'Tis the season: The best Christmas specials to binge these holidays

December 25 is just one week away, and what better way to get into the holiday spirit than a solid Christmas TV binge?

Sure, you could watch some cookie-cutter Christmas movie with no-name actors, or… celebrate the silly season with your favourite characters from iconic shows you know and love.

Bust out that box of choccies you got at the office party and settle in for a streaming smorgasbord of festive choices from iconic shows such as Grey's Anatomy, Family Guy and Friends.

Yep, we've rounded up the best Christmas-themed TV episodes on Stan, so you can tune in and zone out with familiar and endearing characters, guaranteed LOLs and solid storylines...

Grey's Anatomy – Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer

Anxiety attacks, aneurysms and ulcers… it's just another standard December for Dr Meredith Grey (Ellen Pompeo) and her colleagues at Seattle Grace hospital.

Hilariously named after a novelty '70s Christmas song by husband-and-wife duo Elmo and Patsy Trigg Shropshire, this Season 2 episode sees the gang tackle multiple Christmas-related illnesses and injuries.

We also get to see the "holidays" through the eyes of busy doctors, exemplified by this brilliant, Grinch-worthy monologue from Patrick Dempsey's Dr Derek 'McDreamy' Shepherd:

"Folks fall off their roofs when they string up lights, or they go skating for the first time in a decade and break their heads open. Every year, people drive through blizzards to get to parties where they kiss germ-infected strangers under poisonous mistletoe. Then they get so drunk that they smash their heads through their windshield on the way home."

Well said, McDreamy.

How I Met Your Mother – How Lily Stole Christmas

For almost a decade, loyal viewers followed the saga of Ted Mosby (Josh Radnor) and his eclectic group of friends in New York City as they played out the events leading to Ted eventually meeting the future mother of his children.

While the Season 2 Christmas episode gets us no closer to uncovering the mystery of the mother, it does unleash a fierce dose of drama upon the group when Lily (Alyson Hannigan) loses her Christmas spirit after finding out Ted had badmouthed her in an old answering machine message to Marshall (Jason Segel). Uh-oh.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer – Amends

Buffy Summers (Sarah Michelle Gellar) was undoubtedly the coolest teen star of the '90s.

A "regular" high school girl by day, she spent her evenings patrolling the ironically named town of Sunnydale, fighting vampires, demons and other supernatural forces. Badass.

In Season 3's Christmas ep, her reformed vamp boyfriend Angel (David Boreanaz) is being haunted by the ghosts of victims from his many decades spent as a blood-thirsty evil creature.

It's a clear play on the Ghost of Christmas Past from Charles Dickens' iconic novella A Christmas Carol, and we're so here for it.

We also get to hear Boreanaz flex his best Irish accent in a flashback scene to his life as the evil vampire Angelus in 1930s Dublin.

Family Guy – A Very Special Family Guy Freakin' Christmas

For guaranteed laughs and extreme festive frivolity, look no further than Family Guy.

Created and voiced by the multi-talented Seth MacFarlane, the hilarious series pretty much created its own genre of dark, clever satire and completely wacky but brilliant plotlines.

In this Season 3 Christmas episode, the show does not hold back, with mishaps aplenty including Lois (Alex Borstein) going ballistic after losing her Christmas cheer and Peter (MacFarlane) not being able to watch the KISS Christmas special.

Friends – The One With The Holiday Armadillo

With 10 seasons and over 200 episodes, the cult TV show has plenty to choose from, but if you're looking for the jolliest Christmas episode, this Season 7 treat will have you in stitches.

In perhaps the best Friends episode of all time, Ross (David Schwimmer) tries to teach his son Ben (Cole and Dylan Sprouse) about Chanuka and somehow Santa, an armadillo and Superman all end up in the same room — iconic!

*Presented by Stan