I don't have lots of time, but wanted to respond. There are a couple of threads in the past where people discuss their different approaches to this issue.
First, I would say this is not a rare problem, at least on this board. We opted to avoid movies like this until the kids were comfortable handling their emotions (basically, by that point, they had no interest in watching this type of movie anyway). The only downside we saw was a relative cultural gap- as you mentioned, it seems like every other kid in the world lives and breathes Disney. I the end, it didn't matter. The kids still don't know the plot lines of basic Disney films, but it doesn't hold them back (though it is funny now that their middle school is putting on Disney-themed musicals and our kids are a bit in the dark). If it really mattered, the kids seemed to handle books/written material somewhat better, but we didn't really care and let them take the lead on what was comfortable for them- it's entertainment, after all. I guess the only other issue was when visiting others, or at a party where a group movie was planned; sometimes we left early, sometimes the host/relatives got the message and chose something else to do, but it wasn't a huge deal.
The second problem is finding things they do want to watch, and it seems like you have a handle on this already. We also watched science and non-fiction a lot. The library had tons of good animal videos (we watched a lot of National Geographic, for instance). As far as holiday-themed things, the only two I remember being well-loved in our house at that age are "the Snowman" and "the Bear." Both are animated, gentle, without dialogue, and with lovely music. The kids still remember them fondly. They also watched a movie called "Milo and Otis" often; not holiday-themed or animated, but a gentle animal adventure about a cat and dog.
Both kids are Ok with movies their peers enjoy at this point; DD 13 actually likes scary movies (DS11 not so much, even Men in Black bothers him, but he is a particularly gentle soul; he does read more "violent" stuff without issue though). I think they needed to feel in control of their emotional reactions and when little, their very strong reactions to things were frightening.
