Where Can You Watch ‘The Waltons’ Thanksgiving & Christmas Specials This Year?

THE WALTONS, Ralph Waite, Kami Cotler, Judy Norton-Taylor, Mary Beth McDonough, in the TV movie, 'A Day for Thanks on Walton's Mountain,' 11/22/1982. CROPPED — Everett Collection

Fifty-three years ago, the made-for-TV movie The Homecoming: A Christmas Story first brought the Waltons onto American TV screens. In the decades since, the Depression-era Virginia family has become a holiday tradition for many of us — not least of all because The Waltons produced multiple holiday specials and holiday-themed episodes. So where can you watch the series’ classic Christmas and Thanksgiving specials this year?

The sad news is that the original 1971 Waltons Christmas special, The Homecoming: A Christmas Story, will not be airing on TV this year, and is also not available for streaming but is available for purchase.

There are also no TV airings of the 1982 Thanksgiving special A Day for Thanks on Walton Mountain or the 1993 Thanksgiving special A Waltons Thanksgiving Reunion this year, but they are available to watch on Amazon (the 1993 special can be found under the title The Thanksgiving Story). However, these films are not included in Prime Video or any other subscription service, and viewers must purchase them separately in order to watch them.

There is also some good news for Waltons fans: All nine original seasons of the show are streaming for free on Amazon’s Freevee video platform, which you do not need a Prime Video subscription to watch.

On Freevee, you can watch all the show’s holiday episodes, including Season 2’s two-part “The Thanksgiving Story,” where the holiday festivities are interrupted by John-Boy’s (Richard Thomas) serious head injury; Season 5’s “The Best Christmas”; and Season 8’s “The Spirit,” where the Waltons spend Christmas Eve with an escaped German POW.

Episodes of The Waltons also air every Monday through Friday at 12pm ET on MeTV. The MeTV website lists the next three episodes scheduled to be aired, so you can check in to see if your holiday favorites will be playing soon.

Everett Collection

Fans of the 2020’s reboot specials will have more luck catching the Waltons on TV this holiday season. The 2021 special The Waltons’ Homecoming, a remake of the original Waltons special The Homecoming: A Christmas Story, will air on Dec. 21 at 8pm on The CW. And the 2022 special A Waltons Thanksgiving can be viewed for free on the CW website.