It’s that annual festive squabble, what’s the best ever Christmas movie.

There are the obvious picks like It’s a Wonderful Life - a marvellous movie with a thoroughly depressing centre and a joyous end - or the “cool” “alternative” films like Rare Exports: a Christmas Tale...more on that later though.

To stop the arguing we've come up with a list of the 12 great and good Christmas-themed films, determined to make you laugh and cry, and also be grateful you have a nice, normal family. Well, normalish.

Cuddle up in your snowman jumper and sequined leggings and try out some of our picks, you never know you might like them!

Die Hard II:

Yes, the first one was also set during the festive season, but we like the sequel more.

Besides it’s got aeroplane drama, snow and it’s set on Christmas Eve (as is the first one).

And instead of running around a skyscraper with no shoes on, John McClane actually throws himself out of a helicopter onto a terrorist-controlled plane.

No wonder Bruce Willis’ most famous character is often voted cinema’s best hardman.

It’s also got William Atherton in it, playing almost the same role as the one he plays in Ghostbusters. He’s a classic 1980s cinema smarm-pot - but we love to hate him.

Elf:

We couldn’t leave this one out! Heart-warming, hilarious and most importantly, an unmistakable Christmas film which has become a modern classic.

Will Ferrell’s Buddy the Elf is a genius characterisation, it’s a part the actor was born to play.

All together now: “SSSSAAANNNTAAAAAAAAAAA!”

Scrooged:

Bill Murray in a modern re-working of A Christmas Carol.

Festive perfection.

A Christmas Story:

This 1983 American Christmas comedy film based on the short stories and semi-fictional anecdotes of author and raconteur Jean Shepherd.

The off-beat, 1950s-set film is a mish-mash of quirky familial disasters and mishaps with non-cheesy sentimentality.

A great family film.

Bad Santa:

This is NOT a family Christmas film in the slightest.

If you hate (aka secretly love but are too grumpy) Christmas and want something to cut through all the cuteness and schmaltz, Bad Santa is for you.

And it stars Billy Bob Thornton. A Scrooged for the disenfranchised modern generation.

Better Off Dead:

This little gem is an early John Cusack movie with a ski-race, dancing burgers and some pretty competitive Japanese boy racers.

But it also featured perhaps one of the weirdest Christmas scenes ever.

Cusack’s Lane Myer has the weirdest family who give each other TV dinners as presents and sit in front of a TV with a picture of a roaring fire on it.

Yes, it is very off-beat, but it’s also quite a funny romantic comedy from the 1980s. And it has Christmas jumpers.

Black Christmas:

Often billed as the original “slasher” flick, Black Christmas is a seasonal horror about a sorority house plagued by a crazed serial killer.

At least the murders take place in a house covered in fairy lights and Christmas trees.

Perfect if you want to be scared, in a 1970s way, during the festive season.

Trading Places:

This Dan Aykroyd and Eddie Murphy flick is one of the '80s best comedies and great festive fun.

Aykroyd’s snotty broker and Murphy’s street hustler swap places after old codgers Randolph and Mortimer Duke want to try out a social experiment on the pair.

Jamie Lee Curtis’ prostitute Ophelia is roped into the caper and a lot of fun ensues.

Keep an eye out for all the really cheap 80s, tinsely Christmas decorations.

Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale

Another off-beat, less than pleasant Christmas story.

It’s kind of like if Amityville Horror was based in Finland and about Santa Claus. Yep, it's that strange.

Essentially a supernatural force is unleashed after a sacred grave is disturbed by scientists and it turns out to be a bad Santa, one who punishes naughty children rather than rewards the good ones.

Spooky.

Gremlins:

Another not-so-happy Christmas movie after gross mini-monsters are unleashed on small-town America.

The murderous Gremlins are let loose after lead character Billy is bought a mysterious present by his inventor father, accidentally feeding his Gizmo, things start to happen....

National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation:

Probably responsible for the ridiculously over-the-top external festive decorations we see nowadays, Christmas Vacation is a must-see (usually in a double-bill with Elf).

Chevy Chase is ebulliently cheery despite his continuous slap-stick and prat-falling mishaps as well as having an on-going squabble with his cliched yuppie neighbours.

But the best moment of the film has to be when he’s presented his Christmas bonus. Watch it and see.

Home Alone:

What kid doesn’t dream about being in charge of the household all by themselves?

Well, after watching this, they may not fancy it so much .

We still don’t understand how you could forget your child, let alone let it happen in three other films, but the chaos and fun that ensues is pretty funny, and it’s very Christmassy too - let’s not forget that.

And okay, we know it's not THAT alternative but at the time everyone wondered what mob-film-loving Joe Pesci was up to joining "The Wet Bandits"?