Here are some fun things to watch this Thanksgiving season. It’s finally feeling colder here so it feels more natural to curl up inside in front of the electronic hearth for some entertainment.

First, I’m featuring family movies.

The one above is very loosely based on the short story of the same name by Louisa May Alcott, which has been made into a picture book. See below. Notice I wrote “very loosely” based. Actually, I think the only things similar are the title and that they both involve extended family in New Hampshire. The plots are totally different! I watched it years ago and that’s what I remember thinking. Watch here and read the words of the short story here. Then go get the picture book, with words from the short story, and read it again with illustrations. The picture book is always better! (I reviewed the movie here a few years ago.)

My review of the above movie is here. It’s delightful! Great for the whole family! It has Jason Gray from Studio C. It just exudes family Thanksgiving togetherness. I love that it shows the extended family serving in a soup kitchen and having different activities together over a few-days-worth-of-a-Thanksgiving vacation. It has lots of laugh-out-loud moments.

Thanksgiving Promise is a made for TV movie starring three generations of Bridges: Lloyd, Beau, and Jordan. It first appeared on the Magical World of Disney when I was a teen. It’s based on the book Chester I Love You by Utah writers Brenton and Blaine Yorgason. At least as of today, you can watch it in YouTube over here.

“A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving” is not a full movie, it’s true, it’s a 25 minutes- made-for-TV special, from back in the days of my childhood when animation on a TV weeknight was truly “special.” It’s still worth watching though because it’s just pure fun. After you finish it, go watch the Peanuts gang act out the Thanksgiving story over here, called “This is America Charlie Brown.”

Kirk Cameron’s documentary Monumental isn’t a “movie” in the sense of being a super entertaining, fictional story. It is a documentary after all, but it is interesting enough, at least for me. It shows Kirk, a husband and father of six children, following the journey of the Pilgrims. I didn’t know about the monument to the Pilgrims in Plymouth, Massachusetts featured in this documentary until I watched it when it first came out over ten years ago. The monument is pictured below. You can watch Monumental here on YouTube. Then if you want you can buy a hard copy of the movie on amazon, or go the movie’s website here and get it cheaper, as well as a free study guide.

Jim Henson’s Turkey Hollow movie is quirky and fun. It involves some strange Muppet creatures that seem a bit frightful at first glance but are somewhat lovable. The acting isn’t the greatest but it’s fun and family-promoting with forgiveness and love in action. The hippie grandmother in this movie is so naturally crunchy, she reminds me of myself and my Veggie Gals girlfriends. She just makes me laugh! You can watch the movie in Amazon Prime Video here.

Now let’s talk about Thanksgiving-themed date night movies for adults. Get ready to cozy up with your sweetie for these!

Amazon calls this one above a family movie, which means it’s suitable for kids, but I disagree, as it mentions the three letter word for marital physical intimacy. In my book, that means it’s not for children. The characters don’t talk about it a lot but please know that it’s mentioned. At least it’s in the context of marriage, talked about on the night of the husband’s birthday party. The movie doesn’t show the act thankfully. So if you don’t want to have to explain the meaning of that word, you probably won’t want to watch it with little sets of ears. It’s a personal Thanksgiving tradition of mine to watch this movie every year. It just resonates so much with me. It is one of the few movies I’ve ever found that celebrates stay-at-home motherhood. The plot is implausible as it involves amnesia and a parallel universe but I still love it. It makes me laugh and just feel so good at the end. It just brings on all the Thanksgiving feels: fall-time, a school play about the Pilgrims, family, marriage, coziness, togetherness, food, and gratitude. I was thrilled to find my own copy at one of my public library’s used books/DVDs sales this past year.

This one above looks Christmas-y but it’s really about Thanksgiving, I promise! It’s Love at the Thanksgiving Day Parade, sometimes shortened to Love at the Parade. I review it here. It’s fun to see and learn about Chicago history and landmarks from this movie.

Then there’s The Thanksgiving House. It’s about a young female lawyer who finds out her home is on the land where the first Thanksgiving took place. A pleasant enough movie to bring in the spirit of Thanksgiving, family, community, and a little romance. Watch it here.

I hope you enjoy these movies! Happy Thanksgiving!

For suggestions of fun Thanksgiving picture books, traditions, and more, go here and scroll down to the November section. I also have Thanksgiving picture books shown here.

For short Thanksgiving stories based on the restored gospel of Jesus Christ, poetry, and songs, get my Celestial Family Devotionals ebook here and go to the November section.