‘Downton Abbey’ Should Be Your New Annual Holiday Tradition

Twinkle lights, roasted chestnuts, and long lines at the mall… These are all things that are supposed to get me into the Christmas spirit. The only problem is they don’t. The older I get, the less I can rely upon the rote traditions of yore to perk me up for the impending holiday madness. Nevertheless, there is one thing that instantly makes me feel like…Christmas. And it’s not A Christmas Story, The Grinch, or Die Hard.

It’s a motherf*cking Downton Abbey marathon.

Downton Abbey was the little PBS show that could. It was an super opulent soap opera that managed to permeate the mainstream in its second season. It also was an awards-show behemoth whose stars are finally starting to find new life in other roles. (We see you thriving, Dan Stevens, Michelle Dockery, and Lily James.) It’s also secretly super Christmas-y. Its eventful holiday specials aside, the show’s vibe makes for a perfect holiday watch with the family. Why? Well, because it’s about a family. The Crawleys and their servants represent two kinds of family units that thrive in real-life and on the small screen. The Crawleys give us that old school family drama rooted in messy relationships between shared relations, while their downstairs staff are stitched together emotionally like a classic “work family.” Shove the two groups together and you have an eco-system that may survive because of tradition, but they persevere because of love.

That’s the sentimental reason why Downton Abbey works as a great holiday binge-watch, but there’s a practical reason, too. Downton Abbey is a crowd-pleaser that is safe to show to all ages. I mean, sure Lady Mary has that run-in in her bedroom with Kemal Pamuk, and yes, Ethel gets knocked up by a soldier convalescing in the Abbey, and I understand there are some harrowing scenes set in the trenches of World War I, but this show is family-friendly. You’re not going to see anything really randy or upsettingly gruesome, but you will still get tons of juicy drama. Downton Abbey is, first and foremost, a frothy soap opera, full of illicit romances, star-crossed lovers, and shocking deaths. It is a show that the whole family should be able to agree upon – and if I’ve learned one thing about happy holiday gatherings is that they live and die by how easily everyone can find consensus what they should watch. Downton Abbey just might save your family this year.

Finally, lets circle back to the show’s “official” Christmas episodes. Four of the six Downton Abbey seasons end with a “Holiday Special.” Each of these is eventful or exciting in its own unique way — and they all either introduce or wrap up a major storyline. (Heck, the series finale is a holiday special.) Being the nerd that I am, I have experimented with marathoning just the Christmas Specials and these four episodes together make for a kind of “Downton Abbey‘s Greatest Hits,” even if they do flit around the storyline a bit too much to make logical narrative sense. That all being said, the very first Christmas special, Season Two’s aptly named “Christmas at Downton Abbey,” is maybe the most iconic. It gives us Bates’s trial, the news that Sybil is preggers in Ireland, and Matthew and Mary’s long-awaited engagement.

If the sight of two emotionally-challenged old-timey Brits embracing in a swirl of snowflakes doesn’t fill you with holiday cheer, then you’re dead inside. Or, at least, not into emotionally-challenged, old-timey Brits.

Downton Abbey makes for the perfect holiday watch and should be your family’s new annual holiday tradition.

P.S. I totally saw two people watching Downton Abbey on a laptop together during my cross-country holiday flight this weekend. Did I wish they had elected to wear earbuds? Yes. Was I also filled with Christmas cheer? Also yes.

Stream Downton Abbey on Prime Video