Meanwhile, the McNutts, the Forrests and Mrs. Mulji, Nisha's mother, plan to have Bernadette watch the kids as they attend a wedding the following day.

The Beccles are forced to retrieve the turkeys from Farmer Yirrell who kills them before selling them as the butcher could not get a shipment in due to an blizzard.

After noticing the lighthouse, the trio enlists Bill to find something in the snow and keep the light on it, seeing that Bernadette is close to the object.

Bernadette sees the object and, realizing that it's Evie's favorite toy, follows the footprints to the water where she falls on her knees and sobs at the thought of her sister drowning as Danny, Sam and Charlie arrive to comfort her.

On Boxing Day, Lighthouse Bill goes to the beach to swim in the cold ocean with half the town including Danny, Sam, Charlie, Bernadette, Evie, Nisha, Teddy, Scarlett, the McNees, Mrs. Mulji, the Forrests, Mrs. Trapper and Mrs. Williams all arriving to enjoy themselves.

[14][15] On 20 March 2024, Brian Cox, Fiona Shaw, Jodie Whittaker and Bill Nighy were announced to star in the film.

[16] In August 2024, it was announced that English singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran would write and contribute a song for the film, titled "Under the Tree".

[20] That Christmas also features other songs that are also not featured on its soundtrack, including "Boom Shack-A-Lak" by Apache Indian, "Underneath the Tree" by Kelly Clarkson, "Snowflakes" by Emmy the Great and Tim Wheeler and "Christmas Lights" by Coldplay as well as renditions of The Spice Girls' "Wannabe", Stevie Wonder's "Happy Birthday", Dua Lipa's "Levitating", Madonna's "Papa Don't Preach", J. Fred Coots and Haven Gillespie's "Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town", Franz Xaver Gruber's "Silent Night" and Giacomo Puccini's "Nessun dorma".

The website's consensus reads: "More of a stocking stuffer than a proper gift from Santa, That Christmas is an amiable enough addition to the holiday canon.

Helen O'Hara of Empire gave the film three out of five stars and wrote: "The stories are all individually charming, but overly familiar animation and underwhelming character-design blunt the effect."

Club gave the film a grade "D", calling it "schmaltz-heavy and wishlist-thin" and saying that "That Christmas offers very little and doesn't even have the self-awareness to include the receipt."

Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian gave the film two out of five stars and said "It's all more or less sufferable, and it may well keep young children quiet at Christmas... but we surely needed a higher joke content.

"[2] Ed Potton of The Times gave the film two out of five stars and said "That Christmas is like a neutered Motherland, or Pixar but lobotomised and dressed by Boden."

The writing's sentimental and/or smirky longueurs are remedied by the animation itself, whose cosy charm has a distinctly British sensibility – from the architecture to the landscape and even the colour palettes, everything is satisfyingly just right."

Wendy Ide of Screen International wrote: "The film looks terrific... And while the story itself might not hold any surprises, it's big-hearted and generous with its happy endings."

Peter Debruge of Variety wrote: "Adapted from a trio of picture books by "Love Actually" scribe Richard Curtis, the feel-good family film is chock-full of kids second-guessing their worth — and not just in the naughty-or-nice department either."

Lovia Gyarkye of The Hollywood Reporter wrote: "For all its narrative preoccupations, That Christmas rarely feels like it's shortchanging any set of characters or their arcs."

Kate Erbland of IndieWire gave the film a grade "B+" and wrote: "The old chestnuts hold true for this one, the goofy holiday puns: it's a gift well worth unwrapping and sharing with the ones you love most."