The glow that brings us together
The holidays arrive the same way every year, quietly at first, in early evenings that darken a little faster, in lights appearing on balconies, in music playing softly in supermarkets. And then suddenly, the season is everywhere. It fills streets, kitchens, calendars… and living rooms. For decades, Christmas, New Year’s Eve and other winter traditions like Hanukkah have shared one familiar companion: the television screen.
There’s something unmistakably emotional about holiday TV. It isn’t just entertainment, it’s ritual. In the UK, families still pause everything for the King’s Christmas Message, just as they did for the Queen for 70 years. In Spain, millions gather for the Campanadas on New Year’s Eve, counting grapes with the Puerta del Sol clock as if their entire year depended on it. In Portugal, it’s the timeless comfort of Sozinho em Casa (Home Alone) looping on TV, or Brazil sharing the warm glow of holiday novelas and end-of-year specials. And across Europe, there are the classics: Love Actually, The Holiday, reruns of Friends Christmas episodes, the BBC Christmas specials that feel like old friends dropping by.
Even ads become part of our emotional calendar. From the tear-jerking John Lewis Christmas campaigns in the UK, to Coca-Cola’s “Holidays Are Coming,” to Spain’s Lotería de Navidad stories that make an entire country cry every December. These aren’t just pieces of content. They’re seasonal markers. Memory triggers. Moments we return to because they make us feel something.
And we feel them together.
For many of us, holiday TV is woven into our family stories. It’s sitting on the sofa with your parents as the tree lights flicker in the background. It’s your siblings arguing about what to watch next — action movie, rom-com, comedy? — but somehow everyone agreeing on that one film or special that “just feels like Christmas.” It’s your grandmother humming the soundtrack of an old movie, your dad laughing before the joke even comes, your mother tearing up at the same scene she tears up at every year.
TV has this magical ability: no matter how different our tastes, how busy our lives, or how far apart we might be during the rest of the year, holiday content creates a soft landing place for everyone. A shared emotional space. A warm pause.
And now, TV is changing. Dramatically. We don’t wait for a specific time slot anymore. Series drop all at once. Movies follow us from the living room to the kitchen to the airport lounge. Families watch together from different cities. Friends do virtual movie nights. Personalized recommendations replace channel flipping. The “holiday special” is as likely to be streamed on demand as to appear on a national broadcaster.
But the essence hasn’t changed.
We still return to stories that comfort us. Songs we know by heart. Characters we grew up with. The glow of a screen that feels like home.
Because the heart of TV, especially during the holidays, isn’t the technology. It isn’t the format. It’s the togetherness. The laughter, the nostalgia, the “remember when,” the shared silence during a beautiful scene, the ritual of watching something we love with people we love.
No matter how TV evolves — smarter, sharper, more interactive, more personalized — it will always hold this power. It will always help shape holiday memories. It will always sit at the center of our winter rituals, bringing warmth to cold nights and connection to busy lives.
This season, as we gather again, with family, with friends, with people who feel like home, the stories on our screens will still do what they’ve always done: bring us closer, remind us of what matters, and create moments worth remembering.
Because holidays change, technology changes, life changes…
But the magic of watching together never fades.
