1) “Christmas Day Parade,” 10 a.m. ET (but 5 a.m. PT, ABC. Bouncing through the Disney parks, this gives Christmas a cheery star.t It includes music by Coco Jones, Gwen Stefani, Lady A, Bebe Rexha, Nicole Scherzinger (shown here), Iam Tongi and Mariah the Scientist.
2) Basketball, ABC and ESPN. This is why the parade starts so early on the West Coast. At noon ET (yes, 9 a.m. PT), it’s the Cavs and Knicks. Then it’s Spurs and Thunder at 2:30 p.m., Mavs and Warriors at 5, Rockets and Lakers at 8 and Timberwolves and Nuggets at 10:30.
3) Football. Streaming services have a pro tripleheader. First is Netflix, with the Cowboys and Commanders at 1 p.m. ET and the Lions and Vikings at 4:30 — complete with a Snoop Dogg halftime show. Then Amazon Prime has the Broncos and Chiefs at 8:15.
4) “Call the Midwife” Christmas movie, 8 p.m., PBS. Most years, this offers a feel-good holiday tale. This time, alas, many of the people are on a Hong Kong mission that turns perilous. With absurdly skittish editing, this leaps wildly between continents, before coming to a fairly solid finish.
5) Cartoons: The great “Grinch” is at 8 p.m. on NBC. Earlier, Freeform has “Little Drummer Boy” at 10:30 a.m., “Santa Claus is Comin’ to Town” at 11, “The Toy Story That Time Forgot” at 2 p.m. and “Frosty” and “Rudolph” at 4:30 and 5:05. And it has the parade at noon and “Home Alone” films at 6 and 8:30; also at 8:30, NBC has Jim Carrey’s “Grinch” film.