Every year, TV shows give us an attempt at a heartwarming holiday episode. Every year, movie studios crank out countless Christmas-themed movies, hoping to stumble upon another classic. We, their audience, have to endure the sappiness, the stupidity, and the embarrassments that are the vast majority of them. Luckily, every once in a while someone really does manage to squeeze a little Christmas cheer into a TV special or film, and I appreciate these moments by celebrating them annually. Here’s a list of some of these instances: ten Christmas specials and movies that don’t suck.

10. The Snowman
No dialog in this one, just beautiful colored pencil-style animation, a great soundtrack, and the story of a boy and his snowman. Sure, the snowman comes to life, but this is no Frosty. The whole thing feels like the kind of vivid dream you’d have as a child, and the ending will stick with you long after its 25-minute run time.

9. Merry Christmas Mr. Bean
I’m a big fan of the whole Mr. Bean series, but this is one of the finest episodes. I always loved the scene where he conducts the brass quartet playing Christmas carols in a variety of styles (all depending on how he swings the conducting baton, of course). Later, Bean gets his head stuck in a turkey so big that it could feed the entire country of Turkey for a day, and he has one final mishap that drives his “girlfriend” away, despite the fact that it was a rare display of good intentions on his part.

8. A Muppet Family Christmas
This one used to play on TV when I was a kid. It features the whole Muppet gang shacking up at Fozzy’s mother’s house for a big family-style Christmas. It’s hard not to get caught up in their puppety good will, and the hour-long special is topped off with a singing snowman, the Swedish chef trying to cook Big Bird, and appearances from the Fraggles and Jim Henson himself.