Freeform's 25 Days of Christmas is an American annual seasonal event of Christmas programming broadcast during the month of December by the U.S. cable network Freeform. Launched on December 1, 1996, it consists primarily of reruns of Christmas-themed television specials, theatrical films (some of which are not related to Christmas), and originally produced television films, which air throughout the day and night from December 1 through Christmas Day, preempting the channel's regular lineup.
25 Days of Christmas programming often attracts major surges in viewership for Freeform, with higher-profile film airings often attracting 3–4 million viewers or more. Freeform has described the block, along with its companion October block the 31 Nights of Halloween, as its tentpole.
History The event was first held in 1996, and has been an annual fixture of the channel through its various incarnations, including The Family Channel, Fox Family, ABC Family, and Freeform. The brand covers airings of classic holiday specials as well as new Christmas-themed television movies each year; generally few of the network's original series air during the time period, outside of Christmas-themed episodes and contractually obligated Christian Broadcasting Network programs (such as The 700 Club). Since 2006, the lineup has also included airings of non-Christmas feature films from the network's library (including Walt Disney Studios releases, and until 2017, the Harry Potter films). In 2007, the block was extended to November with a Countdown to 25 Days of Christmas event.
In 2017 and 2018, Disney extended the 25 Days of Christmas branding to holiday programming across the entire Disney-ABC Television Group, including ABC, Disney Channel, Disney XD, and Disney Junior.
For most of the block's run, fourteen specials from the Rankin/Bass Productions library of Christmas specials (excluding the original Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and Frosty the Snowman specials, both of which aired on CBS from 1972 and 1969 respectively through 2023) served as the centerpiece of the 25 Days of Christmas. Freeform lost the rights to twelve of those specials (which included The Year Without a Santa Claus), along with other content whose right was held by Warner Bros. Discovery and its predecessor companies such as Elf, The Polar Express and National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation, to AMC after the 2017 Christmas season to serve as the linchpin of its new "Best Christmas Ever" schedule;[Celebrate the Holiday Season With "AMC Best Christmas Ever" All Month Long]. amc press release. Retrieved December 11, 2017. WBD also carries that content on its own All I Watch for Christmas and Christmas Maximus blocks on the WBD-owned former Turner networks. Freeform still airs Santa Claus is Comin' to Town and The Little Drummer Boy In May 2019, Freeform announced it had acquired the cable rerun rights to the Rudolph and Frosty specials, reuniting the four pre-1974 Rankin/Bass programs on the same network. CBS continued to hold the free-to-air rerun rights to both specials until NBC retained the rights to the 2024 airings.CBS holiday special schedule released. KDKA-TV. Retrieved October 31, 2019. Freeform and ABC also held rights to the Charlie Brown holiday specials until Apple TV+ acquired the exclusive rights to the franchise in 2020 (later sublicensing some of the specials to PBS for one-time airings that year).
In November 2022, Freeform sister network ABC launched 25 Days of Christmas Past, a free ad-supported streaming television pop-up channel featuring an abbreviated selection of original films produced for the event. The FAST service does not include the four Rankin-Bass specials, as NBCUniversal, which owns the underlying copyrights, did not license any streaming rights to those specials to ABC/Freeform nor CBS. The FAST channel did not return for 2024, after ABC withdrew its streaming apps from the market and downsized its remaining FAST offerings.
In 2018, Freeform rebranded the graphics for its 25 Days of Christmas event to align with the channel's then-current branding, which had debuted that same year. In 2023, Freeform collaborated with the design agency ROVE to update the 25 Days of Christmas graphics once again, making them consistent with the channel's latest logo and branding introduced the previous year.
Freeform struck an agreement with NBCUniversal, expanding on its 2019 licensing agreement, to bring more specials and films owned by that company to the 25 Days of Christmas block in 2025, including The Legend of Frosty the Snowman and the original version of Miracle on 34th Street.
Programming Original specials 1996 – Home and Family Christmas Special 2001 – Donner 2008 – A Miser Brothers' Christmas, Cranberry Christmas 2009 – Gotta Catch Santa Claus, Holly and Hal Moose: Our Uplifting Christmas Adventure 2011 – A Very Pink Christmas 2017 – Disney Parks Presents a Disney Channel Holiday Celebration 2025 – Prep & Landing: The Snowball Protocol, The Wonderful World of Disney Holiday Spectacular
Original films Nearly every year since 25 Days of Christmas debuted in 1996, at least one new holiday-related TV film has been produced (excluding 2002, 2014, and 2015). Starting in 2005, two TV films have been produced. In 2007, three films were created for the block, due to the popularity of the previous year's films.
The Family Channel era: The Family Channel's 25 Days of Christmas 1996 – Christmas Every Day 1997 – The Christmas List
Fox Family era: Fox Family's 25 Days of Christmas 1998 – Like Father, Like Santa 1999 – The Ghosts of Christmas Eve 2000 – Special Delivery 2001 – Three Days
ABC Family era: ABC Family's 25 Days of Christmas 2003 – Picking Up & Dropping Off 2004 – Snow 2005 – Chasing Christmas; Christmas in Boston 2006 – Christmas Do-Over; Santa Baby 2007 – Christmas Caper; Holiday in Handcuffs; Snowglobe 2008 – Christmas in Wonderland; Snow 2: Brain Freeze 2009 – The Dog Who Saved Christmas; Santa Baby 2: Christmas Maybe 2010 – The Dog Who Saved Christmas Vacation; Christmas Cupid; The Gruffalo 2011 – Desperately Seeking Santa; 12 Dates of Christmas 2012 – The Mistle-Tones; Home Alone: The Holiday Heist 2013 – Holidaze, Christmas Bounty
Freeform era: Freeform's 25 Days of Christmas 2016 – Holiday Joy 2017 – Angry Angel 2018 – Life-Size 2, No Sleep 'Til Christmas, The Truth About Christmas 2019 – Ghosting: The Spirit of Christmas, Same Time, Next Christmas
Acquired programming As of 2025, the following acquired programs are included on the 25 Days of Christmas:
Specials The Cricket on the Hearth Frosty the Snowman (shared with NBC) Kung Fu Panda Holiday The Little Drummer Boy Merry Madagascar Prep & Landing (original special and The Snowball Protocol) (shared with ABC and Disney Channel) Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (shared with NBC) Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town (shared with ABC)
Film franchises Frozen (Frozen, Frozen 2 and Olaf's Frozen Adventure) Home Alone (original, Lost in New York and Home Alone 3) Jingle All the Way and Jingle All the Way 2 Mickey's Once Upon a Christmas and Mickey's Twice Upon a Christmas Santa Buddies (Air Bud) (The Legend of Santa Paws, The Search for Santa Paws and The Santa Pups) Snow and Snow 2: Brain Freeze The Santa Clause (film trilogy) Toy Story (film tetralogy and Toy Story That Time Forgot)
Films Arthur Christmas A Christmas Carol (2009) The Family Man The Grinch (2018) How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2000) I'll Be Home for Christmas (1998) The Legend of Frosty the Snowman Love, Actually Mariah Carey's All I Want for Christmas Is You Miracle on 34th Street (1947) Miracle on 34th Street (1994) The Nightmare Before Christmas Richie Rich's Christmas Wish Santa's Little Helper
Countdown to 25 Days of Christmas, Kickoff to Christmas and FUNDAY 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 21. Although this was the first official early start, in previous years holiday programming had unofficially begun during the last week of November, showing mostly older original films, some of which pertained to Christmas and some of which did not. Countdown to the 25 Days of Christmas returned in 2008 on November 16. In 2018, Freeform announced that the block would be renamed to Kickoff to Christmas, and would last throughout the whole month of November. This was reprised in 2019.
In 2023, Freeform abandoned the Countdown/Kickoff block in favor of a "30 Days of Disney" event, featuring films mostly from the Walt Disney Company's animated features library, to bridge the entire month of November between the 31 Nights of Halloween and the 25 Days of Christmas. Christmas movies are sparingly featured. The 25 Days of Christmas Past FAST channel launched in early November.
2011 In 2011, it started later in the month, on November 20. In 2012 the countdown began at an earlier date of November 18.
2014 The Countdown to the 25 Days of Christmas ran again in 2014. In 2014 the countdown event which started on Sunday, November 23 was even with previous years. The highest rated programs of the eight-day event were Finding Nemo at 1.8 million viewers, Despicable Me at 2 million, and an airing of The Hunger Games at 1.7 million. Other highlights included Ratatouille on Thanksgiving night which garnered 1 million, Cars 2 gained 1 million, and Brave which had 1.8 million tune in.
2015 The Countdown to 25 Days of Christmas schedule was released on October 29, 2015. The 2015 lineup included family classics such as Toy Story, Finding Nemo, Jingle All the Way, Monsters, Inc., Ratatouille, The Incredibles, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, and the cable premiere of Planes. A Monday, November 30 airing of The Polar Express was watched by 1.5 million viewers, the highest rating of this year's Countdown. A Saturday, November 28 airing of Wreck-It Ralph was also watched by 1.5 million viewers. The network premiere of Planes on Thanksgiving night garnered only 0.699 million viewers.
2016 The Countdown to 25 Days of Christmas schedule was released on October 22, 2016. In 2016, Freeform's first Countdown to 25 Days of Christmas ran from Thanksgiving Day, November 24, 2016, to December 25, 2016. The 2016 lineup includes family movies such as Toy Story, Toy Story 2, Toy Story That Time Forgot, Brave, Tangled, Happy Feet Two, Tooth Fairy, Another Cinderella Story, Mulan, Wreck-It Ralph, Matilda, Little Rascals, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, and Despicable Me. Freeform also announced the network premiere of The Odd Life of Timothy Green, The Boxtrolls, and A Cinderella Story: If the Shoe Fits. The holiday movies in the 2016 Countdown to 25 Days of Christmas included: Fred Claus, The Holiday (Freeform network premiere), Scrooged, Jingle All the Way, National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation, and Deck the Halls.
The 2016 ratings were on par with previous years. The highest airing of the countdown was the November 26 airing of Tangled, gaining 1.461M viewers. Despicable Me gained 1.2M on November 25.
2017