Best movies like The Homecoming: A Christmas Story

Peter is thrilled that his Grandpa is coming to live with his family. That is, until Grandpa moves into Peter's room, forcing him upstairs into the creepy attic. And though he loves his Grandpa, he wants his room back - so he has no choice but to declare war.

An ex-gambler hooks up with an old flame after his old habit resurfaces and drives off his wife.

In their farm house in a New York village, Ma Shelby prepares breakfast for her four children, Isaac, Tommy, Johnny and Susan, and then awakens them. The racket the boys make as they play and fight awakens their father, who spanks the eldest, Isaac. When a visitor chides Pa for not working, Ma sticks up for her husband, saying that he has a weak back and that he is waiting for a promised government job.

Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer is a timeless family holiday classic.

When Santa Claus decides to retire and pass on his magic bag of Christmas surprises to a new Saint Nick, he enlists the aid of a hilarious assortment of characters. A perky teen runaway and hapless taxi driver Ernest P. Worrell must convince a skeptical kiddie-show host to take over the post of Father Christmas.

A slice of life story that follows a large Italian family on Christmas Eve as they prepare for the traditional Feast of the Seven Fishes, reminisce about the past and seek love in the future.

Follows the Walton family as they prepare enthusiastically for the annual Harvest Festival Fair on Walton Mountain in 1934, but their lives are dramatically changed after a young boy arrives.

Just before Christmas, department store clerk Steve Mason meets big spending customer Connie Ennis, who's actually a comparison shopper sent by another store. Steve lets her go, which gets him fired. They spend the afternoon together, which doesn't sit well with Connie's steady suitor, Carl, when he finds out, but delights her young son Timmy, who quickly takes to Steve.

A family in financial crisis is forced to sell Lassie, their beloved dog. Hundreds of miles away from her true family, Lassie escapes and sets out on a journey home.

When four generations of the Cooper clan come together for their annual Christmas Eve celebration, a series of unexpected visitors and unlikely events turn the night upside down, leading them all toward a surprising rediscovery of family bonds and the spirit of the holiday.

During the Great Depression, a young boy leaves his family's Oklahoma farm to travel with his country musician uncle who is trying out for the Grand Ole Opry.

Willy Krueger, a lonely and aging widower, lives in a basement apartment with only his cat George for company. Finishing his work for the day as the custodian for the building, he ventures out on Christmas Eve to buy a tree and on the way, he imagines he is a well-dressed gentleman while peering at some fine tailoring in a shop window along the snowy street. Returning home, he falls asleep listening to an LP by The Mormon Tabernacle Choir, dreaming that he is conducting them in carols of the season. Awakening to find some carollers outside his window, he beckons them to visit him offering hot chocolate, but they leave after only one song. In trimming the tree, he places upon it the mittens left behind by Clarissa, the youngest of the carolling group. Handling figures of the small nativity beneath his tree, Willy finds himself in the manger for the very first Christmas.

The family is decorating their tree when Daddy notices the star his father made is missing. When Billy asks Mommy why this made Daddy sad, she tells him it's because the star was made by his father, their Granddad, who is in Heaven. Jeffy then has a vivid dream about Santa, and asks him in the dream to bring Granddad home from Heaven for Christmas to make Daddy happy again. When Billy learns that Jeffy thinks this really will happen, he is afraid that Jeffy's Christmas will be ruined, since Santa can't do that. Mommy tries to explain why it's not possible to Jeffy after Dolly tells her what Jeffy thinks, but he gets upset and doesn't want to hear it. That night, he gets a visit from Santa, and Granddad.

When the chemical company owned by eccentric Professor Higginbottom files for bankruptcy, the formerly-affluent family loses its income. Levelheaded oldest daughter Lambie struggles to make ends meet but has trouble persuading her carefree, profligate siblings to cut down on their spending. Youngest brother Dick enters a motorcycle race to win $500, but crashes his bike on the speedway and is paralyzed. Shocked into reality by the tragedy, Lambie's younger sister Babs persuades ex-prizefighter Gunboat Bimms to enter the ring one last time in hopes of winning a purse that will pay for Dick's surgery.

America is in the midst of the Depression, and the Kamp family is struggling to get by, especially after Mrs. Kamp's untimely death. Now little Ruthie, with her mother gone and her father overwhelmed by doctor bills resulting from her brother's polio, expects another Christmas without presents or festivities. But when her father brings home one dollar in change and lets the children use it to buy special gifts for each other, the Kamps come to find that money isn't what fills Christmas with joy, love, and miracles.

American Hollow is a 1999 American documentary film directed and produced by Rory Kennedy. The film follows the extended Bowling family, residents of an eastern Kentucky valley, for a year in Perry County, Kentucky. The music for the film was composed by Bill Frisell. Iree Bowling died at the age of 81 in December 2010.

The Indians try to make a fire in the Kettles fireplace the old fashion way, the smoke signal way. Judges are a comin' to award a child with a scholarship. However, who ever has the nicest looking farm and raises their kids in a good enviroment has a chance of winning.

On Christmas vacation,a cynical college student is magically transformed into a bulldog until she learns the meaning of her family and the spirit of Christmas.

Babs Comet is employed by the classified ad department of the daily paper and uses her looks and position to get a husband.

A hobby-mad family makes their obsessions pay off.

It all begins when Joe Higgins, business manager of a prosperous candy-manufacturing firm, is ordered by his pompous boss Ellis to break up the romance between Ellis' son Bill and Joe's daughter Jean. Refusing, Joe quits his job and sets up his own candy company. It's a money-losing enterprise until Joe's wife Lil loses her diamond ring in a batch of candy and offers a $5000 reward to anyone who can retrieve the ring.

A bitter widow and a grumpy widower find themselves stuck in a hotel that is cut off from the outside by a snowstorm. Although both have no intention of getting married again, they begin to fall for each other. Their children, however, are determined to see that the "romance" never gets off the ground and do everything they can to see that they are kept apart.

Dad's in Heaven with Nixon is a 2010 documentary film produced, directed and written by Tom Murray. It concerns the history of the Murray family and especially of Tom's brother Chris Murray, a man with autism whose paintings of cityscapes, first promoted by family friend Gloria Vanderbilt, have garnered widespread praise. The title refers to Chris' belief that his late father, who loathed Richard Nixon, is now friends in heaven with the former president. Ranging over three generations of Murrays, whose patriarchs struggled with alcoholism and bipolar disorder, the film treats of subjects ranging from father-son relationships to the Great Depression, from the effects of divorce on families to the cushy lifestyle of the residents of Southhampton, New York.

The Boyajian family learned of 18-year-old John's death in the Persian Gulf War on Christmas Eve eleven years earlier and have not celebrated Christmas since. They have been so consumed by his death that they have forgotten the joys of the holidays, until a mysterious visitor enters their lives and rekindles the spirit of the season.

It's Christmas Eve in Wales. A young boy named Thomas is excited about the holiday, but he's also disappointed because it's raining instead of snowing. His grandfather gives him an old snow globe as an early Christmas present and starts telling colorful, amusing stories about his childhood Christmases that are shown in flashback. Thomas keeps asking his grandfather more questions because he likes the stories and because he doesn't want to go to bed. His parents finally insist that he go to bed, and his grandfather tells him one last story about going to bed on Christmas night while listening to his family singing carols downstairs. After Thomas falls asleep at last, his grandfather opens the bedroom window and sees falling snowflakes.

Mickey Rooney plays a weary old thief who befriends a young child. Home for Christmas is a 1990 Canadian made film about a young girl (Chantellese Kent) who wants a grandfather for Christmas. She chooses an elderly, homeless ex-con (Mickey Rooney) as her pseudo-grandfather and he teaches her - and her family - the true meaning of Christmas. Somewhat predictable.. but has a good plot twist about half way through that keeps it interesting. A solid, low-key performance by Mickey Rooney as the seemingly broken down homeless man saves this one from drowning in it's own mushiness.

A ne er-do-well thirty-something attempts to appease her family by kidnapping herself an attractive boyfriend for the family Christmas. Despite unlikely odds and dysfunctional family moments, the two fall in love and share a magical Christmas.

Before the holidays, Sara goes to Montana to help resistant Travis save his ranch. Can time on the ranch help restore her faith in Christmas in time for a miracle?

Single mom Maggie is facing Christmas alone until Lucas crashes into her life and becomes an unexpected house guest. Together they overcome Christmas while finding comfort in their growing bond.

Interim school superintendent Eve Morgan finds herself in a tough spot when she is assigned to shut down a school's failing music program and must come to terms with her musical past.

Laurel, a Chicago-based business executive, travels to Memphis to secure one of the city's oldest family-owned banks. While in Memphis, Laurel reunites with old flame Clay, a local music promoter with loftier aspirations. Though Laurel tries to keep her eye on the prize of the business acquisition, Clay is very persuasive reminding her of the days when they were a performing duo on the brink of stardom. Now Laurel's focus turns to the home of the Blues and dreams of making music again.

Sydney Ragsdale, recently divorced, decides to spend Christmas in a house she inherited with her young daughter. As Sydney begins to spend more time at the local bookstore, she meets a teacher, Mac, who also fills in for the town Santa. Mac tries to make Christmas wishes come true, and this year Sydney is at the top of his ‘nice’ list. As a new opportunity with the bookstore unfolds, Mac helps Sydney open herself up to life, love, and believing in the spirit of Christmas again.

After a magical summer together, a nine-year-old boy whispers his heart into the ear of a best friend. With a loyal, golden dog by their side, the boy and girl bury a time capsule of keepsakes and then go their separate ways. Years later, looking for a fresh start, a man and woman each return to the place they felt most at home as a child. But a comedic case of unknown identity has them competing for the same childhood memories and Christmas escapades ensue. For the sake of their happiness, they must discover their common past before they turn each other's lives completely upside down. Can a golden dog lead them home?

When a mysterious key and a holiday riddle arrive on their doorsteps, Kate and Kevin embark on a Christmas romance adventure they’ll never forget.

When Nick is fired from his high-powered investment firm at Christmastime, he takes a job at a Christmas tree lot. There, he meets Julie, an astronomy teacher who’s always looked to the stars for hope. As the Christmas spirit washes over him—and he begins falling for Julie—the once self-centered Nick discovers the joy of helping others.

Story of a well-to-do elderly woman, who befriends the homeless and volunteers her time with children, who learns she has an incurable illness and wants desperately to reunite her three grown grand children (who are scattered across the U.S. living their own lives), with their estranged father, her son. She hires a private detective to search for them so as to try to get everyone together on Christmas Eve.

Spanky and Porky try to figure out a way to get their mother a winter coat for Christmas after she buys them a Blue Comet electric train.

A curmudgeonly instructor at a New England prep school is forced to remain on campus during Christmas break to babysit the handful of students with nowhere to go. Eventually, he forms an unlikely bond with one of them — a damaged, brainy troublemaker — and with the school’s head cook, who has just lost a son in Vietnam.

When a reporter encounters the eldest son of a famous political family at a mountain retreat, she winds up pretending to be his girlfriend over Christmas so he can save face with his family. Should she secretly expose newsworthy scoops about the famous family in order to save her job, or trust that she's falling in love for real? Stars Patricia Richardson and Katrina Law.

Mary Tobin has wonderful memories of family gatherings at the Christmas Lodge. When she arrives for a weekend vacation, she quickly realizes that the lodge that she loves has fallen into serious disrepair. With a lack of funds and a looming deadline, she not only restores the Christmas lodge's charm but finds love along the way.

After colliding with a pedestrian on her bicycle who loses his memory following the accident, Darcy Archer becomes determined to help the handsome guy figure out who he is. In the process, she finds out a lot more about who she is, what she wants from life, and how this too-good-to-be-true guy might just be the man she’s been waiting to bump into all her life.

Bah! Humbug! Susan Stone is definitely what you'd call a modern-day scrooge. She is a young, jaded book editor who is consumed with self-doubt and has lost the passion and drive that defined her childhood persona. On the verge of losing her job and being completely on the "outs" with her family, Susan has nearly given up on happiness. Out of nowhere, a cheerful, carefree seven-year-old girl named Suzie awaits Susan back at her apartment. It turns out that little Suzie is the embodiment of Susan's inner child, she is Susan as she once was years ago. Suzie has come to help the adult Susan rediscover and recapture the love of life that she's lost.

The Walton family is excited to learn that John Sr. will be coming home for Christmas during the winter of 1933. However, when a storm threatens his arrival and he's nowhere to be found, John Boy embarks on a life-changing journey to find him.

After 15 years, Pat moves home from Hawaii with his two sons and through a series of coincidences, or Godwinks, ends up stuck in traffic next to his high school sweetheart, Margie, at Christmas.

Manhattanite Catherine O'Mara (Heche) bonds with a young man who has run away from his father. When the father returns to New York a year later to sell his Christmas trees, he and Catherine cross paths.

Maddie, a high-powered marketing executive, is on her way to a client’s wedding but her plans are derailed by car trouble. When a fork in the road leads her to Christmas Valley, a town in love with Christmas, an unexpected encounter and a group of strangers that start to feel like family will have her questioning what she’s really been missing in life.

Rebecca must throw the company holiday party with office rival, Chris. It coincides with Hanukkah, so she must juggle her work, family traditions, and nemesis to make the party a success.

While coming to terms with his dad's recent passing in a tractor accident, 13-year-old George McCray is living with his grandparents on their Kansas farm. George misses his mom, Jill, who has moved to Minnesota to deal with her grief, but there is the promise of their reunion at Christmas. George feels needed on the farm as he helps his grateful grandfather Bo with daily chores and comforts his grandmother Cora. He has also made friends with Mary Ann and became attached to Tucker, the smart and friendly dog the McCrays take in when his troubled owner Frank Thorne lands in jail.

A superintendent, trying to save his high school's troubled finances, falls in love with a teacher whose music program he must cut.

A hobo played by Barnard Hughes decides it's time to go home. Drifting from place to place, Hughes finds himself in his hometown of Salt Lake City at Christmas time. Here he hopes to close old wounds and be reunited with his unforgiving son played by Gerald McRaney, and get to know the grandchildren he has never met. McRaney, still resenting the fact that Hughes ran out on his family 25 years earlier, gives his father only one day with his grandkids; after that, he's expected to leave and never come back. All the while Hughes' friends warn him that his son and the past are memories that are best left alone, and should leave, but he has to find out for himself.