25 Days of Christmas

The 25 Days of Christmas (fully known as The Family Channel's 25 Days of Christmas in 1996 and 1997, Fox Family's 25 Days of Christmas from 1998 to 2000, and ABC Family's 25 Days of Christmas from 2001 to 2015) is an annual programming block that has been shown on the cable channel and its predecessors since 1996. As the title implies, it is shown every year from December 1st to December 25th, and features classic holiday programming (such as Rankin/Bass' TV specials), as well as new Christmas-themed television movies, and occasionally new Christmas-themed episodes of the network's original series. Since 2006, the block has also aired general-interest family movies such as the ' films, ', and various and  films. Starting in 2007, ABC Family extended the "25" days into late November with a Countdown to 25 Days of Christmas block.

On October 30, 2017, it was announced that, for the holiday season of 2017, the 25 Days of Christmas would be expanding to also air on the other networks owned by, including ABC, the , , and.

Original movies
Almost every year since the block started in 1996, at least one new TV film is produced for the channel, with two movies being made every year since 2005. Three films were created for the channel in 2007, due to the popularity generated from the previous year. No new original Christmas movies were made for the block in 2002, 2014, or 2015.

* - This was released in Canada theatrically, but made its US debut on television.

Current non-original programming (2017)
The following is a list of Christmas movies and specials presently featured during the 25 Days of Christmas and the Countdown to 25 Days of Christmas (as of 2017) that originally either premiered theatrically, direct-to-video, or on another TV network or cable channel. This also includes specials that premiered on ABC, the Disney Channel, Disney XD, and Disney Junior before the brand came into use on those channels.

Past programming
The following non-original specials and movies listed below have aired as part of the 25 Days of Christmas on Freeform and its predecessors in past years.


 * Movies


 * An All Dogs Christmas Carol
 * All I Want for Christmas
 * Babes in Toyland
 * Borrowed Hearts
 * A Carol Christmas
 * A Chance of Snow
 * The Christmas Box
 * The Christmas Path
 * The Christmas Secret
 * The Christmas Shoes
 * Christmas Town
 * The Christmas Wish
 * A Christmas Without Snow
 * Deck the Halls
 * Ernest Saves Christmas
 * The Family Man
 * A Holiday to Remember
 * Fred Claus
 * The Holiday
 * Holidaze


 * Home Alone 4
 * How the Toys Saved Christmas
 * I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus
 * I'll Be Home for Christmas
 * Jack Frost
 * Jingle All the Way
 * Love Actually
 * Meet the Santas
 * Miracle on 34th Street
 * A Mom for Christmas
 * Mr. St. Nick
 * The Munsters' Scary Little Christmas
 * The Muppet Christmas Carol
 * Must Be Santa
 * Naughty or Nice
 * The Night They Saved Christmas
 * Once Upon a Christmas
 * One Christmas
 * Prancer
 * The Preacher's Wife


 * The Prince and Me 3: Holiday Honeymoon
 * Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and the Island of Misfit Toys
 * Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer: The Movie
 * Santa and Pete
 * Santa Buddies
 * Santa Claus: The Movie
 * The Santa Clause 2
 * Santa, Jr.
 * Santa Who?
 * Scrooged
 * The Search for Santa Paws
 * Sons of Mistletoe
 * Stealing Christmas
 * To Grandmother's House We Go
 * Twice Upon a Christmas
 * Unaccompanied Minors
 * Unlikely Angel
 * A Very Brady Christmas


 * TV specials and episodes


 * Annabelle's Wish
 * The Bear Who Slept Through Christmas
 * Bugs Bunny's Looney Christmas Tales
 * A Chipmunk Christmas
 * The Christmas Orange
 * Cranberry Christmas
 * Emmet Otter's Jug-Band Christmas
 * The First Christmas: The Story of the First Christmas Snow
 * A Flintstone Christmas
 * A Garfield Christmas Special
 * Kung Fu Panda Holiday
 * The Leprechaun's Christmas Gold


 * The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus
 * The Little Drummer Boy, Book II
 * The Little Rascals Christmas Special
 * Merry Madagascar
 * Noel
 * Pee-wee's Playhouse Christmas Special
 * Pinocchio's Christmas
 * State of Grace Christmas Special
 * White Christmas
 * Winnie the Pooh and Christmas Too
 * Yes Virginia, There is a Santa Claus

Countdown to The 25 Days of Christmas
In 2007, due to popular ratings from the previous year, ABC Family launched the first official countdown to the programming block, which began on November 23, the day after Thanksgiving. Although this was the first official early start, in recent years, holiday programming has begun during the last week of November, showing mostly older original films, some of which pertained to Christmas and some that did not.

The 2008 countdown included the basic cable debuts of Disney's Aladdin, the live-action Garfield movie, and the ABC Family debut of the 's A Carol Christmas. The 2009 event saw the basic cable premieres of ', Disney's animated films ' and Hercules, and the ABC Family original film The Dog Who Saved Christmas. In 2010, the event, which began on November 21, included The Dog Who Saved Christmas Vacation.

The 2012 event began on November 17th, marking the earliest start yet.

The 2017 event will begin on November 18th and will include the television premiere of Pixar's , and the Freeform premiere of Four Christmases. The countdown event will also notably include many of the holiday specials previously only shown as part of the main block.

Soundtrack
In 2009,, the record label owned by the Walt Disney Company (which is ABC Family's parent company), released a compilation album titled Songs to Celebrate 25 Days of Christmas. The album featured music from their 2009 special premieres as well as previously released songs that were featured in other programs broadcast on the block, with the notable inclusion of Jimmy Durante's version of Frosty the Snowman from the 1969 TV special, which itself is aired annually on.

Controversy
In recent years, many fans of the 25 Days of Christmas programming block have been upset with the inclusion of such movies as the Harry Potter films, various Disney and Pixar films, and other non-holiday films in the lineup. This has sparked many complaints to the network, via email and their page.