1) “Call the Midwife,” 9 and 10:30 p.m., PBS. Each Christmas Day, “Midwife”(shown here) has a movie-length film, stuffed with emotion and, at times, agony. There’s plenty of distress in this year’s well-made film: A pregnant ex-con is homeless; a dad, unable to cope with his daughter’s birth defects, stumbles into alcoholism. But there’s also joy and warmth … plus heroics from a starchy administrator.
2) Disney Parks parade, 10 a.m. ET (7 a.m. PT), ABC, and noon, Freeform. After skipping 2020 due to Covid, this returned last year with its formula – a parade plus music taped in advance. Derek Hough and his sister Julianne now return as hosts. They’ll perform, as will Maren Morris, Ne-Yo, Meghan Trainor, Trevor Jackson, Chloe Flower, Il Volo, Black Eyed Peas and David Foster and Kat McPhee.
3) More Freeform. The final day of “25 Days of Christmas” starts and ends with “Home Alone” (1990), at 7 a.m. and 8:30 p.m. (with the 1992 sequel at 11 p.m.). There’s animation in the morning – “Santa Claus is Comin’ to Town” at 9:30, “Frosty” at 10:30 and “Rudolph at 11.” After the parade, the “Santa Clause” films are at 2, 4 and 6:30 p.m.
4) Sports overload. At 10 a.m. ET, ABC and ESPN launch a five-game marathon of pro basketball, including Grizzlies-Warriors at 8 p.m. That faces just three pro football games, after the others aired Saturday. It will be Packers-Dolphins at 1 p.m. ET on Fox, Broncos-Rams at 4:30 on CBS and Bucs-Cardinals at 8:20 on NBC.
5) Two classics have marathons. “It’s a Wonderful Life” (1946) airs every three hours on E, starting at 6 a.m. “A Christmas Story” airs every two hours; it starts on even hours on TBS (concluding in time for “The Wizard of Oz” at 8 p.m.) and odd hours on TNT (concluding at 9 p.m.). And Hallmark reruns “A Holiday Spectacular” at 8; an average Christmas film is spiced by the Rockettes and Ann-Margret.