As you grow into your 20s, the number of holidays when it’s not embarrassing to stay home at night in your pajamas to sip a warm, liver-friendly beverage dwindles. Not grilling yourself into an early heart condition while chugging down some beer on the Fourth of July? Treacherous! Not out at a fancy-schmancy restaurant drinking wine with someone who’s probably (hopefully) not a serial killer on Valentine’s Day? You really should get out there more often! And don’t even get me started on Halloween and New Year’s Eve. What will happen to all the unaccountable glitter in the world, which you would otherwise ineffectually rub off your skin the next morning together with the shame and regrets that mandatorily come with it?

Thank the heavens that the holiday season, or at least the idea of it, is still somewhat close to what it meant during most of everyone’s childhoods. It’s the one time of year when we can all openly admit that sometimes, all we want is to feel warm and fuzzy inside with a glass of milk and fresh-baked cookies, not in a sexy French maid outfit inebriated by the superficial promises of youth followed by a head-pounding dose of reality. Or you know, the time when we feel a little more special for receiving that Best Buy gift card and Starbucks bringing back its holiday drinks on the menu.

Take off that self-imposed scarlet letter L on your forehead and enjoy spending the night in to watch your favorite holiday movies, because before you know it, you’ll be desperate for energy when you’re being peer-pressured to fist-pump your way into 2012.

Love Actually (2003)

Before he starred in Did You Hear About the Morgans? and Music and Lyrics, Hugh Grant charmed audiences around the world in good movies. He does a wonderful job playing the Prime Minister of England in Love Actually, as well as the rest of the ensemble cast in the directorial debut of Four Weddings and a Funeral writer Richard Curtis. You’ll also get to see the most adorable rendition of “All I Want for Christmas is You” and a young and unknown January Jones.

The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993)

Inside every studded heart in each spiky-haired kid who lived at least a year of high school in Blink-182 songs, lies a cute and cuddly teddy bear with a penchant for cheerful Yuletide carols. This Tim Burton classic introduces us to Halloween Town’s Jack Skellington, who kidnaps “Sandy Claws” in an attempt to take over Christmas. Shrunken heads and Christmas-tree eating snakes ensue, making the film a real treat for the dark and mysterious kind.

A Christmas Story (1983)

A 9-year-old boy who goes to extraordinary lengths for a BB Gun for Christmas may send red flags to some, but I mean, what harm can cute, little Ralphie really do? Well, shoot his eye out for one. With lots of memorable, funny scenes, this beloved holiday movie remains a classic all these years, and no nostalgic trip to Christmas memory lane is complete without it.

Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (1992)

Checking into a penthouse in the Plaza Hotel and strolling the streets of snow-covered New York far away from your family? Yes, my heart cries a little every time at the scene when Kevin finds his mom by the big tree at Rockefeller Center. But who doesn’t dream, once in a while, of getting away from one’s incredibly inattentive blood-relatives to experience the City That Never Sleeps in all its Yuletide cheer? And that toy store (It’s this place they had before the Apple store.) is incredible.

A Charlie Brown Christmas (1965)

Leave it to Peanuts creator Charles M. Schulz to make seasonal depression cute and lovable. In this television special based on the popular comic strip, Charlie Brown gets the winter blues. But with Lucy’s psychiatric advice, he finds the true meaning of Christmas not in prescription pills, but in spending some quality time with the gang. Feel your soul turn into jelly as you hear those little voices belt out “Christmas Time is Here” and “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing.”