Good Morning, Christmas! - I started the month off with a favourite Hallmark movie starring the ever hunky Marc Blucas and the delightful Alison Sweeney. Premise: Man and woman work begrudgingly together as hosts of a morning program. They get to have one last Christmas week together before he leaves and she chooses a new co-host. Spoiler alert: They continue to work side by side, happily ever after.
Mystery on Mistletoe Lane - This is definitely one of my faves from the more recent Hallmark holiday film collection. Victor Webster is a tall drink of water and a dreamboat if ever there was one. Premise: Divorcee with two grade school age children move to a new town where the new job provides housing. A clue is discovered that leads to a scavenger hunt on the property. The kids are eventually helped by their mother, the man who previously held her position, his father, and an older female co-worker. Spoiler alert: Christmas mystery is solved!
A Wish for Christmas - A classic Lacey Chabert holiday flick from 2016. Premise: An overlooked employee doormat whose supervisor uses her ideas as his own gets a wish from Santa: to grow a backbone and be more assertive. She puts her supe in his place and the boss finally takes note. Spoiler alert: The wish expires but she maintains her ability to stand up for herself. Oh, and she and the boss become an item. Naturally.
A Biltmore Christmas - A superb time travel Hallmark fave. Premise: Screenwriter is set with the task of remaking a famous 1940s holiday film. Her boss sends her to the Biltmore (where the original movie was filmed) to stay at the hotel on the grounds and get a feel for the place, inspiring her to remain truthful to the first film. She accidentally tips over an hourglass and is transported back to the filming of His Merry Wife. She meets the lead, they fall in love, and she returns to the present. Spoiler alert: It all works out in the end!
Christmas in Notting Hill - The only reason I wanted to see this was because my wonderful neighbour back home in Dublin plays the part of the footballer's father! (He was also in another Hallmark The Reluctant Royal, where he had a much bigger part.) Premise: An injured footballer meets and falls for his brother's fiancee's sister. Spoiler alert: This is a film to skip. It's not very good.
A Merry Scottish Christmas - Lacey Chabert and Scott Wolf play estranged siblings that travel to Scotland and discover that their mother is actually heir to an estate and is actually a duchess. Something she knew about all their lives but never told them. I never watched Party of Five, but it was still cool to see these two together and it was a good film.
The Christmas Club - Elizabeth Mitchell is always, always good and I loved her in Lost and Gia and Frequency. This show was about two strangers that help a lil' ole lady (whose money flew out of her hand into the wind) by pretending that they were able to locate the bills, when really they just used their own cash. Through moments here and there they come across people who actually did find the money and how they use it to pay it forward. It was cute.
The Christmas Train - Based on the book by David Baldacci, this was great fun and made me wanna ride the rails again - especially at Christmas! It is a super far-fetched storyline that I won't get into, but still, worth a watch, with a solid cast.
The Most Wonderful Time of the Year - Starring Henry Winkler! And Warren Christie, who I think could play Josh Holloway's brother. Something about him reminds me of Sawyer from Lost.
Miss Christmas - A professional Christmas tree locator (who knew this was a career option) gets a letter from a kid that is a dead ringer for Zach when he was little saying that his family had the ideal tree for the Chicago version of Rockefeller Plaza. Brooke D'Orsay, who has the best hair in the universe, is the tree seeker with Marc Blucas as Zach's doppelgänger's father, who is hesitant to give up his family's beloved tree.
Five Star Christmas - Victor Webster. My favourite Hallmark Hunk. That's all I needed to know to watch this. Oh and Bethany Joy Lenz was in it and I do like her as well. The plot was that Bethany's father turned his home into a B&B and gets word that a travel writer is inbound. To make it seem like they have a full house, the entire family bands together and pretends to be fellow guests and staff, desperate for a five star review. Spoiler: They get a five star review.
Signed, Sealed, Delivered for Christmas - This isn't my favourite one of the Signed, Sealed, Delivered movies, as it's a little too heavy handed on the God stuff (yes, yes, I know - it's a Christian show at Christmas...what did I expect!?) but it was still cute and worth watching.
On the 12th Date of Christmas - Two co-workers after the big promotion have to join together and set up a scavenger hunt around Chicago, all clues needing to tie in to the twelve days of Christmas. One of Tyler Hynes best.
Pride, Prejudice, and Mistletoe - Lacey Chabert teams up with Brendan Penny, playing former rivals set to plan out a holiday charity event. Spoiler: everything goes off without a hitch and the two leads fall for each other in the end.
Christmas with Holly - The first time I saw this was in Dublin with Dave back in 2015. Three brothers take on raising their deceased sister's little girl. Weeping will occur.
Three Wise Men and a Baby - Takes the classic 80s flick Three Men and a Baby and sets it at Christmas and with three brothers, rather than friends. The best part of it, for me, is any time you see the neighbour's house with the blowup snowmobile moving in the background. Oh my gosh, I don't know why but it cracks me the hell up.
Christmas in Rome - Lacey Chabert is the Queen of Hallmark and this really was one of her best. Seeing Rome again was a lovely bonus and the storyline was really done well.
Holiday Hearts - Ashley Williams has to plan a holiday party and winds up having to pitch in and help co-care for a friend's daughter while said friend is laid up in the hospital. She and Paul Campbell were good together.
Our Holiday Story - Two Hallmark faves, Warren Christie and Nikki DeLoach, were at the helm of this movie. They play a couple who tells their daughter's boyfriend the story of how they met and fell in love. Really good.
Jingle Bell Run - Ashley Williams and Andrew Walker lead this film about a cross-country competition to win big bucks. It had a few of the annoying Hallmark cliches, but it was entertaining.
Holiday Road - A group of travelers find that their flight to Denver is cancelled and wind up in one big van, taking a road trip together. Warren Christie was in this one and as handsome as ever. The gal constantly recording herself for Tik Tok was so effing irritating except when she put the phone down and acted like a normal person. The other characters were good, and of course, spoiler alert: they all make it to Denver in time for Christmas.
Christmas Waltz - One of my absolute favourite Hallmark films. It is superb with solid performances, great writing, and of course, dancing. It didn't feel like those typical cookie cutter films that get churned out by the dozen every year just to fill air time. This one felt like a lot of effort went in to making this one of the stand outs in the Hallmark movie canon.
Republic of Tea and Hallmark teamed up to make a festive iced tea! the perfect beverage for Hallmark holiday movies!
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