Yahoo News The best of this year's Christmas TV adverts, ranked
It's that time of the year again. Into the tinsel-in-the-supermarket stage but not quite Santa time, it's Christmas advert o'clock!
The annual flurry of festive TV adverts officially kicked off with some brands, like Asda and Argos, releasing theirs in the first week of November. They've all pretty much arrived now, so here, in descending order – saving the best until last – are all the festive adverts on TV right now.
12. Argos
Argos's ad sees an ambitious elf race through a factory to catch up with the super high-tech sleigh which will be delivering presents to children, after a toy robot dog is missed out of the load.
All is well in the end, as the elf catches up with the sleigh, then goes on to presumably spread the Christmas cheer. Takeaway message? The shop can now deliver in under four hours. Bosh.
Cheery enough but just a bit been-there-done-that, we feel?
11. Sainsbury's
This year, Sainsbury's have deviated from the norm by presenting an upbeat sing-along for all the family, aided by bouncing Brussels sprouts.
The tune 'Every Bit of Christmas' is irritatingly catchy, and while most of those singing along in the advert are everyday folk, there are also cameos from The Royle Family's Ricky Tomlinson and Kermit the Frog – representing Xmas TV specials and Christmas movies respectively.
While it's nice to include so many happy, festive people, is anyone else missing Mog the cat?
10. Asda
Asda's offering follows a young girl and her grandfather who happen to have stumbled upon Asda's Christmas factory and have snuck into the imaginarium.
There, they find Borrower-sized Asda employees fixing up festive appetisers, very strong men testing out igloo smash cakes, as well as a gin room. Our kind of Christmas!
Now, how do we find this place?
9. Lidl
The German supermarket has released three adverts already this year, each paying homage to a certain type of person at Christmas. First: 'The Cavalier Carver', focusing on the turkey centrepiece (and featuring a mini Ed Sheeran). The second features 'The Mince Pie Maverick', a man who does not stop munching as soon as the festive season kicks in.
They are all quite funny, although the third and final advert profiles 'The Double Dipper', someone that has questionable dining etiquette at Christmas parties, which has left us seething a little bit. You know who you are…
8. Aldi
Aldi picks up with last year's Christmas advert star Kevin the carrot for 2017 and this time... he's in love. After falling off the snowman, Kevin stumbles upon a luxury train where he sets his eyes on Katie the carrot.
After saving Katie from an oncoming pea (long story, take a watch), they live happily ever after.
Alright, alright. We know Kevin is a carrot, but it's Christmas so we'll be happy for anyone.
7. McDonald's
We're as shocked as anyone to find the fast food restaurant's Christmas advert as sweet as we do but, come on, it's lovely.
The advert follows a young girl who after a trip to McDonald's with her dad decides not to eat her last carrot stick, but keep it for the reindeer who will be visiting on Christmas Eve with Father Christmas.
When she gets home, her older brother breaks the news that, actually, Santa tends to arrive with eight reindeers, so her Dad takes her back to McDonald's so she can get more carrot sticks. A trip to a supermarket is clearly out of the question.
Cheeseburgers are only mentioned once – when Dad tries to order one "for Santa" but is corrected when his daughter tells him Santa only eats mince pies.
Naww.
6. Waitrose
The supermarket's advert tells the story of family, friends and neighbours pulling together to make the best out of a less-than-ideal situation at Christmas time.
Inspired by real life events, the advert centres around Yorkshire villagers who find themselves snowed in at the remote Tan Hill inn, the highest pub in the UK, which has been snowed in around 50 times since 2005.
When the villagers find themselves snowed in, there's a fleeting moment of worry before they remember there's a whole stock of Waitrose food in the cupboards. With their problems solved, they set on making a communal feast and get ready to sit down and enjoy it, just as concerned neighbours come to their rescue...
5. Tesco
We only have one of the five Tesco ads at the moment but, so far, it's looking promising.
The first advert is focused on the Christmas turkey and celebrates the diverse ways people celebrate Christmas. A number of families are shown fussing over the turkey during the cooking process – all of which vary, including one man grilling his on a BBQ – before each family comes together at the table to enjoy their hard-earned meals.
All that family stuff just warms our hearts a little.
4. John Lewis
The big one has arrived and, while there may have been a bit of divide on social media about this year's offering, at the end of the day it's a nice advert.
Set to a cover of The Beatles' 'Golden Slumbers' by Elbow, the advert tells the tale of Joe, who discovers a monster – Moz – under his bed and befriends it. However, all those late nights of playing soon take their toll on Joe, who ends up quite sleep-deprived. Bless him.
Moz knows the answer and buys him a night light so he can finally enjoy a good night's sleep. And just when we think the ad is over, we realise that Joe can see Moz again whenever he thinks of him. <3
3. M&S
While it may be a tidy bit of co-promotion for his new film sequel, Paddington Bear helps an amateur Santa deliver presents to all of the good girls and boys in the village of Windsor Gardens – and becomes Insta-famous in the process – in M&S's offering.
The holiday advert is just gentle and sentimental enough to make us forget it's a movie tie-in and, really, Paddington is just adorable.
We've also enjoyed the strange 'controversy' to come out of the advert after some people misheard an innocent word for a swear word, forcing M&S to get involved and clarify matters.
2. Heathrow airport
The adorable grandparent teddy bear couple, who warmed our hearts last year when they made their way through immigration, baggage reclaim and a busy arrivals hall to see their family, are back for 2017.
This time, it's the tale of the 50-year love story of Mr and Mrs Bair. The advert kicks off in the 1960s - complete with a vintage plane and air hostess uniforms - which is when they first meet. The ad then travels forward through time, marking each occasion they have been reunited at the airport for Christmas.
The Bair family continues to expand and the very last scene shows the present-day, real life couple happy to see each other, as always, and surrounded by grandchildren. Lovely.
1. Debenhams
We mean, it's just lovely, a classic Christmassy fairy tale. A young man and woman are brought together by fate after she loses her (Jenny Packham for Debenhams) shoe on a packed Christmas commuter train.
After using social media to track down the mystery woman – this is the 21st century after all – the man finally bumps into her on the street and they (presumably) live happily ever after.
To make it even better, bloomin' EWAN MCGREGOR narrates the whole thing.
Wonderful.
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