Get a hanky handy as feel-good specials anticipate the big holiday.

• Celebrities and just plain folks extol the joys and virtues of adoption on the 10th annual “A Home for the Holidays” (7 p.m., CBS) special, featuring performances by Faith Hill, Tim McGraw, Melissa Etheridge, Jamie Foxx and Gavin Rossdale.

• Performers who gave up their childhood dreams get a second chance on the talent showcase “Rediscovered” (8 p.m., ABC) hosted by Donny and Marie Osmond.

• Hosted by Australian TV personality Rove McManus, “The List” (9 p.m. ABC) glances back at the biggest, the best and most talked-about of 2008 as well as anticipating the trends and fads to look out for in 2009. Internet gossip Perez Hilton also names those celebrities who top his naughty and nice lists.

• Call me old fashioned, but these best-of lists generally come after Christmas and anticipate the new year. What else are we supposed to think about during that long, slow week between the holidays? For four years now, Kevin Nealon has hosted “Funniest Commercials of the Year” (9 p.m., TBS) during that programming dead zone. But this year, TBS has accelerated the schedule, and the advertising roundup airs tonight.

• “REAL Sports with Bryant Gumbel” (9 p.m., HBO) offers another retrospective, a glance back at the stories and trends that defined sports in 2008.

• Impersonator Frank Caliendo gets his own holiday special, “Frank the Halls” (10 p.m., TBS), featuring his impressions of “Transformers” characters, Donald Trump, William Shatner, Jack Nicholson, Barry Katz, Obi Wan Kenobi, Yoda, Mace Windu and Chris Rock.

• “Independent Lens” (9 p.m., PBS, check local listings) has always championed the documentary. But tonight’s installment, “Grey Gardens: From East Hampton to Broadway,” looks at how a 1975 film about the eccentric and reclusive aunt and cousin of Jackie Onassis became a cult phenomenon that influenced film and fashion and was adapted to become a hit Broadway musical.

Tonight’s holiday highlights

• Bing Crosby, Danny Kaye, Vera-Ellen, Rosemary Clooney and the music of Irving Berlin star in the 1954 musical “White Christmas” (5 p.m. and 8 p.m., Family).

• A mean green miser learns a lesson or two from a little girl named Who in the animated favorite “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” (7 p.m., ABC), narrated by Boris Karloff.

• Drew Barrymore stars in the 1986 adaptation of the 1903 operetta “Babes in Toyland” (7 p.m., MyNetwork).

• Some consider George C. Scott’s take on Ebenezer Scrooge in the 1984 made-for-TV adaptation of “A Christmas Carol” (9:30 p.m., AMC) to be the screen’s best. I’m still a fan of Alistair Sim’s take from the 1951 British film version, the one that doesn’t get broadcast anymore. Reginald Owen stars in the 1938 “Christmas Carol” (5:15 a.m., early Wednesday), too. Look for a very young June Lockhart (“Lassie”) as one of the Cratchit children.

Tonight’s other highlights

• “Nova” (7 p.m., PBS, check local listings) looks at the race to reach absolute zero, the coldest possible temperature.

• A mother’s secret may be fatal on “House” (7 p.m., Fox).

• A man’s energy field projects a toxic shock on “Fringe” (8 p.m., Fox)

• A murdered banker is discovered in a safe on “The Mentalist” (9 p.m., CBS).