Holiday Movies Ranked: From Cozy to Completely Unbearable (September 2026)

Every December, millions of us scroll through streaming apps looking for that perfect holiday movie. Some of us want something warm and familiar, like a cinematic cup of hot cocoa. Others want a guilty pleasure so bad it loops back around to being fun. And then there are films that should come with a warning label.

I have spent more holiday seasons than I care to admit watching, ranking, and arguing about Christmas movies with friends and family. After comparing my own viewing experiences with community discussions from Reddit threads, critic lists from Rotten Tomatoes, and decades of movie-night debates, I noticed something missing from every existing ranking. Nobody had ever mapped the full spectrum from cozy perfection to complete disaster in one place.

That is exactly what this article does. These are holiday movies ranked from cozy to completely unbearable, organized into six tiers so you can find exactly what you are in the mood for. Whether you want a heartwarming classic for family movie night or a catastrophically bad film for a laugh with friends, this guide has you covered.

Here is how the tiers work. The Cozy Tier represents the gold standard, films that feel like being wrapped in a warm blanket. The Comfort Zone covers reliable favorites that most people enjoy but might not consider all-time greats. The Borderline includes movies that are fun but flawed, with real redeeming qualities alongside real problems. The Acquired Taste tier covers so-bad-it’s-good territory. The Unbearable tier is where things get genuinely painful. And finally, the Hallmark section gets its own category because those movies exist in a separate universe entirely.

Holiday Movies Ranked From Cozy to Completely Unbearable: The Full Spectrum

Before diving into each tier, let me set the stage. This ranking is not just about quality. It is about the emotional experience of watching each film. A movie can be objectively flawed but still feel cozy to watch, or it can be technically competent and still make you want to leave the room. The cozy-to-unbearable spectrum captures that lived experience better than a simple best-to-worst list ever could.

I also factored in community sentiment from movie forums, Reddit discussions, and years of holiday viewing traditions shared online. Personal recommendations and nostalgia carry enormous weight in how people actually feel about these films, often more than critic scores do. That human element is baked into every ranking decision here.

The Cozy Tier: Blanket-and-Hot-Cocoa Perfection

The Cozy Tier is the highest honor a holiday movie can achieve. These are films that make you feel safe, warm, and genuinely glad to be alive. They work whether you are watching alone on a quiet December evening or packed on a couch with extended family. Every movie in this tier has earned its place through decades of audience love and critical recognition.

1. It’s a Wonderful Life (1946)

Frank Capra’s masterpiece remains the gold standard of holiday cinema nearly 80 years after its release. James Stewart plays George Bailey, a man who gets to see what his small town would look like if he had never been born. The film earns its emotional payoff through two hours of genuine character development, not cheap sentiment.

I have watched this movie every December for over a decade, and the ending still gets me every single time. The scene where the townspeople pour into Bailey’s living room to help him is what every holiday aspires to feel like in real life.

Streaming: Typically available on Amazon Prime Video and Paramount+. Also airs on NBC during the holiday season.

2. White Christmas (1954)

Bing Crosby and Danny Kaye play WWII veterans turned entertainers who travel to Vermont to save their former commanding officer’s failing inn. The musical numbers are spectacular, the romance is charming without being saccharine, and the snow-covered Vermont setting is visually the most comforting place in cinema.

The title song, performed by Crosby, became the best-selling single of all time for a reason. This film defines what people mean when they talk about a “classic Christmas movie.” If you want to understand why older generations get nostalgic about holiday films, start here.

Streaming: Netflix typically carries it during the holiday season, also available on Amazon Prime Video.

3. Miracle on 34th Street (1947)

The original 1947 version, not the remake, is a perfect film. A man claiming to be Santa Claus gets a job at Macy’s department store, and what follows is part courtroom drama, part family story, and entirely magical. The film treats its premise with total sincerity, which is exactly why it works.

Natalie Wood as the skeptical little girl who learns to believe is one of the great child performances in movie history. The scene where she discovers the dream house at the end is pure holiday joy without a drop of cynicism.

Streaming: Disney+ and Hulu typically share streaming rights during the holidays.

4. A Christmas Story (1983)

No movie captures the childhood experience of wanting a specific Christmas gift more accurately than this. Ralphie Parker’s desperate quest for a Red Ryder BB gun, told through a narrator remembering his 1940s childhood, is funny, warm, and painfully relatable for anyone who was ever a kid with a one-track mind.

The leg lamp scene, the tongue-on-the-flagpole sequence, and the Chinese restaurant Christmas dinner have all become iconic holiday moments. TBS runs a 24-hour marathon of this film every Christmas, and that tradition exists because the movie holds up to repeated viewing better than almost anything else on this list.

Streaming: HBO Max typically carries it, plus the TBS marathon on Christmas Day.

5. Klaus (2019)

This Netflix animated film is the newest entry in the Cozy Tier, and it earned its spot immediately. The hand-drawn animation is stunning, the origin story for Santa Claus is clever and emotionally powerful, and J.K. Simmons voices Klaus with a warmth that sneaks up on you.

I put this on one December expecting a pleasant distraction and ended up crying into my tea. The friendship between the lazy postman Jesper and the reclusive toymaker Klaus builds slowly and pays off beautifully. Reddit users consistently mention Klaus as a modern animated gem that deserves more attention.

Streaming: Netflix exclusive.

6. The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992)

Michael Caine plays Ebenezer Scrooge completely straight while surrounded by Muppets, and somehow that combination produces the best adaptation of Dickens’ story ever filmed. Caine reportedly acted as if he were in a Royal Shakespeare Company production, ignoring the puppets entirely, and that commitment is what makes the film work.

The musical numbers are genuinely great. “It Feels Like Christmas” is a song I have caught myself humming in July. Gonzo as Charles Dickens narrating alongside Rizzo the Rat is comedic genius that works for kids and adults simultaneously.

Streaming: Disney+ year-round.

7. Arthur Christmas (2011)

This Aardman production answers the question of how Santa delivers all those presents in one night with a high-tech military operation run by Santa’s eldest son. When one child’s present gets left behind, the bumbling younger son Arthur sets out to deliver it before sunrise.

The film is fast, funny, and surprisingly touching in its final act. Reddit’s movie communities consistently recommend Arthur Christmas as an underrated gem that families overlook. The voice cast, including James McAvoy, Hugh Laurie, and Bill Nighy, is superb across the board.

Streaming: Amazon Prime Video and Netflix during the holiday season.

The Comfort Zone: Reliable Modern Favorites

The Comfort Zone is where you find the movies most people actually watch during the holidays. These are not necessarily art house masterpieces, but they are films that deliver exactly what they promise. You know what you are getting, and you enjoy getting it. Most of these movies spark at least some debate, which is part of their charm.

8. Home Alone (1990)

Eight-year-old Kevin McCallister is accidentally left behind when his family flies to Paris for Christmas, and he must defend his house from two bumbling burglars. The premise is ridiculous, the booby traps are cartoonishly violent, and none of that matters because the movie is genuinely funny.

Macaulay Culkin’s performance carries the entire film. His reactions to being alone, his joy at eating junk food for dinner, and his slow realization that he actually misses his family are all surprisingly grounded for a kids’ movie. The John Williams score elevates every scene, especially the church sequence near the end.

Streaming: Disney+ typically, sometimes Netflix during the holidays.

9. National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation (1989)

Chevy Chase as Clark Griswold trying to create the perfect family Christmas while everything goes wrong is essentially the live-action version of every holiday stress you have ever felt. The lighting of the house with 25,000 imported Italian twinkle lights is a sequence that has achieved legendary status.

Randy Quaid as Cousin Eddie steals every scene he is in. The scene where Clark finally snaps after learning his Christmas bonus is a membership to a jelly-of-the-month club is cathartic for anyone who has ever been disappointed during the holidays. Reddit consistently ranks this as peak Christmas comedy.

Streaming: Hulu and Amazon Prime Video during the holiday season.

10. Elf (2003)

Will Ferrell plays Buddy, a human raised by elves at the North Pole who travels to New York City to find his biological father. The movie is a showcase for Ferrell’s particular brand of earnest physical comedy, and it has become a holiday staple for millennials who grew up watching it.

Here is where I need to address the elephant in the room. Forum discussions reveal that Elf genuinely divides people. A significant portion of viewers find Ferrell’s performance grating rather than endearing. I personally love the film, but I have friends who cannot sit through it. That debate is part of what makes it a Comfort Zone entry rather than a Cozy Tier lock.

Streaming: Hulu and Amazon Prime Video during the holidays.

11. Die Hard (1988)

Yes, Die Hard is a Christmas movie. NYPD detective John McClane attends his wife’s office holiday party at Nakatomi Plaza on Christmas Eve, and terrorists take over the building. The film takes place entirely during a Christmas party, features holiday music throughout, and ends with the hero reuniting with his wife in a season about family.

Bruce Willis redefined action cinema with this role, and Alan Rickman’s Hans Gruber remains one of the great movie villains. Reddit users consistently and emphatically cite Die Hard as a legitimate Christmas movie, and they are correct. It is the perfect film for people who want holiday atmosphere without holiday sentimentality.

Streaming: Hulu and Amazon Prime Video during the holiday season.

12. Love Actually (2003)

This ensemble romantic comedy follows eight interconnected love stories during the weeks before Christmas in London. The cast is stacked with British talent, and several individual storylines are genuinely moving. The Prime Minister falling for his staff member, the widower helping his stepson win over a classmate, and the aging rock star recording a terrible Christmas song are all memorable arcs.

However, Love Actually has become increasingly controversial over the years. Forum discussions reveal growing criticism of certain storylines, particularly the office worker who pursues a married woman and the dynamics of several romantic pursuits that have not aged well. Some viewers now find the film unbearable for these reasons. I place it in the Comfort Zone because the best moments still work, but I understand the pushback.

Streaming: Netflix and Amazon Prime Video during the holiday season.

13. The Holiday (2006)

Kate Winslet and Cameron Diaz swap homes for Christmas, with Winslet’s character traveling to a sunny Los Angeles mansion and Diaz’s character landing in a cozy English cottage. Jude Law and Jack Black round out the romantic leads, and the film delivers exactly what you expect: beautiful houses, charming love stories, and a score by Hans Zimmer that telegraphs every emotion.

This is the definition of a comfort watch. It is not trying to be high art, and that is precisely its appeal. Many Reddit users cite The Holiday as their favorite guilty pleasure, the movie they put on while wrapping presents with a glass of wine.

Streaming: Netflix and Hulu during the holiday season.

The Borderline: Fun But Flawed

The Borderline tier is where movies start showing real cracks. Each of these films has something worth watching, whether it is a great performance, a clever concept, or a few genuinely funny scenes. But they also have problems that keep them out of the higher tiers. These are the movies you watch with managed expectations.

14. The Polar Express (2004)

Robert Zemeckis directed this motion-capture animated film about a boy who rides a magical train to the North Pole. The technology was groundbreaking in 2004, and the hot chocolate musical sequence remains a visual stunner. Tom Hanks voices six different characters, which is impressive.

The problem is the uncanny valley effect. The characters’ eyes look empty and unsettling to many viewers, which undercuts the cozy feeling the film is trying to create. The film has its defenders, but the character animation has not aged gracefully. Kids often love it, while adults find it vaguely creepy.

Streaming: Hulu and Amazon Prime Video during the holidays.

15. The Christmas Chronicles (2018)

Kurt Russell plays a cool, leather-jacket-wearing Santa in this Netflix original about two kids who accidentally stow away on his sleigh. Russell is clearly having a great time in the role, and his original song “Santa Is Real” in the jail cell is a genuine highlight.

The CGI effects are inconsistent, and the plot falls apart in the third act. But Russell’s charisma carries the film further than it deserves to go. The sequel, with Goldie Hawn joining as Mrs. Claus, is a step down. Reddit users generally recommend the first film as a decent modern option with one major caveat: it is a Netflix original, which means its long-term availability is never guaranteed.

Streaming: Netflix exclusive.

16. Four Christmases (2008)

Reese Witherspoon and Vince Vaughn play a couple forced to visit all four of their divorced parents on Christmas Day. The premise is relatable, and the supporting cast, including Robert Duvall, Sissy Spacek, Jon Voight, and Mary Steenburgen, is exceptional.

The execution is uneven. Some scenes are very funny, while others feel strained and mean-spirited. The relationship dynamics between the couple shift abruptly to serve the plot. It is a watchable film that never quite lives up to its potential or its cast.

Streaming: Hulu and Amazon Prime Video.

17. Jingle All the Way (1996)

Arnold Schwarzenegger plays a workaholic father who forgets to buy the season’s hottest toy for his son, then spends Christmas Eve racing rival shopper Sinbad to find one. The premise is a perfect satire of holiday consumerism, and the film has developed a cult following for its sheer absurdity.

The tonal shifts are wild. The film goes from family comedy to action movie to fever dream within 90 minutes. Phil Hartman as the smug neighbor Ted is the funniest part of the entire film. Jingle All the Way is not a good movie, but it is an entertaining one, and that puts it firmly in the Borderline tier.

Streaming: Disney+ and Amazon Prime Video.

18. Bad Santa (2003)

Billy Bob Thornton plays a conman who poses as a mall Santa to rob department stores on Christmas Eve. This is the darkest comedy on this list by a wide margin. It is profane, crude, and deliberately offensive in ways that will alienate many viewers.

And yet, beneath all the crude humor, there is a genuine story about a terrible person slowly learning to care about something other than himself. The relationship between Thornton’s character and a lonely kid at the mall is surprisingly touching. Bad Santa is a film that earns its emotional payoff by making you sit through some genuinely shocking comedy first. Reddit users frequently mention it as their favorite “bad” Christmas movie.

Streaming: Hulu and Amazon Prime Video.

19. Fred Claus (2007)

Vince Vaughn plays Santa’s bitter, underachieving older brother who is forced to work at the North Pole to pay off gambling debts. The premise is solid, and Paul Giamatti as Santa is casting perfection. The sibling rivalry dynamic has real emotional resonance.

The film is about 20 minutes too long and loses momentum in its second half. But the opening act and the final confrontation between the brothers are strong enough to make it worth watching once. This is a movie that had the potential to be a Comfort Zone classic but settles for Borderline status.

Streaming: Hulu and Amazon Prime Video.

The Acquired Taste: So-Bad-It’s-Good Territory

We have now crossed into the territory where movies stop being conventionally good and start being entertaining for entirely different reasons. These films are not well-made, but they have a strange charm that makes them watchable, especially with friends and alcoholic beverages. This is the so-bad-it’s-good zone, where bad acting and absurd plots become features rather than bugs.

20. Jack Frost (1998)

Michael Keaton plays a musician who dies in a car crash and comes back to life as a snowman to spend time with his son. I am not making that up. The snowman animatronic is genuinely unsettling to look at, and the emotional scenes between a child and a talking snowman are unintentionally hilarious.

And yet, there is something weirdly endearing about this movie. Keaton commits fully to the role despite the absurd circumstances. The film has developed a loyal following of people who watch it every year specifically because it is ridiculous. It is a perfect group viewing experience.

Streaming: Hulu and Amazon Prime Video during the holidays.

21. Christmas with the Kranks (2004)

Tim Allen and Jamie Lee Curtis play a couple who decide to skip Christmas entirely and go on a cruise instead, which sends their suburban neighbors into a collective meltdown. The premise is promising as a satire of holiday conformity, but the film sides with the neighbors instead of the Kranks, undermining its own premise.

The escalation of the neighbor conflict is absurd enough to be funny. The subplot about the Kranks’ daughter returning from Peru for Christmas is manipulative and predictable. Dan Aykroyd has a supporting role that adds some energy. This is a movie you watch for the spectacle of Tim Allen fighting his neighborhood.

Streaming: Hulu and Netflix during the holiday season.

22. Surviving Christmas (2004)

Ben Affleck plays a wealthy man who pays a family to let him spend Christmas in his childhood home, which they now own. The premise is creepy, the execution is uneven, and Affleck’s performance has the energy of a man who knows he is in a bad movie but is collecting a paycheck.

Christina Applegate tries her best to elevate the material. James Gandolfini plays the father, and his presence alone makes several scenes watchable. This film was a notorious box office bomb, which has given it a second life as a film people watch to marvel at its existence. It belongs in the Acquired Taste tier because it is fascinatingly bad rather than boringly bad.

Streaming: Amazon Prime Video.

23. I’ll Be Home for Christmas (1998)

Jonathan Taylor Thomas plays a college student trying to get home for Christmas to win a Porsche from his father, dressed in a Santa suit glued to his body by bullies. This is a late-1990s Disney vehicle that has aged in strange and amusing ways. Jessica Biel co-stars, and both of them are doing their best with material that is deeply silly.

The film is harmless, lightweight, and very much a product of its era. Watching it in 2026 is a nostalgia trip for anyone who was a kid in the late 90s. The plot makes almost no sense, but Jonathan Taylor Thomas’s commitment to the bit keeps things moving.

Streaming: Disney+.

The Unbearable: Proceed With Extreme Caution

We have arrived at the bottom of the spectrum. These are films that fail on almost every level, from writing to acting to basic entertainment value. Some are insulting, some are boring, and some are actively unpleasant to sit through. I watched all of them so you do not have to, but if you are the kind of person who enjoys suffering through terrible movies for sport, this is your section.

24. Saving Christmas (2014)

Kirk Cameron made this film to defend the religious and cultural significance of Christmas against secular influence, and it currently holds a 0% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. That is not a typo. Zero percent of professional critics found anything positive to say about it. The film is essentially Cameron lecturing a family member about the “true meaning” of Christmas for 80 minutes while dramatic music plays.

It won the Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Picture, Worst Actor, Worst Screenplay, and Worst Screen Combo. Saving Christmas is not just bad, it is aggressively bad in a way that makes you feel like you are being scolded rather than entertained. Forum discussions cite this as the least liked Christmas movie ever made by a significant margin.

Streaming: Available for digital rental on most platforms, though I cannot imagine why you would.

25. Home Alone 3 (1997)

This sequel has no connection to the original films. No Kevin McCallister, no Wet Bandits, no John Hughes script, and no Chris Columbus direction. Instead, we get a new kid defending his house from international spies using a remote-control car and a parrot. The spies are chasing a microchip hidden in a toy car, and the plot is as tedious as it sounds.

A 2025 survey of holiday movie fans identified Home Alone 3 as the most hated Christmas movie of all time. The booby traps lack the creativity of the originals, the kid is not particularly charismatic, and the villains are generic action-movie villains rather than the iconic Harry and Marv. Skip this one and rewatch the original instead.

Streaming: Disney+.

26. Bad Santa 2 (2016)

The original Bad Santa worked because Billy Bob Thornton’s character had a redemption arc hidden beneath all the crude humor. The sequel strips away the redemption and replaces it with meaner, uglier versions of the same jokes. Kathy Bates joins the cast as Thornton’s mother, and the relationship between them is deeply unpleasant to watch.

The film is darker, crueler, and far less funny than the original. Every character has become worse. The heist plot makes less sense. The one moment of genuine emotion feels forced rather than earned. Bad Santa 2 is a textbook example of a sequel that exists for financial reasons rather than creative ones.

Streaming: Hulu and Amazon Prime Video.

27. Red One (2024)

Dwayne Johnson and Chris Evans star in this massively budgeted action-comedy about Santa Claus being kidnapped, and it is a perfect example of what happens when you throw hundreds of millions of dollars at a script that needed another ten drafts. The film looks expensive but feels hollow, with every scene designed by committee to hit demographics rather than tell a coherent story.

J.K. Simmons appears as a ripped, action-hero Santa, which is casting that works on paper but feels wrong in execution. The world-building is nonsensical. The action sequences are competently staged but emotionally empty. Red One ended up on multiple worst-of lists and was a major box office disappointment. It is not the worst film on this list, but it might be the most expensive bad movie ever made.

Streaming: Amazon Prime Video.

28. The Star Wars Holiday Special (1978)

This is the gold standard of unbearable holiday content. The Star Wars Holiday Special aired once on CBS in 1978 and was never officially released again because George Lucas reportedly wanted every copy destroyed. It features the original cast in a rambling, incoherent special about Chewbacca’s family celebrating Life Day on Kashyyyk.

The special includes a ten-minute segment entirely in the Wookiee language with no subtitles, a bizarre musical number from Bea Arthur, and an animated segment that introduced Boba Fett to the world. That animated short is the only element fans consider worthwhile. The rest is a legendary trainwreck that has to be seen to be believed, and even then, you might not believe it.

Streaming: Not officially available anywhere. Bootleg copies circulate online, which is the only way anyone has seen it since 1978.

29. Jack Frost (1997)

Not to be confused with the Michael Keaton film from the following year, this is a horror movie about a serial killer whose genetic material fuses with snow, turning him into a mutant snowman. The practical effects are grotesque in the worst possible way, and the kill scenes are played for laughs that do not land.

Shannon Elizabeth appears in one of her earliest roles, and her death scene is so tasteless that it has become infamous. The film tries to be a self-aware horror comedy but lacks the wit or budget to pull it off. Jack Frost is the kind of movie you put on at a party as a joke and then realize nobody is laughing.

Streaming: Available on various free ad-supported platforms, if you dare.

The Hallmark Section: A Category of Its Own

The Hallmark Channel releases approximately 40 new Christmas movies every year, and they all follow essentially the same formula. A busy career woman in a major city returns to her small hometown for the holidays, meets a handsome local man with strong values, rediscovers the true meaning of Christmas, and falls in love. The end.

I am not exaggerating about the formula. The protagonist is always a workaholic in marketing, publishing, or event planning. The love interest is always a contractor, teacher, or small business owner. There is always a meddling older relative, a tree-lighting ceremony, and a misunderstanding that resolves itself in the final fifteen minutes. The production budget is minimal, the acting ranges from competent to wooden, and the scripts are generated with the efficiency of an assembly line.

Reddit users are brutal about Hallmark movies. The general consensus in movie forums is that they are unbearable, formulaic, and aggressively generic. The same sets are reused across dozens of films. The same actors appear in multiple movies playing different characters. The continuity errors are legendary among dedicated viewers who watch them ironically.

And yet, Hallmark movies serve a purpose. They are background entertainment. They are visual comfort food that requires zero emotional investment. Many viewers watch them while doing other things, treating them more as ambient holiday atmosphere than as films to actively engage with. Netflix has moved into the same space with its own original holiday romances, which are essentially Hallmark movies with slightly higher production values and occasionally more diverse casting.

If you want to watch one Hallmark movie to understand the phenomenon, any of them will do. They are all the same movie. Pick one based on whichever title makes you laugh hardest. That is as good a selection criterion as any.

Streaming: Hallmark Channel, Netflix, and Lifetime during the holiday season.

What Makes a Holiday Movie Cozy vs. Unbearable?

After watching and ranking all of these films, certain patterns emerge about what separates the cozy from the unbearable.

Cozy movies earn their emotion. It’s a Wonderful Life spends two hours making you care about George Bailey before it asks you to feel something. Klaus builds its relationships slowly. The Muppet Christmas Carol grounds every emotional beat in Michael Caine’s sincere performance. When a cozy film makes you cry, it has done the work to deserve those tears.

Cozy movies have genuine atmosphere. The snow-covered Vermont inn in White Christmas, the 1940s suburban neighborhood in A Christmas Story, the small Norwegian town in Klaus, these settings feel like places you want to visit. The production design creates a world that looks warm even when the characters are struggling.

Unbearable movies skip the work and demand the emotion. Saving Christmas tells you what to feel without earning it. Hallmark movies manufacture sentiment through formula rather than story. Red One substitutes budget for heart. These films want the payoff without putting in the setup.

Unbearable movies waste their potential. Bad Santa 2 had a genuinely good predecessor and a talented cast. Red One had Dwayne Johnson, Chris Evans, and J.K. Simmons. Surviving Christmas had Ben Affleck and James Gandolfini. These films had the resources to be good and chose to be lazy instead.

The Borderline movies are the most interesting. Films like Elf and Love Actually sit right on the edge between comfort and irritation depending on the viewer. These movies reveal something about personal taste. Where you rank them says a lot about what you value in holiday entertainment, and that makes them the most fun to argue about.

FAQs

Conclusion: Finding Your Tier on the Holiday Movie Spectrum

The beauty of having holiday movies ranked from cozy to completely unbearable is that there is no wrong place to land on this spectrum. Some people want It’s a Wonderful Life every December without exception. Others live for the annual tradition of watching terrible movies with friends and making fun of every scene. Both experiences are valid, and both are part of what makes holiday movie season special.

My advice is to sample across the tiers. Start with a Cozy Tier classic to remind yourself what good holiday filmmaking feels like. Then work your way down through the Comfort Zone and Borderline tiers for variety. Save the Unbearable tier for a group setting where everyone can laugh together at the disasters. And if you decide to watch a Hallmark movie, do it with low expectations and hot cocoa. That is how they are meant to be consumed.