Thanksgiving Movies To Enjoy

Hallmark

There aren't too many movies that are about Thanksgiving, and many of the ones that take place on the holiday aren't very family friendly. Here are a few of my favorites that the entire family can enjoy.

Jim Henson Company

Turkey Hollow is a peculiar yet delightful film for the whole family from the mind of the great Jim Henson. Tim and Annie's parents recently divorced and they are spending Thanksgiving with their overwhelmed father. He takes them to Turkey Hollow to visit his rather eccentric Aunt Cly. After a misunderstanding with one of Cly's neighbors threatens her farm, Tim decides to help by taking a photo of the local legend, the Howling Hoodoo. In the end, he gets a bit more than he bargained for and the whole family discovers something amazing and unexpected.

CBS

One Special Night is a lovely story about finding a second chance at love. Robert, played by James Garner, is struggling with how to help his wife, who is suffering from Alzheimer's. Catherine, a pediatric cardiologist played by Julie Andrews, has lost her husband, but is having difficulty moving on. On Thanksgiving, a snowstorm forces them to spend the night in a small cabin they stumble across. After an entire evening of talking, they learn a lot about each other as well as themselves, and discover that they still have a lot of living left to do.

Hallmark

An Old-Fashioned Thanksgiving is based on a short story by Louisa May Alcott. Mary Bassett is a widow with three children who is barely scraping by. When she informs the family that they will be unable to afford a turkey for Thanksgiving, the eldest daughter, Tilly decides to take matters into her own hands. Tilly, an aspiring writer, pens a letter to her wealthy grandmother Isabella, who has been estranged from the family for many years. While Mary resents her mother's interference, Tilly and her siblings look forward to getting to know Isabella.

20th Century Fox

This final film begins on Thanksgiving, but is actually a Christmas movie. Miracle on 34th Street, the classic film with Edmund Gwenn, Natalie Wood, and Maureen O'Hara is my favorite way to kick off the holidays. The story begins with a replacement Santa named Kris Kringle in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. Kris becomes the store Santa at Macy's and begins to have an unexpectedly wonderful effect on the store and it's employees and customers. As Kris begins to spend time with young Susan Walker and her mother Doris, he helps them change their lives for the better. When he's put on trial for claiming that he is actually Santa Claus, the people he's helped must now help him.