Lexus is bringing back one of advertising’s most recognizable holiday traditions. The automaker has launched the 2026 edition of “December to Remember,” this year shifting the focus from the gift itself to the people who make the holidays feel magical.
The new campaign introduces two spots, “Child’s Eyes” and “Snowball,” both built around the idea that creating holiday memories for children can reconnect adults with some of the wonder they thought they had outgrown.
“There’s something special about seeing the season through the eyes of a child,” said Cynthia Tenhouse, vice president of Lexus marketing. “The excitement, the wonder and the belief that anything is possible.”
She added that the campaign is meant to celebrate the way adults rediscover some of that feeling while making the season memorable for others.
Seeing the holidays differently
The hero film, “Child’s Eyes,” follows what appears to be a young girl moving independently through a holiday-decorated city.
She carries shopping bags, stops to admire a handbag in a storefront, visits a cafe, shops for groceries and helps secure a Christmas tree to the roof of a Lexus GX.
Later, she watches children opening presents at home.
Then comes the reveal.
The “girl” is actually an adult woman — a mother experiencing the rituals of the season through a younger version of herself.
Set to Willie Nelson’s “Young at Heart,” the spot uses the transformation to underline the campaign’s central idea: holiday wonder doesn’t necessarily disappear with age.
It just needs an excuse to come back. Watch below:
‘Snowball’ takes the idea outside
The companion film, “Snowball,” pushes the same conceit in a more playful direction.
A young girl joins two children in a snowball fight outside a home, with a Lexus GX parked nearby.
As the three embrace, the visual shifts and reveals that the girl is actually the children’s mother, caught up in the same uninhibited joy they are.
The two films turn what could have been another luxury holiday campaign into something more emotional and less product-forward.
The Lexus is there.
But the real product being sold is memory.
A holiday platform with staying power
Lexus is also bringing back two spots from last year, “Overnight Lexus” and “Over the Years,” giving the campaign a mix of new storytelling and familiar material.
The new work launches across cable, sports programming and Connected TV, including ESPN College Football, Amazon Thursday Night Football and NBA coverage.
Additional media will run across cinema and digital streaming platforms including Amazon Prime, Hulu, HBO Max and Netflix. The campaign supports the Lexus December Sales Event, which runs through January 4, 2027.
“December to Remember” has been around long enough to become part of the holiday advertising calendar itself. This year’s version understands that familiarity can be an advantage — as long as you give people a new way to feel it.
Because the best holiday traditions aren’t really about repeating the same thing. They’re about finding a reason to feel it again.
CREDITS:
BRAND: Lexus
AGENCY: Team One
