6 Christmas Movies to Warm Boricua Hearts This Holiday

One stars a living legend (¡hola, Rita!), another features the son of a legend, and all feature Puerto Rican performers and stories que alegrarán tu Navidad.

It’s the season to be jolly, and to celebrate family and friends. And what better way than to get together to watch a movie that will remind us of home?

Santa Bootcamp

When event planner Emily Strauss (Emily Kinney), is sent to Santa boot camp to find the perfect Santa to stage the ultimate Christmas gala for important investors, she meets Belle (Rita Moreno), the boot camp’s drill sergeant with a heart of gold, who helps Emily rediscover the magic of Christmas and find romance along the way.                                                

“The idea of doing a Christmas movie really delighted me,” Moreno told Lifetime. “I’ve never done one, and I felt very left out all these years. I got the invitation, read the script and said, ‘Absolutely, I’m in.’” Available on Lifetime.

Christmas With You

Freddie Prinze Jr., the son of legendary Puerto Rican comic Freddie Prinze, plays a Latino character for the first time in this 2022 film about a public-school music teacher and single father (Prinze, Jr.) who makes an unexpected Christmas time love connection with a major pop star (Aimee Garcia, of Puerto Rican and Mexican origin). The film, which features a bilingual script and a sampling of Latin rhythms, food and traditions, was directed by Argentine filmmaker Gabriela Tagliavini. Available on Netflix. 

An Ice Wine Christmas

A holiday movie for wine-lovers? We’ll drink to that! Boricua star Roselyn Sanchez headlines as a sommelier who returns home to attend the local wine festival. But when she discovers that the new “wine expert” (Lyrig Bent) has big plans for the local winery, which she is passionately against, things get intense… and sparks begin to fly. Available on Lifetime Movie Club app or rent it on Amazon.

Sugar Plum Twist

If you love Christmas, “The Nutcracker” ballet, and romance, this story will capture your heart. After failing to get the coveted role of the Sugar Plum Fairy in a production of the holiday classic, Viviana Serrano (Jamie Gray Hyder) plots to create a reprise of the Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy, but with a Latin twist. Things get complicated when she falls in love with a heartthrob (played by Boricua actor Ektor Rivera). Available on the Hallmark channel.                                                               

Nothing Like the Holidays

This heartwarming film tells the story of a large Puerto Rican family in Chicago who are soon faced with the possibility that this could be their last holiday together. For starters, matriarch Anna (Elizabeth Peña) drops a bombshell when she announces her intention to divorce her children’s father (Alfred Molina), and that’s just one of the things that seem to be pulling this loving family apart. Available on Amazon Prime Video

Sweet Navidad

Do you like your romance sugary sweet? Well, this will satisfy your sweet tooth. When lovable pastry chef Carmen (Camila Banus), who dreams of opening her own Puerto Rican-influenced bakery, is paired with chef Jax (Mark Hapka) to curate the perfect holiday menu for a major hotel, the two do not mix well. But (SPOILER alert!) very soon the kitchen will get very warm when sparks begin to fly. Available on Lifetime.