‘Tis the season of Christmas carols, frantic trips to the mall and all of the Christmas cookies. It’s also the season of curling up by the fire and watching holiday movies.
There are a lot of great holiday movies to choose from whether you love comedies or the throwback classics. What makes all of our favorite holiday movies so special isn’t just the festive theme, it’s also the characters. Just think about those special characters whose lines you have memorized by heart and who have created some of your favorite GIFs. Out of all of the characters, the kids always have a special spot in our hearts. After all, you probably started watching some of your fave holiday films when you were a kid yourself so you could totally relate to the youngsters. Now that you’re older and wiser, you probably love looking back at those adorable faces and remembering when you were that age. And you can probably still relate to their despair about not getting the perfect gift or having to put up with annoying relatives. Here are the 17 cutest kids from Christmas movies.
17. Fuller in Home Alone
Kevin McCallister (Macaulay Culkin) might have been the star of Home Alone and Home Alone 2: Lost in New York, but who could forget the adorable Fuller McCallister? First of all, his name was Fuller. Second, he wore those adorable colored suspenders and round glasses that many late 2000’s hipsters were undoubtedly inspired by. He might have had a Pepsi consumption problem and issues with his bladder, but he was so sweet. This one earns extra points because Fuller was actually played by Macaulay’s actual brother Kieran Culkin.
16. Zuzu in It’s A Wonderful Life
It’s a Wonderful Life was released way back in 1946. Karolyn Grimes was only six years old when she played the adorable Zuzu Bailey in the classic Christmas film. Obviously, she is long past her days as a kid, but that doesn’t mean our affection for little Zuzu has waned. Far from it. No one could forget about her beloved quote, “Look, Daddy. Teacher says every time a bell rings an angel gets his wings.” And then there is that sweet hairstyle.
15. Michael in Elf
The adorably-out-of-touch William “Buddy” Hobbs (Will Ferrell) is undoubtedly the star of Elf. Then it’s Jovie (Zooey Deschanel) followed by Miles Finch (Peter Dinklage!). Michael (Daniel Tay) may not be the one getting all the attention for walking around in an elf outfit, but he would be sorely missed in the movie. He’s the one who sees Buddy as the lovable elf that he is before lots of the adults understand. That’s not something the average tween boy would do.
14. Rusty in National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation
There have been a few different versions of Russell “Rusty” Griswold in the Vacation series, but who could forget little Johnny Galecki‘s turn as the character in the 1989 classic comedy National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation? If you loved Russ, but had no idea that the Big Bang Theory actor played him until now, you’ll probably appreciate the character even more. He was always there for his eccentric dad Clark (Chevy Chase). His sister, Audrey (Juliette Lewis) may not have understood him fully, but we could see he wasn’t an annoying brat.
13. Cindy Lou Who in Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas
Here’s another beloved character that might surprise you now. Did you know that the cute Cindy Lou Who from the 2000 flick Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas was played by Taylor Momsen? That’s right, Jenny Humphries from Gossip Girl went to Whoville. You can actually see some similarities between the two characters given that we loved Cindy’s gravity-defying hairstyles and cute outfits in The Grinch and Jenny gave us plenty of style inspo on Gossip Girl.
12. Ralphie in A Christmas Story
There are so many things that we look at and think of little Ralphie (Peter Billingsley) from the 1983 film A Christmas Story. We think of the kid every time we see a pair of chunky retro glasses. And we think of him every time we see a particularly puffy snowsuit. Of course we also think of Ralphie every time we see a pig costume. How can you not? We will also openly admit that we have stolen a number of the character’s hilarious lines and made them our own. Oh, fudge.
11. Susan in Miracle on 34th Street
To have a lovable holiday movie, it seems that you have to have at least one sweet kid. In the 1947 version of Miracle on 34th Street, that child was Susan Walker (Natalie Wood). Susan may not have won audiences over straight away because of her skepticism, but when she opened up, we saw a caring child who was willing to help anyone out, particularly people who were named Kris Kringle claiming to be the real Santa Claus.
10. Ruby Sue in Christmas Vacation
All of the kids in Christmas Vacation were amazing in their own special way. Ruby Sue (Ellen Hamilton Latzen) from the 1989 film had a memorable part thanks to a few classic scenes. ~*Spoiler alert:*~ Who could forget when Eddie (Randy Quaid) and the family roll into town and Doris (Frances Smith) remarks Ruby Sue’s eyes aren’t crossed anymore? Or what about when Ruby Sue went downstairs in the middle of the night and caught Uncle Clark (Chevy Chase) staring/fantasizing out of the window? Classic.
9. Jonah in Sleepless in Seattle
There are so many fantastic things that helped make Sleepless in Seattle a cult movie. It really is one of those films that you can watch any time of year and get the warm fuzzies. One of the characters that helped make the 1993 film so special was Jonah (Ross Aaron Malinger). Remember his little red jacket and his backpack? What about that moppy brown mushroom cut? Of course you do. He was the cutest.
8. Elizabeth in The Family Stone
The Family Stone is one of the newer holiday movies given that it came out in 2005. So, 12 years old but in Christmas-movies-time it’s basically a toddler. Some of the child actors might have been overlooked given the cast featured Sarah Jessica Parker, Rachel McAdams, Diane KeatonClaire Danes, Luke Wilson and a handful more of stars, but Savannah Stehlin as Elizabeth Trousdale didn’t go unnoticed.
7. Kevin in Home Alone
Come on, did you really think that we could include Fuller and leave out Kevin McCallister? That would be wrong. Macaulay Culkin’s beloved character from Home Alone was the cool kid that we aspired to be when we were younger. His family may not have paid much attention to him, but we wished that we could have booby-trapped a house for bad guys half as good as he did. And even though he sometimes got into trouble, our hearts would always melt when he talked about missing his mom. Awwww. TBH, that’s more relatable in your mid-twenties than it was on the first watch.
6. Jamie in Jingle all the Way
Howard Langston (Arnold Schwarzenegger) was the hero in Jingle all the Way, but it was his sweet son Jamie (Jake Lloyd) that he went to endless lengths for. We rooted Howard on because we knew how much Jamie wanted that Turboman doll and we could totally see that he was a good kid. Some of the stuff that happened to the actor later in life might taint this one for you, but don’t let it. The character is still such an innocent kid who wants his dad… and a cool action figure for Christmas.
5. Charlie in Jack Frost
Poor little Charlie Frost (Joseph Cross) had some sad things happen in his young life. Remember the harmonica gift? Then his dad Jack Frost (Michael Keaton) died in a car accident a year later. *Tear* We felt so sorry for the sweet kid which is why we were pleased to see the glimmers of happiness in his life starting. If you haven’t watched the movie, we won’t spoil the rest. Go and watch it now.
4. Charlie in The Santa Clause
Here’s another adorable Charlie for you. This time it’s Charlie Calvin from The Santa Clause. The tiny brown-haired boy was played by Eric Lloyd and we had all of the feels for his character. There might have been some crazy stuff going on with his dad Scott Calvin (Tim Allen), who accidentally killed a man and had to become Santa, but the absurd plot actually made us love Charlie and the family even more.
3. Eloise in Eloise at Christmastime
If you were/are a fan of the Eloise book series, then you were probably all for the Eloise at Christmastime film from 2003. The live-action movie starred Sofia Vassilieva as the cute Eloise. If you watched the movie when you were younger, you probably wanted her blonde hair and red bow so bad. And if you have rewatched it as a semi-adult, you probably are still getting major hair envy from her.
2. Susan in Miracle on 34th Street
That’s right, there are two Susan Walkers. And they were both so adorable that we had to feature both of them on the list. The second one in question was played by Mara Wilson (AKA Matilda) in the 1994 version of Miracle on 34th Street. The remake might have been in color, but it kept the vast majority of the same things as the original one including Susan’s lovable character.
1. Sam in Love Actually
There are a lot of cute people in Love Actually. Hello, Hugh Grant, Keira Knightley and Colin Firth. No offense to them, but little Sam (Thomas Brodie-Sangster) might be the cutest of them all. He was young, but he had troubles of the heart that could rival some of the grownup’s relationship dilemmas in the movie. And when he talked to his dad, Daniel (Liam Neeson), about the problems, we had all of the feels. TOO CUTE.