(Credit: Netflix)

Some winter days feel so long that you need a series, not a film, something with enough story to keep you company while the world outside feels like an ice age. Holiday shows are perfect for that, especially the Netflix ones. These Christmas stories offer enough comfort without rushing you into the plot.

Netflix has a few gems that feel made for the in-between days of November and December. The days when you want romance and drama while you hide under a blanket and avoid the cold. They let you escape into a small world for a while, and who doesn’t want that with a cup of hot cocoa?

These shows also have a very sincere love of storytelling, and they stick to it. You can see the intention in the pacing of them. That’s what makes these shows thoughtful and not like a burden.

So if you are planning to spend the winter break in full hibernation mode, these are the holiday shows you can trust with your time. They have the balance you want when you are freezing and want something to match your mood.

Five best holiday shows to binge on Netflix

DASH & LILY (2020–2020)

DASH & LILY, if described as a feeling, can be perfectly described as if someone bottles up the best parts of December in New York and turns it into an eight-episode love letter. The show is about Dash, who is hiding from Christmas inside a bookshop, and Lily, who decides to leave a notebook filled with clues for whoever is curious enough to follow them. Watching these two speak to each other without actually meeting adds a fun tension to the plot, especially because both of them are using the notebook to escape their very different holiday moods.

If you like romantic shows with a twist of a strange mystery, you will definitely end up loving these two long before they see each other in person. The various clues and the dares feel so new and exciting, like you actually want to know what’s going to happen next. Imagine two people opening up through words before they ever lock eyes… like the feeling you get when you finally meet your pen pal who lives in a different country. For anyone who loves slow romance, this series delivers exactly what you want from a holiday binge.

Three Days of Christmas (2019)

Three Days of Christmas is the perfect show for those who do not want to stick to romance. Here, you meet three young sisters on a winter day who cross paths with a fugitive and his daughter. They make a choice in that moment that no child should ever have to make, and the weight of it follows them through the rest of their lives. You watch them trying to protect someone they barely know, and the tension is VERY visible.

Then it moves forward, and you see how that one winter decision shaped their adulthood. The sisters return home years later as they carry memories they have been avoiding, and the holiday brings everything back to the surface. What makes it worth watching is the intimacy of sisterhood. The silence between the three of them says more than any dramatic speech. It is a winter story that understands how families hold on to things they never talk about. And, it’s a limited episode show with only three episodes, so it’ll be done in no time.

Home for Christmas (2019–2021)

It is the story of Johann, a single nurse whose family treats her relationship status like a full-time national emergency. One dinner pushes her over the edge, and she tells everyone she has a boyfriend she will bring home for Christmas (like we haven’t heard those kinds of lies on a holiday table before). The problem is that she does not have one. So she starts dating at record speed, collecting stories that are both funny and relatable.

The magic is in watching her navigate the pressure of proving something she never needed to prove. Every date teaches her something she was not expecting, and the countdown to Christmas adds a massive urgency. By the time she figures out what she actually wants, you realise how much she has grown without realising it (we all do at some point). Home for Christmas leaves you with a comforting feeling by the end that stays even after the final episode.

Merry Happy Whatever (2019–2019)

Merry Happy Whatever is a show name that sounds like nobody cares. It takes you to the Quinn family’s holiday routine, where everyone has opinions and nobody knows how to keep them to themselves. Emmy arrives with her boyfriend, Matt, who is desperately trying to make a good impression on her father, Don. Don is protective, set in his ways, and convinced he can guide his children’s lives better than they can.

The fun comes from watching Matt try to survive a house filled with high expectations and siblings dealing with their own winter problems. It is pure comedy, but not the forced one with fake laughter. If anything, it is extremely relatable because the characters behave exactly as families do when emotions run high during the holidays.

A Storm for Christmas (2022–2022)

Last recommendation, but definitely worth a look. A Storm for Christmas is a show that begins when snow traps a full crowd inside the Oslo airport, and suddenly everyone’s holiday plans fall apart at the same time. You meet travellers who are stressed, lonely, hopeful, frustrated, or carrying some crazy-ass secrets. Each episode lets you spend time with someone new, and the mix of personalities keeps you curious about what each person will do next.

If you are or will be stuck in a different city and can’t go home, you can watch this show and relate to the characters. People here cross paths and misunderstand each other. But they also connect unexpectedly, which is so comforting to watch. By the final episode, you realise how much can shift between strangers when they have no choice but to share the same winter night.