25 Days of Christmas Celebrates 20 Years

Freeform's 25 days of Christmas schedule for the 2016 season. Photo courtesy of ABC Family's official website.
Freeform’s 25 days of Christmas schedule for the 2016 season. Photo courtesy of ABC Family’s official website.

By Caroline Fallon

Staff Reporter 

Every December the cable network, Freeform, has their annual 25 Days of Christmas. This is when they play continuous Christmas movies every day leading up to the holiday itself, according to Freeform.com. They are celebrating 20 years of this tradition this December.

The cable network plays these movies in order to kickoff the Christmas season. Having started in December of 1996, this current year, the cable network will be celebrating its 20th year having the 25 Days of Christmas.

The marathon began on Dec. 1, and will run all the way until midnight of Dec 25.

“Ever since I was little, my family and I would watch the 25 days of Christmas in the living room. It was something I would look forward to every night, because both of my parents worked late, and we usually never had ‘family time,’ and as a kid I loved it,” said freshman Gabrielle Branciforti.

Freeform plays Christmas classics that almost make it a necessity for people to watch.

There are specific films like “The Polar Express,” “Elf,” “The Year Without a Santa Claus,” and “Rudolf: The Island of Misfit Toys” that air.

According to Vulture.com, in 2014 an estimated 100 million people tuned in to watch the continuous Christmas movies. With many cable television channels struggling since the launch of Netflix, that number is almost unheard of now unless people are watching sports.

The people most likely to watch are the millennial adults, the group of people who have stopped watching old school television for Netflix.

“I live by Freeform’s 25 Days of Christmas in December. It is one of my favorite things about the holiday season to look forward to. It gives people holiday spirit with the different movies played each and every day,” said junior Lauren Petrozzi. “Those two hours of movie watching can escape you from your busy and stressful school lives and it is like being a little kid again watching old Christmas specials. I actually have the 25 Days of Christmas calendar of movie premieres hanging up in my suite.”

Vulture also reported that the movies played on Freeform aren’t just love movies either, they get the most views when they play their comedy films.

With Freeform’s rivals, such as AMC and Hallmark, playing mostly love movies, 25 days of Christmas had 200 percent more viewers. It is said that people enjoy to party around the holidays so having funny movies is exactly what they need to get people in the right mindset.

“Growing up, and to this day, Freeform’s 25 days of Christmas is one of my favorite parts of the holiday season. I remember sitting in my living room with my older sister, mom and dad in my pajamas watching How the Grinch Stole Christmas,” said sophomore Margo Douglas.“During December I always looked forward to watching the Christmas shows because it was a time my family could spend time together in anticipation for Christmas. We would watch shows my parents watched when they were little so they felt like kids again too. Christmas movies have a way of making all individuals feel like a kid again, full of joy and memories. It’s one of my favorite traditions.”

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