted hat and a copy of Tom Sawyer
• Fun fact: The crew made a new fake snow for the film from foamite, soap and sugar

George stays in Bedford Falls, running the Building and Loan and standing between the town and Mr. Potter. When $8,000 goes missing on Christmas Eve, he ends up on a bridge. His guardian angel, Clarence, shows him the town as it would have been without him.

The film lost money and won none of its five Oscar nominations. Its copyright lapsed in 1974, TV stations could show it cheaply, and it became a December fixture. George is No. 9 on AFI’s list of the greatest screen heroes, and Mr. Potter is No. 6 among the villains.

1) Ebenezer Scrooge, A Christmas Carol (1843)

Ebenezer Scrooge is the miser who meets three ghosts in one night and wakes up a new man, and every redemption story on this list borrows his shape.

• Story: A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens, published 19 December 1843
• Played by: Alastair Sim in Scrooge (1951), George C. Scott (1984) and Michael Caine in The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992), among many
• Directors: Brian Desmond Hurst (1951) and Brian Henson (1992)
• Character type: Reformed miser
• Arc: Changes. The whole redemption arc, done in one night
• Box office: The Muppet Christmas Carol took $29.2 million worldwide in its first run
• Best line or moment: “Bah!” said Scrooge, “Humbug!”
• Dress as them: A dressing gown, slippers and a nightcap, straight from Dickens, and a candle
• Fun fact: Radio City Music Hall turned down the 1951 film as “too grim”

Dickens published the story six days before Christmas and gave the season a plot. A cold man is shown his past, his present and his lonely death, and he chooses to change. The first known film version is from 1901, and nobody has kept a reliable count since.

Alastair Sim played him with real menace in 1951, which makes his Christmas morning all the more joyful. Michael Caine played him opposite the Muppets without a wink.

Put George Bailey at number one and I would not argue for long. It’s a Wonderful Life is the better film.

But count the Scrooge stories on this list. The Grinch hoards, then gives. Billy Mack sneers, then softens. Frank Cross in Scrooged is Scrooge with a TV network. Even George gets a supernatural visitor and a tour of the life that might have been.

Dickens built that shape in 1843. Everyone else is still using it.

Five More Christmas Movie Characters Worth a Rewatch

Clarence Odbody, It’s a Wonderful Life (1946). An Angel Second Class, played by Henry Travers, who earns his wings by saving George. He is a model secondary character: he exists to change the lead.

Mr. Potter, It’s a Wonderful Life (1946). Lionel Barrymore’s banker is No. 6 on AFI’s list of screen villains, and the film never punishes him.

The Conductor, The Polar Express (2004). One of six roles Tom Hanks plays in the film, along with Santa, the Hobo and Hero Boy’s father.

Frank Cross, Scrooged (1988). Bill Murray as a TV executive visited by the three ghosts. The film was nominated for the Makeup Oscar.

Gizmo, Gremlins (1984). A Christmas present with three rules: keep him out of bright light, never get him wet and never feed him after midnight. The film breaks all three.

The Seven Types of Christmas Movie Characters

Line up the 20 and seven types keep coming back.

Type	What they do	On this list
Reformed miser	Hates Christmas, is shown what it means, and changes	Scrooge, the Grinch, Billy Mack
Believer	Believes when nobody else does, and changes the people around them	Buddy, Kris Kringle, Scott Calvin, Frosty
Misfit	Does not fit in, then saves the day because of the difference	Rudolph and friends, Charlie Brown, Jack Skellington
Parent at breaking point	Tries to hold Christmas together and cracks	George Bailey, Clark Griswold, Kate McCallister
Kid with a wish	Wants one thing and gets a lesson with it	Kevin McCallister, Ralphie Parker, Cindy Lou Who
Holiday villain	Threatens the holiday from outside	Hans Gruber, Harry and Marv, Krampus
Holiday chaos	Wrecks Christmas from inside the family, without meaning to	Cousin Eddie

The reformed miser and the believer are opposites. One changes. The other refuses to, and everyone else changes instead. That is the difference between a positive character arc and a flat one.

The parent at breaking point is the Everyman archetype under holiday pressure. For how these types are built on the page, see our screenwriting guide.

Is Die Hard a Christmas Movie?

Yes. Die Hard takes place on Christmas Eve, at a company Christmas party, and its hero is fighting his way back to his wife and children for the holiday. The case against it is about tone, not story.

The Christmas details are everywhere once you look. Nakatomi Plaza is decorated for the season. Run-DMC’s “Christmas in Hollis” plays in the limo. McClane sends a dead henchman down in the elevator in a Santa hat, with “Now I have a machine gun. Ho-ho-ho.” written on his sweatshirt. The end credits roll to “Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!”.

Die Hard is a Christmas movie, and I once wrote a whole post saying so.

The case against it always comes down to tone. Too many guns, not enough carols. Look at the story instead. A man flies across the country on Christmas Eve to win back his family and nearly dies getting to them.

Swap the thieves for a snowstorm and nobody would argue. Christmas films have always been about getting home. McClane just has a building full of armed men in the way.

The full argument is on Medium: Die Hard is a Christmas movie and you can’t change my mind.

Christmas Characters to Dress Up as, Easiest First

Every entry above has a “Dress as them” line. This table sorts all 20 by effort, with the one piece that sells each costume. Easy means one trip to the shops. Hard means a weekend of crafting. For a Christmas character day at school or work, start at the top.

Character	The piece that sells it	Effort
Charlie Brown	Yellow shirt with a black zigzag	Easy
Kevin McCallister	Red sweater, hands on cheeks	Easy
Cousin Eddie	White sweater over a black dickey	Easy
Ralphie Parker	Pink bunny suit and round glasses	Easy
Clark Griswold	Teal parka and a Bears cap	Easy
Kate McCallister	Long brown coat and a plane ticket	Easy
Hans Gruber	Charcoal double-breasted suit	Easy
George Bailey	Overcoat, hat and fake snow	Easy
Ebenezer Scrooge	Dressing gown, nightcap and a candle	Easy
Harry and Marv	Black beanie for Harry, fingerless gloves for Marv	Easy
Scott Calvin	Santa coat over pyjamas	Easy
Buddy the Elf	Green coat and yellow tights	Medium
Billy Mack	Green snakeskin suit	Medium
Kris Kringle	A convincing white beard	Medium
Frosty	Top hat, corncob pipe and a button nose	Medium
Cindy Lou Who	Braids wired into tall loops	Medium
Rudolph, Hermey and Yukon Cornelius	Antlers and a red nose, plus an elf and a prospector	Medium
Jack Skellington and Sally	Skull face paint and a patchwork dress	Medium
The Grinch	Green fur from head to toe	Hard
Krampus	Horns, cloak and claws	Hard

FAQs About Christmas Movie Characters

The Final Cut on Christmas Movie Characters

The best Christmas movie characters come from a handful of shapes: a miser who thaws, a believer who will not bend, a misfit who saves the night, a parent pushed too far. Scrooge set the pattern in 1843, and more than 180 years of films have added faces, not rules.

Watch the 1966 Grinch and The Muppet Christmas Carol back to back this December. You will see the same arc twice, written 114 years apart.