🎄2024 CHRISTMAS MOVIE REVIEWS🎄 For Great American Family, Hallmark Channel, Hallmark Mystery, UPtv, Lifetime, Streaming And More From The *It's a Wonderful Movie* Family! 🎅 SEE HERE:

Welcome, Friends...

to the 2024

Christmas Movie Review Page!

Here we go! This is our 5th Year sharing Christmas Movie Reviews at *It's a Wonderful Movie* together!

If you’ve been here EVERY YEAR, Thank You! And if this is your first year, Welcome!

I will be updating THIS PAGE with Movie Reviews on almost every NEW CHRISTMAS MOVIE from *It's a Wonderful Movie* followers throughout the Christmas season.

Be sure to bookmark this page by adding it to your favorites and return here for updates.

As I've shared with you all in the past, my personal reviews come from a Christian viewpoint, and I genuinely appreciate those who share these same moral standards and traditional values.

Since there are so many NEW Christmas movies, this will surely help us all choose which movies to watch and which ones to skip! Hopefully, this will make our viewing experience this Christmas much easier.

Thank you to those of you who have already contributed a review! If you haven't shared one yet but would like to, please see basic details on how to do so at the end of this post. Whether you share a little or a lot, it is all appreciated!

Once you share a review here, you instantly become a valued member of this *It's a Wonderful Movie* family! May God bless you all!

I hope you enjoy the movie reviews below...


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* 2024 CHRISTMAS *

MOVIE REVIEWS

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*Christmas movies are listed in order by their premiere date below - underneath each individual network.


🌟GREAT AMERICAN FAMILY:


Christmas Wreaths and Ribbons- October 12, 2024

🎄 I watched Christmas Wreaths and Ribbons on GAF and absolutely loved it! I loved the storyline, and loved the whole helping your neighbor and providing a service around the holidays! Casey and Kristen had such sweet chemistry and I loved their families as well! 100% recommend watching this one! ~Sarah

🎄 I watched the Christmas Wreaths and Ribbons movie and while it was fine it was a bit too sweet at the end ~Anonymous

🎄 Christmas Wreaths and Ribbons is another winner from Candlelight Media! (plus its the 3rd time a movie from them has opened the Christmas Season!). –Maria

🎄 Christmas Wreaths and Ribbons was so sweet, a great way to start the season. Is it just me or did Casey look even younger than years passed? ~Allie B

🎄 Casey Elliott has become a new favorite for us on Great American Family. It was nice to see him play a different character than the Destined series, but we liked that he still played the nice guy. I would recommend this movie. -Robert

🎄 Christmas Wreaths & Ribbons was so cute! I have loved Casey Elliott on GAF and I’m glad I gave it a chance because it was kind of strange seeing him without Shay. The storyline wasn’t the most interesting, like there really wasn’t a plot or climax to me, but nonetheless the actors were good, the decorations throughout the movie were beautiful to see and I loved the pastor and his positive spirit. I don’t know if I have ever seen a Candlelight Media movie but it was a keeper for me! ~Paul

🎄 Christmas Wreaths and Ribbons was, well, just okay for me. Nothing really new or intriguing about the plot. I thought Casey did a fine job in his role, but I didn't care for Kristin's character (too off-putting), and I didn't think her acting was all that good. Not a movie that I will be revisiting. –Mark 25

🎄 Hi Mark25, I was beginning to think it was just me because everyone seemed to enjoy "Christmas Wreaths and Ribbons". But, I see you felt the same way my husband and I did about this movie. We honestly, did not care for Kristin's character either. We agree she wasn't that good of an actress. Casey, however, was excellent as always but I think he pairs much better with Shae. We will not be revisiting the movie either. ~Joan

🎄 Christmas Wreaths and Ribbons – What a sweet movie to begin Great American Christmas 2024! This movie is perfectly wholesome, ideal for family viewing. Kristin Wollett and Casey Elliott’s characters, Rebecca and Jason, had just the right chemistry – a little friction and a little spark.

Overall, this is a charming, subtle love story. I liked the inclusion of various nativity sets, which highlighted the true reason for Christmas, and it was also nice to see the characters attend church with family and friends and give back to those in their community.

The way Jason gave of his time and talents to help his neighbor when she was in need was truly inspiring. His thoughtfulness and kindness was a true example of loving one’s neighbor as thyself. (Leviticus 19:18)

This movie is a pleasant, lighthearted watch; I look forward to catching it throughout the Christmas season on Great American Family. ~Net

🎄 Christmas Wreaths & Ribbons - just watched last night, very cute movie! As someone who likes to do Christmas crafts, I liked seeing the wreath store and wreath making process. Christie

🎄 I tried watching the Christmas Wreaths and Ribbons movie from last week and it was a dud. A bore. I wished so much more for it. It was an entire movie of a girl hurting her arm and not wanting help and I kept waiting for maybe the guy and his family business something to happen and maybe he came to work with her full time, but it was just slow, and boring. She was very mean. And how on earth does a store like hers stay open after Christmas? She said it is busy thru Jan. I do not see it. ~Sabrina

🎄 Christmas Wreaths and Ribbons. Slow, dull, uninspired. Delete halfway. Nice, sweet message about caring for your neighbor, but my already-blah mood just couldn’t handle any more of this movie. Casey was good but I couldn’t quite understand how his character would completely just drop everything and abandon his own business to spend all his busy holiday time becoming a florist for his prickly neighbor (there just didn’t seem to be a realistic balance between his life and Christmas bakery responsibilities and helping her all the time -- surely, they could’ve found a student to help out part time at low pay)?? And, for me, Kristin’s character was just a cross between annoying and lackluster. I needed more chemistry or liveliness or humor or something to keep me from snoozing. The wreaths and Christmas decorations were pretty and not the usual “GAF-over-the-top”, so that was nice. Agree with Mark 25, Joan and Sabrina on this one. ~~Jane

🎄 Christmas Wreaths and Ribbons - This is one of the greatest Christmas Movies. I enjoy watching the movie several times a week. Jason and Rebecca are perfect for this movie. ~Anonymous


A Vintage Christmas - October 19, 2024

🎄 A Vintage Christmas is incredible! –Maria

🎄 Watched "A Vintage Christmas" and just LOVED it! Merritt and Christopher were just wonderful together, and I loved their Coworkers/friends. I also loved the townspeople. Just thought it was a great storyline, and highly recommend watching it! ~Sarah

🎄 Review: A Vintage Christmas -
Family-friendly? Yes -
Recommend? It pains me to say this, but no -

Well, I am following my own advice. In an earlier post I said that we must make our recommendations based on the movie and not on an actor/actress we may or may not like. I have been a huge fan of Merritt for years now, but I simply cannot recommend this film.

After I watched this movie, I was trying to think of why I didn't care for it - what was missing? And the first word that popped into my head was...energy! There was just no energy - the plot just kind of dragged along, there were no (what I would call) exciting scenes, the acting was very low key (not bad, just...unenthusiastic), some of the lines spoken seemed very formulaic, and so on. Not one thing grabbed me, if you know what I mean. Although, I must admit, I did like the fact that Christopher did not come across as egotistical like in some of his other films. (So Net, I might just end up joining your C.R. fan club! ;))

I love the film's idea of community and reaching out to help others (although, and mavbe it's just me, but would many people care about getting a gift that they wanted almost thirty years ago??). I just wish they had presented these ideas in a more "capturing" way.

One final, minor thing...I wish Merritt's hair color was lighter, as it is in the poster for the movie. Okay, I'll quit now! ~Mark 25

🎄 A Vintage Christmas was nice, but not very exciting. Christie

🎄 A Vintage Christmas – First of all, this movie is lighthearted, sweet, and family-friendly; however, the movie pace is rather slow. I’m in total agreement with Mark’s review. The movie truly lacks energy. That’s the perfect word for it.

I found myself wishing something fun would happen, a snowball fight, a tree lighting, someone's ex would show up, or something! There is a scene where someone sings that is nice and there’s a short scene with a dance, but I just didn’t feel enthusiastic about the movie overall. Both Christopher and Merritt were fine, but the story and romance just lacked that certain spark.

As they embarked on reading and responding to each letter from Santa, I was hoping for a “Signed, Sealed, Delivered” mystery as to who wrote the letter, but Merritt’s character seemed to know who every letter was from in mere seconds, even though the letters were written in crayon and markers and were signed with just a first name. Maybe each letter had a return label, and she just happens to know every single person in their town???

Anyway, on a positive note, this movie is wholesome, and the Christmassy sets and fashions are all lovely and very festive. ~Net

🎄 A Vintage Christmas was family friendly. I was somewhat bored by the story, but it was not horrible to watch if you are looking for something simple this holiday season. ~Ruth P

🎄 A Vintage Christmas. This one didn’t knock my elf off the shelf. I agree with Mark 25 and Net. The movie is sweet and had a nice, warm festive décor but, golly, it was another slow, blah snoozefest where we have to fight the big bad developer to save a derelict and empty old building. (But the big bad developer was the best part of this sleep-inducing movie!) The whole thing was too formulaic with a lack of vitality and sparkle. Not sure I can even wake up enough to write a full review. And I can’t believe I’m saying this, but Christopher Russell was the best part of the whole movie! I love Merritt, but her character in this was just too prickly and annoying and bland through most of the movie. I think she and Russell could have good chemistry together but in this one, her character was just too obstinate and unreasonable in the beginning and then came around too quickly. To be fair, the movie had some good points, such as the fulfillment of Santa gifts thirty years later, but it was not a keeper, for me. It might be good for a one-time watch with the family. ~~Jane (aka Not Even a Mouse)


A Christmas Castle Proposal - October 26, 2024

🎄 A Christmas Castle Proposal is a superb sequel, and I have a feeling I won't be the only 1 asking for a 3rd movie. (wink wink). –Maria

🎄 A Christmas Castle Proposal – This is a sweet, lighthearted, family-friendly story. It was entertaining, but somewhat predictable, too. However, predictability can also be comforting to watch.

I found "A Christmas Castle Proposal" to be much better than the first movie in this series, "A Prince in Paradise." For me, Olivia (Rhiannon Fish) and Prince Alexander’s (Mitchell Bourke) romance in the first movie was way too instant.

This sequel movie, which you can tell based on the title, focuses mainly on Prince Alexander’s wish to propose to Olivia as he's invited her and her parents to spend Christmas at his family's castle in Torovia. While Alexander focuses on the proposal and is consumed with work, Olivia is feeling a bit overwhelmed with the royal lifestyle, traditions, and meeting everyone’s expectations. In the meantime, Alexander has a lot of trouble finding the right time to propose. There are many misses and interruptions before he finally asks.

The palace in Torovia is grand and spectacular looking on screen. Each room held regal, magnificent Christmas decorations.

So where does this movie fall in the rankings of royal movies? I would say… somewhere in the middle. Rhiannon Fish was intriguing to watch throughout the movie and lovely in every scene, especially in her gorgeous ball gown! Even her makeup was just right, never too little or too much. I found her character to be charming and down-to-earth. You could feel her inner-struggle to balance her relationship with Alexander and her parents, while working on her book and attempting to please those around her.

Overall, this is a delightful story, and I wouldn’t be surprised, at all, if a third movie is in the works. ~Net

🎄 Review: A Christmas Castle Proposal -
Family-friendly? Yes -
Recommend? Borderline yes -

I enjoyed this movie more than the first one (and it is not necessary to have watched the first one to understand this one). I thought both Rhiannon and Mitchel were excellent, especially Rhiannon - she needed to show a range of emotions and she pulled it off nicely. But I did think their characters acted too immature at times when going off to do their own thing, especially when they should have been preparing for the ball. And her mother really turned me off - she truly felt that she could come into this royal palace and do whatever she wanted whenever she wanted?! Super-selfish! On the other hand, Rhiannon in that gown is just stunning! That is definitely my favorite gown from any "royal" movie! So for me this is worth at least a watch. (Oh, and with the ending, you know there is going to be a 3rd movie!) –Mark 25

🎄 A Christmas Castle Proposal was the worst GAC Christmas movies that I have seen on the Channel. They made Rhiannon character too weak. She was scared around the Prince mother. She was scared to say yes to the proposal because she did not think she could handle being Queen. I also did not like how the Prince mother acted like she did not like her and she did not push back at all. –Ken

🎄 I loved A Christmas Castle Proposal. I can sometimes get tired of the royal theme but Rhiannon Fish has become one of my favorite actresses. She is so genuine and talented and just very likeable. Mitchell Bourke was really good as well. Even with a somewhat predictable storline, it kept my interest. I enjoyed too the appreciation for family and tradition. Really sweet story. ~LR

🎄 A Christmas Castle Proposal. So, we all know I am not a fan of royal movies (that’s an understatement! 🤣) but I, somehow, actually made it all the way through this one. Overall, it was a sweet, family-friendly movie, especially if the family has teen girls. I think what saved it, for me, was Rhiannon’s beauty and quirkiness and down-to-earth acting performance. (Well, if I’m truly honest, it was probably more so that beautiful gown that made this movie worth watching!) The leading man was pretty good, as well, although part of his character’s situation was rather tiresome. Likewise, I was not impressed with how the writer’s handled the proposal scene. However, what completely tanked this movie, for me, was Olivia’s hillbilly, bumpkin parents. Most specifically, her horribly ANNOYING and inappropriate mother!!! I was multitasking while watching and if it hadn’t been for the specialness of Rhiannon, I would have hit delete the moment her mother opened her mouth! Needless to say, I’m not planning on buying the dvd. Family friendly. (Side note. Why is the Queen the Queen?? She herself was not royalty but married into the royal family; she would not be in the line of succession. I would have thought that when the King died his heir, Prince Alexander, would be in charge?) ~~Jane (aka Princess Jane-gle Bells 👑)

Also, I forgot to mention in my review that I loved the funny scene where her computer "froze". ~~Jane


Tails of Christmas - November 2, 2024

🎄 Tails of Christmas is pretty good. -Maria

🎄 I really enjoyed Tails of Christmas. Faith shown throughout and family friendly. I wish we could buy the movies. Didn't seem like GAF really post about it on Twitter, which was too bad. Misty

🎄 Watched "Tails of Christmas" from GAF and I thought it was very good. The lead Male actor could have been a little bit better-he wasn't the greatest, but Ash Tsai was just adorable. I loved the Faith aspect sprinkled throughout the movie, Her family was fun as well! It probably won't be one that I will hold on to, but I thought it was a good one time watch :) ~Sarah

🎄 Review: Tails of Christmas -
Family-friendly? Yes -
Recommend? Noooo!

Well, at least the handful of animals they showed were cute.

I don't know who the producer(s), director(s) and writer(s) were on this film, but they managed to make this one of the worst Christmas movies so far this year! Here's why:

* The script (Part 1) - It seems like everyone just speaks one line, and then another person speaks one line, and so on. No deep or interesting conversations. And the lines are usually so bland or predictable. (Oooh, I wonder, maybe AI wrote this?!)

* The editing - Because of the "one-liners", there is a lot of back-and-forth shots of the people talking. The problem is in the cutting between scenes - the non-talking person (or the dog) in the scene is often facing a different direction than when the camera cut away. Much more care should have been taken.

* The acting - The main problem! Except for Ash Tsai, everyone's acting seemed very stilted! And the worst, unfortunately, was the lead actor, Eric Guilmette. It was if he was reading his lines for the first time off a cue card! There was absolutely no feeling in his (monotone) delivery, like he was just going through the motions. Ash was better but still not great.

* The script (Part 2) - Eric's character Caleb has a crisis of faith because of his accident, and his pastor and friend gives him some encouraging words that would hopefully restore his faith. So I am expecting that, by the end of the movie, Caleb's faith would indeed be restored. But nothing - Unless I missed it, he gets the advice, and that's it! How could this not be resolved?! (C'mon, GAF!)

There were a couple more things, but I think that's enough. I feel bad - it's a good plot; if only it had been handled by more competently! –Mark 25

🎄 Tails of Christmas is family friendly about a military veteran named Caleb Hale at Military a Clinic is injured in the Army & is recovering through help from shelter therapy dogs. As a sign of thanks, Caleb returns home to help Amber run the local pet shelter called; “Davenport Animal Haven” &, in the process, discovers his feelings for Amber go beyond gratitude. Caleb goes to Davenport Animal Hospital for sponsor Christmas Adoption Drive. Caleb adopts Rex at local pet Shelter. Caleb asks all about God’s plan & Faith. Margaret talks about healing & forgiveness. Pastor Eli talks about Chapter of James ~Anonymous

🎄 Tails of Christmas. Yawn. Sweet gentle story with decent faith elements but it was rather dry and slow and stilted and uninspired. The overall plot had good potential, but the whole production lacked energy and pizzazz, including the script, the directing, and the acting. I really, really like Ash Tsai but her quiet, soothing style combined with the bland writing (and other placid acting) makes for a perfect sleeping pill. (This writer and director duo have a definite style for their movies. They usually are sweet and clean - which I appreciate - but I feel like a bit more spark of excitement would be helpful as they tend to be a little too mellow and restful for me.) Even so, it’s still a good movie with cute pups and a good message. Would be good for the whole family to watch (just make sure adults have some caffeine to drink!). ~~Jane (aka Thumpety Thump Thump)

🎄 Tails of Christmas – I thought this story was truly moving and inspiring. Most of all, I loved the way this movie showed the struggles of our military and how they can assimilate back into civilian life after an injury. I was deeply moved by the realness and warmth of each character. No, this movie doesn’t star well-known actors, but personally, that’s what made me enjoy it even more. The characters seemed even more genuine.

The dogs at the shelter where Amber and Caleb work together are so adorable, and I enjoyed how this story didn’t have any lying or silly magic, instead, it felt authentic and true to life. The romance between Caleb and Amber’s characters was nice, as well. I liked that their friendship developed naturally and soon-after their interest in each other.

This movie, I feel, is such a wonderful encouragement to our military or anyone struggling through an injury or personal issues. Caleb is also grappling with issues with his parents, and it was nice to see him turn to his local pastor for advice.

In the end, it’s a beautiful, touching story about love and forgiveness. Other than some barking from those cute dogs, here and there, the movie is quiet, gentle, and lighthearted. I will look forward to re-watching it whenever Great American Family plays it. ~Net


Christmas Under the Northern Lights - November 9, 2024

🎄 Christmas Under the Northern Lights is well, spectacular! –Maria

🎄 Christmas Under the Northern Lights is a little slow in the beginning but as the story unfolds it keeps getter better and better! There's a surprise cameo too! But you have to be quick to catch it! Jill and Jesse have a great on screen chemistry and actually all of the actors did a fantastic job! ~Joyce in Carolina

🎄 Review: Christmas Under the Northern Lights -
Family-friendly? Yes -
Recommend? Yes -

For a long time I have considered Jill Wagner to be the best Hallmark/GAF actress! Maybe not necessarily my favorite (I'm not sure who is), but definitely the best! Her acting always seems so natural, and I don't think she has ever given a disappointing performance. And she certainly doesn't here! Jesse is also very good in this role, and you could feel the chemistry develop between the two of them. I also really enjoyed the secondary developing relationship between the "older folks", Bruce and Lauren. And the storyline was better than I had anticipated - I was afraid most of the focus would be on the Northern Lights, and while this is certainly a major part, more focus is on the two budding relationships and the decisions regarding Jill's and Jesse's careers and the sale of the house. This is the first movie of the season for me that is a definite keeper! - Mark 25

🎄 Christmas under the Northern lights: Jill, Jesse & Bruce❤️❤️❤️ it was a little slow in parts, but I love all three so much, it was a happy escape -Kathy❤Texas

🎄 "Christmas Under the Northern Lights" was such a sweet, heartfelt story! Jesse and Jill's acting was top-notch, their developing friendship and then romance was so natural, so genuine. I liked how the focus of Christmas was on true Light and how Jesse's character put it into words was so poetic and beautiful. This movie has warmed my heart. All in all it's 10/10 for me. *Oksanka*

🎄 Christmas Under the Northern Lights - so far this is the best movie I’ve seen on GAF this year. Jill and Jesse were great together. Family-friendly. Christie

🎄 Christmas Under the Northern Lights- Family friendly movie with a great cast. I couldn’t get over how much some of them have changed, especially Lauren Holly. It was a different movie and didn’t really have any exciting or funny moments. It is still always nice to see Jill Wagner. -Anonymous1

🎄 “Christmas Under the Northern Lights” - Aw this movie was just lovely! Jill and Jesse had sweet chemistry as did Lauren and Bruce. Honestly, I had a smile on my face throughout the entire movie. Jill was glowing. She gets more beautiful with age. There was a calmness, between Jesse and Jill, that brought me so much comfort. This movie was a gift! Endearing, sweet, funny, and memorable. – Joan

🎄 Christmas Under the Northern Lights – I found this movie to be LIGHThearted in every way! Jill and Jesse had an instant connection that felt easy and light, and Jill’s relationship with her father (played by Bruce Boxleitner) also felt very natural and tranquil.

I especially loved the lines that centered around faith, and the scenes with the bells were so beautiful and meaningful. There was something light and airy about this movie. To put it simply, it felt peaceful.

Overall, Christmas Under the Northern Lights is a keeper! Family-friendly!

I loved that they not only focused on the northern lights, but the true Creator and LIGHT of Christmas!!! ~Net

🎄 “Christmas Under the Lights” – To me, this movie went nowhere. I stopped watching after 15 minutes. ~Joan


Coupled Up for Christmas - November 10, 2024

🎄 We watched Coupled Up For Christmas last night and enjoyed it, the picture quality was excellent - one of Marcus Rosner's better outings - Florence

🎄 Coupled Up for Christmas. Entertaining and funny. Sara Canning and Marcus Rosner were great as the lead couple, they had good chemistry and were fun to watch. This was a fairly typical “fake dating” movie with a lot of silly bits (especially the much too over-the-top character of the mother who is planning the requisite town “snow ball gala”!), but it was still a lot of fun and a sweet little Christmas movie good for at least a one-time watch, and maybe even a second time in the future. Family friendly. ~~Jane

🎄 Coupled Up for Christmas – This is such a fun movie with the typical fake boyfriend/girlfriend trope. Peter Brooks (Marcus Rosner) and Tiffany Williams (Sara Canning) are great together and such a delight to watch, especially when they get tripped up trying to prove they are actually involved. Caution: there is some lying in the movie as the two are trying to pull of their fake dating; otherwise, the movie is completely cute and family-friendly. Both Marcus and Sara play off each other well, and it was obvious the two were having lots of fun while filming this movie. ~Net

🎄 Coupled Up for Christmas was not good. The storyline makes.no sense for people their age. Maybe for someone 20 or 21. IMO. –Misty

🎄 Coupled Up for Christmas was pretty cute. –Maria

🎄 “Coupled Up for Christmas” – For the most part, I enjoyed this movie. I could have done without as much of the zaniness! I was exhausted by the end. And, of course, all of the lying got old. But I thought Marcus and Sarah were really good! In fact, Marcus brought his A-game. Like with Erin and Fiona, I thought this was Marcus’s best performance I have seen. A lot of the time, he keeps things at the surface. But this time there was a depth and authenticity, to his performance that was quite wonderful. He is a better actor than I gave him credit for, and he has grown as an actor. He had some really touching scenes that made me teary-eyed. Anyway, I felt Marcus and Sarah had great chemistry, and their budding relationship was nice. – Joan

🎄 Review: Coupled Up for Christmas -
Family-friendly? Yes -
Recommend? No -

And still another movie filled with lies and deceptions! (Can't the writers come up with something original??) Along with the lies and deceptions, this one has characters who can't seem to make up their mind who they want to end up with! By the time the movie ended, I was so exhausted that I couldn't have cared less who ended up with who! And Tiffany's mom was soooo irritating! You won't miss anything by skipping this one! –Mark 25


A Christmas Less Traveled - November 16, 2024

🎄 I watched “A Christmas Less Traveled.” It’s sweet heartwarming movie - Anonymous

🎄 Really loved A Christmas Less Traveled! To see the life of a dad told from the beginning, all the people he helped along the way, and to share this with his daughter,(even though he was gone), tugged at my heart strings. This is the love of family on display. Thanks Candace and GAF! ~kitkat

🎄 A Christmas Less Traveled is a terrific movie! What a journey that was! What a message for our hearts! Candace never disappoints, she always puts her heart and soul into everything she does, she radiates light and kindness you feel even from the screen. I haven't seen Eric for a long time and was so thrilled having him in this movie in a leading role. He's a great actor. Hope to see him more. Together with Candace they've created such a strong on-screen connection. Big thanks to GAF for such an important topic of fogiveness!

If you haven't watched this movie yet, join Candace and Eric on a journey you'll never forget! *Oksanka*

🎄 “A CHRISTMAS LESS TRAVELED” – I so wanted to love this movie but found it slow. I hope to come back to it later at some point. ~Joan

🎄 A Christmas Less Traveled – Candace is as lovely as ever, and I enjoyed her in this role as Desi, a diner shop owner, who is struggling to pay her bills and keep her business afloat. With her faith in God and newly discovered cassette tapes filled with instructions from her late father, Desi sets out on the road with very little money, until she meets Greyson, who is also headed in the same direction, but with no transportation. Reluctantly, Desi agrees that he can ride along in her father’s old red truck when he offers a generous amount of money.

I must say, it was intriguing to watch Candace seek out the clues to her adventure on the road, and I enjoyed seeing the people she met along the way, but I do want to caution: that it is never a good idea, ladies, to take a strange man with you on a road trip. Actually, it’s very dangerous in today’s world. They also slept in the same room (separate beds) and a truck overnight. That’s only safe in the movies. (As long as it’s not Lifetime! Haha!)

I couldn’t help from thinking that this movie felt like a mix of “A Bramble House Christmas” meets “Debbie Macomber’s Dashing Through the Snow.” If you know both movies, then perhaps you noticed the similarities, too.

Overall, the stories of faith that are revealed along Desi and Greyson’s journey are most inspiring. I always appreciate how Candace incorporates God into her movies on Great American Family, and this one is no different. “A Christmas Less Traveled” is such a beautiful, moving story, brimming with emotion. ~Net


A Cozy Christmas Quilt - November 17, 2024

🎄 Reel One's A Cozy Christmas Quilt is clean and very sweet. (streaming on Xumo). -Maria

🎄 A Cozy Christmas Quilt - This was a surprise - a low budget movie about a fireman and a quilting teacher joining up to make a Christmas quilt for the fireman's sister's wedding. Sounded like a sure-fire recipe for 90 minutes of boredom! But hey, the two leads Kyana Teresa (Amy) and Harmon Walsh (Liam) both previously unknown to me were perfect together with great chemistry.

It was engaging to se Liam try to keep on top of his burgeoning feelings. It started off nicely with friction between Amy and Liam as he had to fail Amy's premises in a fire inspection and there was a side plot of the business threatened with going under.

The movie was full of warmth and humour and the mechanics surrounding the production of the quilt turned out to be fascinating. A little bit different and an unexpected delight - Florence Rating 8.5

🎄 A Cozy Christmas Quilt. Completely agree with Florence - this was a thoroughly enjoyable movie! I was expecting a low-budget movie with typical audio issues and subpar acting, but this turned out to be a pleasant surprise. The acting, writing and directing were well done. (I looked up the director and it turns out he’s been the director on a lot of the bigger-name Hallmark/GAF movies.)

The actors were new to me but I thought they were all good, including side characters. The lead actress, Ferelith Young, was excellent; she was so natural and believable and sincere and warm - I never felt like I was watching someone act. And the lead actor, Harmon Walsh, is a cutie patootie, reminiscent of Kevin McGarry; the chemistry between the two leads felt realistic.

This whole production felt a bit more polished and mature than a lot of the “first-string” movies out there this year (and I appreciated that there was no ridiculous and overblown conflict or big misunderstanding between the couple). The sweet relationship between the brother and sister was a nice bonus.

This one would be a keeper if I had it on my dvr but right now it’s only available via streaming (previously it had been showing on XumoPlay but they took it off and as of January 2nd it’s now playing on the Roku channel – catch this cute movie while you can! Maybe also available on Amazon streaming?). Family friendly. ~~Jane

🎄 A Cozy Christmas Quilt – This movie is like a warm, cuddly blanket… it’s cozy, comfortable, and sweet! And it’s family-friendly, too!

Sparks fly the instant when Liam, a firefighter, and Amy, a quilting teacher, meet. Liam’s sister is getting married and he asks Amy to help him with the task of making a quilt for her wedding present. It’s a traditional wedding gift in their family, and Liam wants to ensure his sister has one on behalf of their deceased mother.

As Liam and Amy work together, it’s plain to see a romance is gently flaring up – as the two are obviously attracted to each other.

Amy is known for working with candles lit around her, which is a terrible fire hazard especially around fabric. I found it to be adorably cute and responsible how Liam would constantly go around blowing them out.

Both characters felt like such real, authentic people. Liam’s the kind of guy who would give you the shirt off his back if you needed it, and as far as being kind and giving is concerned, Amy seems to be cut from the same cloth.

This movie is one of those lighthearted, feel-good movies that leaves you feeling all warm and fuzzy inside. ~Net

🎄 I enjoyed A Cozy Christmas Quilt. It was a one time watch for me. ~kitkat

🎄 “A COZY CHRISTMAS QUILT” – I enjoyed this sweet, gentle movie. The lead actress was seriously adorable, and I liked her in the lead role. ~Joan


A Little Women's Christmas - November 23, 2024

🎄 A Little Women's Christmas is 100% the best Christmas movie of 2024! -Maria

🎄 A Little Women’s Christmas is the must see movie of this weekend. Everything about this movie was great from the cast, to the writing to the directing and producing. I hope Great American Family makes a sequel next Christmas. Maybe a Little Women’s Christmas Wedding. ~Bebe

🎄 A Little Women’s Christmas was so sweet and charming. A definite must watch of the year!! I would love it if they could do a movie for each March sister so all their stories could be told as well! ~Abigail

🎄 Review: A Little Women's Christmas -
Family-friendly? Yes -
Recommend? Yes (but not overwhelmingly) -

Yes, I enjoyed this movie, but I had higher expectations for it. First, the good: the characters were true to their original personalities (from what I can remember). Also, a great acting job by all four of the main actresses along with the other actors. You could sense the warmth and the love between the sisters (and the four actresses). Now the not-so-good: the storyline was just so-so - not very enticing. A little more "action" would have been nice. And some of the spoken lines seemed too scripted. Also, the ending came across as contrived - all of the sisters' problems are resolved too nicely and too quickly. And one final minor quibble - did they have to throw a reference to Santa in Gladys Knight's "Joy" song?! It was beautiful until that point. Anyway, it is certainly worth watching for the great performances and the family love shown. But unfortunately it doesn't come close to being this year's "A Biltmore Christmas". ~Mark25

🎄 Of course nothing can beat “It’s A Wonderful Life”, but if I had to choose one new from this year it would have to be “A Little Women’s Christmas” and “A Reason for the Season.” Both are sweet movies with faith and heartwarming for the whole family! ~Amber

🎄 “A LITTLE WOMEN’S CHRISTMAS” – Overall, this movie disappointed me. It had some really great parts but overall, it fell flat. I can’t quite put my finger on it, but I didn’t love it. It was a one-time watch for me this Christmas season. ~Joan

🎄 A Little Women's Christmas – It was wonderful to see the warmth and tight bonds of the sisters in this modernized version of A Little Women. I enjoyed seeing important character traits of the original March sisters in these updated characters of Meg, Jo, Beth, Amy.

Meg (portrayed by Jen Lilley) is motherly to her daughter and sisters.

Jo (portrayed by Jillian Murray) is creative, adventurous, and writing a new story.

Beth (portrayed by Laura Osnes) is sweet and musical; she plays the piano and sings.

Amy (portrayed by Julia Reilly) is artistically creative and unsure of the future.

This is such a heartwarming story with a wonderful ensemble cast, which also included: Trevor Donovan, Jesse Hutch, Dean Geyer, and Kyle Kupecky, Gladys Knight’s musical performance near the end of the film is also very moving.

I loved seeing short snippet scenes of ‘It’s a Wonderful Life’ at the beginning and end of the movie; this added to the homey feel of downtown Franklin, Tennessee.

Overall, it is an uplifting film, filled with faith and inspiration. Some of the acting, I felt, seemed a little too much, at times, as if they were over-emphasizing or performing on a stage, but please know, I still thought it was delightful and family-friendly.

I do have two wishes, though… I wish we could’ve seen the sisters’ parents on Christmas day, and I wish we could’ve heard Laura Osnes sing more throughout the movie. Otherwise, A Little Women's Christmas is warm, heartfelt, engaging, and entertaining. ~Net


Christmas by Candlelight - November 24, 2024

🎄 Reel One's Christmas by Candlelight is clean and very sweet! -Maria

🎄 Christmas by Candlelight is family friendly about Wellness expert Juliet pitches selling Christmas memory candles to her boss hopes of earning a promotio, & enlists the help of boutique candle store owner Tom Turner to create new candle scents. He refuses ho thinks the wellness industry is a scam, refuses at first but agrees when he realizes the money will help make his Daughter named Olive Turner’s Christmas wish come true. Can Juliet and Tom work together to impress the boss or will their differing views result in disaster. Grandma Ruth Turner is Tom Turner’s Mother who babysits when Tom goes after Juliet who with her assistant named Lucy. Lucy leaves those 2 alone: Tom & Juliet. Tom & Juliet are in front of Christmas tree 🌲 ~Anonymous

🎄 Christmas by Candlelight – This is a lighthearted, sweet, family-friendly movie. Juliet has to create a unique, highly sought after product just before Christmas, and is struggling to figure something out until she meets Tom, who is a candle maker and single father. The two work together on making memory scented candles, which is a nice idea, but I wasn’t sure this product idea would be all the rage, as Juliet’s boss had hoped. It’s a fairly standard Christmas rom-com, and Tom and Juliet have good chemistry. For me, it was an okay one-time watch. ~Net

🎄 “CHRISTMAS BY CANDLELIGHT” – This movie was cute. ~Joan


I Heard the Bells - Thursday, November 28, 2024

🎄 I Heard the Bells - ***Spoilers*** This movie was special and unique. I like the historic background. It was very sad at some parts though. It could also be traumatizing for young children because of the wife dying under those circumstances. However, it is a great illustration of a person who has lost their faith and found it again. Definitely worth a watch. Family friendly except for young children due to drama of death and war. -Anonymous1

🎄 I Heard the Bells is incredible!! –Maria

🎄 “I Heard the Bells” – I don’t even know where to begin! What a powerful movie this was!! I did not know Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s backstory. What a profound message of faith, finding your way back to God and eternal love. My husband and I both bawled like babies! As much as we enjoyed, “A Reason for the Season’, “I Heard the Bells” is now my favorite movie of this Christmas Season. This was a spectacular movie! ~Joan

🎄 Aside from Lacey and Taylor's movies, and a few more- None compares to my excitement of waiting for I Heard the Bells- Mr. Longfellow is one of my favorite authors!! Casting Crowns sings my favorite version🎵🎵

This movie was Extraordinary in everyway, Bravo to All involved with this Masterpiece of film... ~Kathy❤️Texas

🎄 I Heard The Bells is my favorite Christmas movie thus far. What a soul stirring message! This movie stayed with me for hours after watching it. ~kitkat


A Cinderella Christmas Ball - November 29, 2024

🎄 A Cinderella Christmas Ball is absolutely spectacular!! -Maria

🎄 A Cinderella Christmas Ball – Over the years Danica McKellar has become the Queen of making royal-themed movies, and this one, in my opinion, is one of her best, right up there with “Crown for Christmas.”

Danica’s character, Chelsea Jones, is a dance instructor from America, seeking to find clues in a European country to her biological father’s identity.

It was such fun to watch Danica in this role. She’s clever, spunky, and delightfully playful. I loved the way she met the prince… when she didn’t know who he was and when they were introduced. Their lively, teasing banter with each other was a joy to watch, and I loved all of the beautiful dancing, especially the dance to Silent Night!

Also, the way the game of chess is weaved into the story was masterful. Very creative.

Overall, "A Cinderella Christmas Ball" is such a wonderful, family-friendly film, filled with faith and inspiration. It was also heartwarming to see the way foster parenting was included in this story. It was beautifully done. My eyes welled up with tears.

This is one of those movies I can definitely see myself watching over and over again. In fact, I think this Christmas movie is one of Great American Family’s best this year. ~Net


Home Sweet Christmas - December 1, 2024

🎄 Home Sweet Christmas is a truly amazing movie. It's like a warm blanket, a fireplace, a cup of hot cocoa with marshmallows. Warm, cosy and sweet. Candace and Cameron were so great together, they had such a big chemistry. Watching the movie, I forgot about everything and I didn't want it to end. I guess I will watch it again and again just to feel this heartwarming atmosphere. *Oksanka*

🎄 Home Sweet Christmas is soooo amazing!! –Maria


Once Upon a Christmas Wish - December 7, 2024

Let it Snow (Christmas classic) - December 8, 2024


Christmas in Scotland - December 15, 2024

🎄 Christmas in Scotland. Cute movie. I’ll give pretty much any movie based in Scotland a watch and I loved that this one was filmed locally and we could see authentic scenery and set locations instead of it being somewhere in Canada. The script and the premise are rather lacking and the movie had some typical “eye roll” moments but it also had its share of sweet and warm moments (the hot chocolate game was a cute and unique twist on a Christmas-movie staple) and I appreciated hearing some genuine UK accents instead of Americans faking it.

The lead actor was kind of different than the usual leading man but I thought he felt pretty genuine in his role. The lead actress was okay but I didn’t really think she was a perfect fit for a warm fuzzy Christmas role (she has the look of Autumn Reeser but her mannerisms and tone of voice comes off as much less lighthearted than Autumn, in my opinion). I could better see her in a role that is more serious or serious with a side of quirky or light sarcasm; maybe in a mystery movie as the serious detective or the coroner along with a male lead who can provide the touch of lightness and humor and also just a hint of romance. And the two leads didn’t have the greatest of romantic chemistry, it was okay but could have been better with different casting. (Also, I was not crazy that she had a loser boyfriend throughout the movie so it felt weird for her to be falling for another guy, even though the boyfriend was an ocean away.)

One cringeworthy element to the movie was the actor that played her father - he was way over-acting to the point of being ridiculous (I’ve seen him in other roles years ago and he wasn’t nearly as horrible as this one; I was actually wondering if he’s had a stroke or something that affected the way he acts?).

I’m not a huge fan of Reel One movies, I feel they tend to be a bit low-budget and the sound is usually rather bad, but I’m happy to say this one was good and fun for a one-time watch, for me. Family friendly (except there is a weird, awkward scene at the beginning of the movie where the loser boyfriend briefly says he’s rented them a suite at The Plaza hotel so they could spend Christmas there, implying they’d be sharing the room???). ~~Jane


Get Him Back for Christmas - December 21, 2024


A Royal Christmas Ballet - December 22, 2024



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🌟HALLMARK CHANNEL:


'Twas the Date Before Christmas - October 18, 2024

🎄 Twas the Date Before Christmas is clean, and wonderfully chaotic and fun! –Maria

🎄 Twas the Date is really cute! Other than the lying with the whole fake boyfriend story, it’s family friendly. ~Allie B

🎄 Review: 'Twas the Date Before Christmas -
Family-friendly? Yes -
Recommend? Yes, primarily because of Amy and Robert -

During this past year some of us said that it was time that Amy Groening be given a lead actress role. Well, this is it, and she knocks it out of the park! She plays both being serious and being funny so well, and no matter what, she is adorable (with a killer smile, too)! Her costar Robert Buckley is also perfect for his role, and these two make a great-looking couple with wonderful chemistry between them.

Even though the fake boyfriend plot has been played many times before, this is still an enjoyable film that has a great supporting cast. It was fun to watch the contests and wonder who was going to win each event. But (you knew there had to be a but in here, right?) there were a few things in the movie that were disappointing to me and that keep me from overwhelmingly recommending it: (Note: Spoilers Ahead)

* Jessie (Amy's role) is playing the dating game, but her former fiancé, with whom she was obviously very much in love, hasn't even been dead a year! For me that seems much too quick. In most movies the time gap seems to be around three years, and that seems appropriate, but under a year? Way too soon! Why the writers couldn't have gone with the usual three years or so is beyond me.

* I just don't get it when a fake couple hasn't worked out some details before showing up at the house, because you know questions are going to be coming! Like (the obvious) how did you two meet? How long have you been together? And so on. And they certainly had time to do so in the car ride. But no - the questions come, and they know nothing. Really?

* And then, when Bryan (Robert's character) leaves the baking game and he and Jessie head out for a long time, so one seems to notice or say anything (especially his cooking partner). Hard to believe.

But even with these criticisms, it is still a fun movie that had me smiling a lot! This is certainly worth at least a watch, and maybe (like for me) a keeper! –Mark 25

🎄 "Twas the Date Before Christmas" was seriously amazing! I was beyond excited that Amy FINALLY had a lead role. And I agree with Mark25, not surprisingly :-)! Amy knocked it out of the park. She was phenomenal as was Robert. They had amazing chemistry. I got a kick out of the family dynamic. I wanted to be invited to their holiday zaniness! There is nothing more heartfelt to me than a close family. I also highly recommend this movie too. ~Joan

🎄 Twas the date was so gooooood!!!!!!! I loved the family, loved the main characters. I loved the brother, he has been in a few other movies like Catch a Christmas star and When Sparks Fly. The aunt was funny and was Will Mitchums mom in A Very Merry Mixup. It was hard to believe that all happened in just 1 day, but then I liked how they decided they would go on a date next week. I think I could see a sequel to that movie. I am a sucker for those family fun movies. Loved that they were all so competitive and it was a fun movie. ~Sabrina

🎄 Twas the Date Before Christmas was family friendly, and a decent Christmas movie. It definitely started off better than it ended. Ruth P

🎄 TWAS THE FIRST DATE BEFORE CHRISTMAS (clean)
This was hilarious and so cute! The Christmas Olympics made such a fun storyline and made me want to do that with my own family. The ending could’ve been handed a bit better though. It just didn’t seem realistic enough to find the solution so quickly and have the other manager to agree on such complicated matter. Also due to the sequence of events it just seemed like Jessie ended up getting together with Bryan right as a result of him helping the sister in law with the building. I know the story didn’t mean to be interpreted as such of course. ~CH Mom

🎄 I just finished watching 'Twas the Date Before Christmas. It was family friendly and super cute. Good family dynamics and likable characters. ~Anna

🎄 'Twas the Date Before Christmas – Amy Groening and Robert Buckley are so cute in this! I just knew they would be. Love them both! I only wish we could’ve seen a little more time with them connecting before they went to her parent’s home for Christmas.

Other than the pretending to be in a relationship, which includes some lying, this one is fun and family-friendly. ~Net

🎄 'Twas the Date Before Christmas – I was so Happy to see Amy get her 1st lead role, and kick off Countdown-
Equally looked forward to Chris & Lyndsy-
But the Lying just ruined both for me. -Kathy❤Texas


Holiday Crashers - October 19, 2024

🎄 Holiday Crashers is a clean, zany good time! -Maria

🎄 I watched The Holiday Crashers on YouTube. It was just ok to me. Typical movie where the storyline just so happens to take place during the holidays. I thought it was all over the place and the secondary love was more interesting . I didn't care for the lead actress. One time watch. Misty

🎄 Review: Holiday Crashers -
Family-friendly? Yes -
Recommend? Well, it depends...

For those of you who were turned off with the lying and fake boyfriend trope in 'Twas the Date Before Christmas, you are really going to be turned off with all of the deceptions and lying in this movie. Lying to get into the parties, lying about their names, lying about their professions...it was all too much for me, and so I personally won't be revisiting this one. But that said, if you are not bothered by this (as well as how quickly Toni (Lyndsy) seems to change her mind from not going along with the deceptions to doing so), you will probably enjoy the film. It can be a fun ride, and the acting by the four leads is excellent and you can feel the chemistry between the two couples, especially between Bri and Vinny. So do I recommend it? If you don't mind the deceptions, yes. Otherwise, no. –Mark 25

🎄 "Holiday Crashers" - This was a really funny and endearing movie! I am very shy so there is no way I could crash a holiday party but I had a lot of fun living vicariously through our party girls. I adored their deep friendship, the great parties, the sweet relationships and the character growth. I highly recommend this movie. ~Joan

🎄 Holiday Crashers, I wanted to love it. It was fun. It was nice that it had 2 different love stories. But the wedding at the end, and the stupid dance after the wedding the couple did, I really can't stand those weddings with the dancing sets after. I think I missed that it was a year later too, I was like when did this wedding happen? But it was a year later. Lyndsy was great as usual. I liked the other lead that played Bri. I LOVE Chris Mcnally. It was just an ok movie to me. Nothing at all wrong with it, just not one I would watch again. ~Sabrina

🎄 Holiday Crashers was so cute! I don’t think I have seen this storyline from Hallmark before & I loved them having a blast, getting the swag bags & the fashion!!! Loved all of Daniella Monet’s outfits, so perfect for the holiday season. I really enjoyed her as an actress. I think I have only seen her in “When Duty Calls” from UpTv but the movie is almost 10 years old. Aside from the lying of course (which was the whole storyline) it is family friendly. ~Paula

🎄 Holiday Crashers was family friendly, and was fun at times. Decent option. ~Ruth P

🎄 Holiday Crashers – If you’re in the mood for a party, this is the movie for you! Lyndsy and her bestie crash several parties and lie about their identity. I’m not crazy about all of the lying, which plays out through much of the movie, but I do like all of the fun scenes with Lyndsy, who plays Toni, and her best friend, Bri. They are so fantastic together, one would really think they’ve known each other since childhood, the way they played off one another so well, with the jokes and playful banter.

Chris McNally and Lyndsy Fonseca were also great together, but I felt their romantic connection was a bit too instant. I wish we could have seen more time with the two of them together. Chris actually felt more like a side character, than a leading star.

Overall, this is a fast-paced, lively, entertaining movie, but it lacks much depth. ~Net

🎄 Holiday Crashers – I was so Happy to see Amy get her 1st lead role, and kick off Countdown-
Equally looked forward to Chris & Lyndsy-
But the Lying just ruined both for me. -Kathy❤Texas


Scouting for Christmas - October 20, 2024

🎄 Scouting for Christmas is family friendly about a single Mom named Angela tries to make her Daughter named Brooklyn; Christmas special since her Dad named Dakota is working overseas for the holidays. she’s Real Estate Agent. She partners with her Daughter’s favorite baker named William for the Holiday Ball. Brooklyn’s Christmas wish is a Baker & her Mom together at Sunny Scout Community Holliday Ball. Brooklyn pushes her Mom for asking William to be her date for Sunny Scout Holiday Ball. Brooklyn is always number 1 customer at Sir Bunch Bakery when she uses her card. ~Anonymous

🎄 Scouting for Christmas. I couldn’t make it all the way through this one. It’s partly my mood and it’s partly the movie. My mood has been kinda blah and that’s pretty much what I felt this movie to be. Blah, awkward, overdone, stilted, lacking sparkle and chemistry. Tamera’s character was so frenzied with her busy lifestyle in the beginning of the movie, she had me spinning between whiplash and motion sickness. Her daughter was cute, but not enough to make me want to finish the movie. And, yet again, we have divorced parents (one of the little girl’s Christmas wishes is that her loving father would find a way to come visit her for Christmas, but he’s an archaeologist and is too busy on his own global adventures; that being said, there were sweet and loving scenes of them skyping together). I like Carlo Marks but he looked way too young in this movie and I couldn’t find any chemistry between him and Tamera. The parts I saw were family friendly and I think others will like this movie more than I did (I think a younger audience will appreciate the girl scouting aspect and the over-the-top meanie den mother kind of stuff more than I did). Tamera’s 2022 movie, “Inventing the Christmas Prince”, was another semi-cheesy take on the single mom’s Christmas romance but I much preferred it to this one. Also, I looked on IMDB and this movie has eleven reviews, of which, all of the super high reviews were made by people who have never reviewed any other movie before (or they’ve only ever reviewed Tamera’s movies, so they’re obviously huge fans, friends & family, or on the production team!). Likewise, all of the one-star reviews were left by people who have never reviewed a movie before, so I’m assuming they’re just haters or trolls. There were two or three reviews posted by people who are more prolific movie reviewers and they rated it 3-stars and 6-stars. I think I will agree that it was somewhere between 3-6 stars for me, as well. ~~Jane


Operation Nutcracker - October 25, 2024

🎄 Operation Nutcracker was incredible! Hope Hallmark decides to air it later this year. -Maria

🎄 Review: Operation Nutcracker -
Family-friendly? Yes -
Recommend? Yes -

Not a great movie, but the pluses far outweigh the negative. First, I enjoyed going along on the adventure of Ashley and Christopher trying to find the missing nutcracker. I had no idea where this adventure was taking me, and that made it so enjoyable. What really won me over was the ending - I am not going to spoil it, but let me say it was very heartwarming!

And Christopher must have gotten the message - his performance was very low-key and spot-on, and the smiling was limited! (In fact, this may be my favorite performance of his!)

The major downside for me was - what is becoming too common - the constant near-misses in finding the nutcracker. Tiresome! Anyway, it is a fun ride, so I recommend it, at least for a watch or two. ~Mark 25

🎄 Operation Nutcracker— I wasn't really sure what to expect from this movie, but immediately, I was drawn in by the plight of finding the priceless Nutcracker, which was the main auction piece for the Christmas charity function benefiting the local Children's hospital. The Nutcracker goes missing at the airport when two passengers mistakenly swap their luggage.

Ashley Newbrough portrays Lottie Morgan, an event planner who is planning the Warby Charity Auction given by Evelyne Warby. Christopher Russell portrays Evelyne's son, Tristan Warby, who is in charge of transporting the Nutcracker. When the Nutcracker goes missing, Tristan convinces Lottie to help him search for it! It's hilarious to watch these two scheme and work together; I could definitely feel a connection between them.

My only qualm was - several times we heard comments about believing in or trusting in the universe. Otherwise, this was a lighthearted, delightful Christmas movie ideal for all ages. Even younger viewers might enjoy the mystery of looking for the Nutcracker. ~Net

🎄 Operation Christmas (Nutcracker) is a tiresome movie. I was so anxious through this that I wanted to delete it right away. Besides all the near misses of finding Dave, I think what truly annoyed me was that Dave gave the nutcracker to his daughter, something he knew was not his to give. I enjoyed the leads but other than that, this movie is in the delete bin. ~Anonymous

🎄 “Operation Nutcracker” – In the beginning, my husband rolled his eyes and said “Here we go again! Can’t they come up with a different storyline? Where is the imagination? How many times are we going to have to sit through yet another movie where the heroine goes home?” He was ready to turn off the movie, but I told him to give it more time. And yes, it was contrived in parts, but I did like how they wove the stories together and the acting was good. ~ Joan

🎄 Operation Nutcracker. Family Friendly. It had a few good moments and the storyline had potential but the ending fell a little flat. Overall it was just okay. Not terrible but not great either. ~Anna


The Christmas Charade - October 26, 2024

🎄 The Christmas Charade is clean and excellent! Excellent directing job by Corey! –Maria

🎄 THE CHRISTMAS CHARADE (clean)
Not your typical hallmark movie for sure! This was soooo very far fetched. The plot twists at the end especially. I think it could’ve been really really great it it had not been so improbable. It’s like trying to be like CSI and Hallmark at the same time. There are some heart pounding moments, some funny moments, some sweet moments. I honestly don’t know what to make of it. In all honesty, I did enjoy watching it even if I rolled my eyes at some parts 😅 ~CH Mom

🎄 Christmas Charade! I love this movie. I thought it was extremely well acted and a story that was somewhat usual, but with several twists which kept your interest and it was very funny. The ending was something I didn't see coming. I won't say more because I don't want to spoil it for anyone. Family friendly Yes. Would I recommend it DEFINITELY. ~Anonymous

🎄 Review: The Christmas Charade -
Family-friendly? Yes -
Recommend? No -

Guess what? More lying! But I am not going to address that here.

You are right, Net! Why this movie is not on Hallmark Mystery is a mystery unto itself! And it is certainly not what I would consider a "Christmas movie". Just because it takes place at Christmastime does not automatically make it one. With a few adjustments - removing the handful of Christmas references - this could be shown at any time of the year.

Regarding the movie itself - while the acting was good, the storyline had me rolling my eyes a few too many times! For starters, Rachel's character Whitney decides she want more excitement in her life, so she decides to put her life in danger and goes along with becoming an FBI accomplice! A tad extreme I believe! (And what is with her blaming her parents for being so cautious in her life? Whitney, you're an adult...you've only yourself to blame now if you don't like your life!)

Then the scene where Josh (Corey) is holding her as they go down the rope. First, there is no way he could hold her with one hand and use the other hand to glide down the rope. "The Rock" - maybe. Corey - no. And even if he could, you'd be talking major rope burn afterwards. But not even a grimace. And the scene where she waits in the car and hears the alarm from the building. Instead of waiting, like he said, and especially since he could be running out of the building to the car for a quick escape, of course she decides to get out and go into the building to see if she can help. Another eye roll.

The ending has a surprise twist, which is nice, but it seemed a little too convenient. So no, I cannot recommend this one, especially as a "Christmas movie". –Mark 25

🎄 “The Christmas Charade” – My husband and I really enjoyed this movie. It was funny, had some nice surprise twists and we thought Corey and Rachel had great chemistry. Yes, you had to ‘suspend belief’ in a couple of spots and yes there was lying but overall, this was a nice departure from the normal overused storylines. ~ Joan

🎄 The Christmas Charade. It was cuter than I thought it would be. A few laugh out loud moments. Family Friendly. You will definitely have to suspend reality a bit (but that isn't anything new). =) ~Anna

🎄 Christmas Charade- I thoroughly enjoyed this movie! It was funny, suspenseful, and was able to include Christmas. Granted, it could’ve been any other mystery, but I think they included the Christmas aspect in a good way. They didn’t just stick it in there like some movies. The movie was family-friendly and funny. I didn’t really care for the ending. That was a bit far fetched, rushed, and ridiculous. ***Spoilers*** I mean, why did the parents need to be former agents? Why were they so strict and pushy? I guess I didn’t care for the parent’s role much. -Anonymous1

🎄 The Christmas Charade – LOVED IT!!!!! Everything about this movie is such a delight to watch… from the mix-up meet cute to the mystery of trying to discover who wants to steal the outrageously expensive jewel necklace!

It felt like a G-rated version of Mission Impossible, James Bond, and the Audrey Hepburn classic, How to Steal a Million, all rolled into one. Rachel Skarsten and Corey Sevier are spectacular together!!! They have such an easy-going connection on screen, which makes sense, since they’ve known each other since childhood.

This Christmas movie/mystery is a definite keeper for me, one I’ll likely watch over and over again!!! It’s ideal for family viewing! ~Net


The 5-Year Christmas Party - October 27, 2024

🎄 The 5 Year Christmas Party has a gay man, which to me was a giant relief because the dialogue was starting to give me a big headache after 8 minutes because of how bad it was! -Maria

🎄 Just finished the 5-year Christmas Party. Family friendly...sadly no. Would I recommend it...no, no, and NO. I did not like the story, it left me void and thinking about doing dishes and laundry. I felt no chemistry between our leads and the best character was Max's sister. There was a homosexual couple and were in many scenes. It was a waste of two hours and it seems like the end was as if it was the beginning and I'm still waiting for the movie to start. I have liked Katie's other movies and was hoping this would be good, but it was not. So don't waste your time, just do dishes and laundry. ~Anonymous

🎄 THE FIVE YEAR CHRISTMAS PARTY (not clean!)
I agreed with others... no chemistry whatsoever between the 2 leads, it felt forced. I think the concept for the storyline is good with the 5 year build up. However, it is just super flawed. The romance didn't feel genuine... the whole ghosting thing...so frustrating... I just don't get it! It felt too Gen Z for my taste. Both leads were not likeable in my opinion, too quirky. I recall Katie Findlay was in another Hallmark movie in the past and she was okay there, but sorry, not here. The male lead was a bit more bearable. I also didn't realize there was a gay couple in the friend group until later in the movie... ughhh. This was a waste of time. ~CH Mom


A Carol for Two - November 1, 2024

🎄 A Carol for Two is 1 of the best main Hallmark movies of this Season by a long mile!! -Maria

🎄 Review: A Carol For Two -
Family-friendly? Yes -
Recommend? Borderline Yes -

This movie could have been so much better with one little change (which I will get to shortly). Still, I enjoyed it, because it was like watching a Broadway revue, filled with many Christmas hymns that were sung beautifully by the two main actors, Ginna Claire Mason and Jordan Litz (who I understand have both been on Broadway). Their voices blended so well together! Also, their acting was spot-on, and you could feel their chemistry growing as the movie progressed. And with one exception, I enjoyed the supporting cast as well.

The main problem (along with the 2024 Christmas movie theme of lying!), is, in a word, Brad! What an obnoxious, self-centered, irritating character! Also, some of the scenes with him were downright ridiculous (like the outdoor double-dating scenes where he leaves her to get advice). The writers could have kept the same premise and made the character likable (which actually would have made more sense, since she would likely have been more drawn to someone like that). Instead, this character hurts - and almost ruins - an otherwise wonderful movie! But, because of the pluses I mentioned, it didn't totally ruin it for me, and so for now, it's a keeper. –Mark 25

🎄 “A Carol for Two” – Oh how we enjoyed the music! The leads had amazing voices. Both have been on Broadway in the same play. Plus, they were so adorable! And Paul has fast become one of my favorite Hallmark stars. He is really good. I also got a kick out of Hazel. She was funny. I could have done without the character of Brad though. He honestly got on my last nerve. I don’t believe he added anything to the story. But, besides that negative thing, I recommend this sweet little movie. ~Joan

🎄 A Carol For Two was so cute! New York holds such a special place in my heart and around the holidays it is just magical. I loved the diner, the supporting characters, (with the exception of Brad lol) and Alex and Violette’s singing was amazing together. I would totally save this movie on my DVR. ~Paula

🎄 A Carol for Two – The movie is sooo sweet! If you love Christmas MUSIC, then this is THE MOVIE for you! All of the singing is absolutely fantastic! “O Holy Night” gave me chills! This is one of those movies I would definitely watch over and over again.

Something about “A Carol for Two” reminded me of an older classic Christmas film I might see on TCM. Ginna Clair Mason portrays Violette, a young woman who is attempting to get her start on Broadway. In fact, Ginna gave me (as I anticipated) a Doris Day vibe throughout the whole movie. She was lovely and expressive, and of course she has beautiful singing voice, just like an angel.

Alex, the lead guy, is a bit tough on Violette, at first, but as the movie goes he softens up. Actor Jordan Litz portrays Alex as a straight-laced, no-nonsense, serious kind of guy, but he has a cousin, Brad, that is rather silly and annoying. So that adds some levity to Alex’s character and the movie overall. I did my best to overlook Brad’s obnoxious behavior and instead, I enjoyed the enchanting Christmas music and the romance. There’s a definite spark between Violette and Alex that is intriguing to watch.

This is one of those rare movies that is entertaining for all ages and it’s, of course, family-friendly. If you love music, as I do, then you’ll likely be singing or humming along! ~Net


Our Holiday Story - November 2, 2024

🎄 “Our Holiday Story” – This was another winner! We really thought this movie was engaging, sweet and also funny. Nikki and Warren had really good chemistry. They were believable as a couple, and we enjoyed their “how we met” story. Of course, there was a misunderstanding, but it was quickly addressed which was a good thing. We also liked Warren’s daughter and boyfriend. Their story was believable, and I thought they were also a good match. I also recommend this movie. ~Joan

🎄 Our Holiday Story is a big (and clean) winner! Highly recommend. -Maria

🎄 Short Review (for a change!): Our Holiday Story -
Family-friendly? Yes -
Recommend? Okay for a one-time watch -

Nikki and Warren are two of my favorite Hallmark actors. And, as usual, their acting was top-notch! But the story just didn't grab me. I guess I didn't really care for the back-and-forth between the past and the present (and it didn't help that NIkki and Warren didn't seem to age over the years). Also, while I have complained in the past about too many near-misses in some movies, here we have the other extreme - too many bumpings-into-each-other for me to find it believable. Still, these two are always fun to watch, and so I am glad to have watched it. But it's not a keeper for me! –Mark 25


Holiday Mismatch - November 3, 2024

🎄 Holiday Mismatch is not family friendly. Stopped watching as soon as they introduced a gay couple for no other reason other than their new agenda. I have noticed that they usually put it in movies where the storyline is more interesting than the typical hallmark movie. I’m guessing that’s so you will be halfway in and be hopefully too invested in it to turn off the tv , thus making their agenda mission complete by making you watch and except the new “normal”. –Anna

🎄 As ridiculously funny Holiday Mismatch is, I regret to inform everyone that it has a gay son. (yes, I'm as disappointed as the rest of you. Even though I had my suspicions about it from the get go). –Maria

🎄 Holiday Mismatch is not family friendly. Going along enjoying the movie then at about half way through one of the moms introduces her son and his husband out of the blue. Too bad! ~Anonymous

🎄 A Holiday Mismatch has 2 men who are married to each other. I turned it off. Sad... ~Anonymous


Trivia at St. Nick's - November 8, 2024

🎄 Trivia at St. Nick's is clean, and a lot of fun! –Maria

🎄 Trivia at St. Nick’s. I almost deleted in the first 15 minutes but I’m glad I didn’t. The beginning was ridiculous and annoying (especially the lead female character who was way too tightly wound!), but it all evened out to be a cute, lighthearted way to spend the evening. This one’s not going to win any awards or be a keeper for me, but it ended up being a pleasant, silly, sweet little Christmas movie with a slightly different “trivia” angle, which was unique and fun. I’d probably watch it again next year. Family friendly. ~~Jane

🎄 Trivia at St Nick’s was cute, nothing really stood out to me, although I do enjoy Brant in the movies I have seen him in, and it’s family friendly. ~Paula

🎄 I really enjoyed Trivia at St Nicks. I liked Tammin. She was on one of my soaps way back, I think she actually played the same character that Lyndsy Fonseca played on same soap.

But I liked Tammin and she played the character well. She was very uptight and liked to follow certain rules and when her and Brant meet its cause he is breaking some rules (it is quite funny). I liked her and Brant together and the supporting cast was good too. It was fun and I enjoyed it a lot. ~Sabrina


Santa Tell Me - November 9, 2024

🎄 Santa Tell Me- So many happy WCTH memories here! :) (and yes, it's a clean movie!). –Maria

🎄 Santa tell me is family friendly. The acting was good over all, but there were some laughs that sounded a bit fake. Maybe it was just me. I liked this movie, it’s a keeper. –Elizbeth

🎄 I loved seeing Erin Krakow & Daniel Lissing together on Santa Tell Me. It brought back memories when they were married on WCTH. ~Estra

🎄 Santa Tell Me was family friendly. We absolutely loved it! It was fun & had a phenomenal cast. It was a nice change from some of the more common storylines. I also love movies that have a touch of Christmas magic like this one did. I have only two movies so far this season on my “don’t miss” list for my friends, and this is one! ~Ruth P

🎄 Santa Tell Me was super cute! I thought the storyline was creative, although not believable because of the magical elements, it was still charming and I do enjoy the movies that have santa in them. Erin and Daniel had great chemistry and there were some laughs throughout. The scene at the end with the Nicks fighting was so hilarious to me 😂 And I loved the reference to “National Lampoon Christmas” with her opening the little doors for the different days. I don’t know if that was intentional but I liked it as National Lampoon is one of my favorite holiday movies we watch every year. This one is one I would rewatch each holiday. ~Paula

🎄 Santa Tell Me Review ….
This was family friendly, wasn’t my favorite though. I’m not a big fan of the Santa is real. As much as I loved seeing Dan reunited with Erin(on that first scene, I was hoping for a line similar to that “I’m the new constable of Coal Valley”😊😂😂 Her unfortunate mistaking him for the driver was funny.

I did not like the models, I would’ve been better if they were not there at all. I’m not going to go to much into that, but I was disappointed they put that in there. That takes the family out of family friendly to me. And I didn’t like how see led the guys on. Number 3 was obviously not a chosen one, but 1 and 2 were nice. And she connected with both of them. I also don’t want to see her kiss a guy she doesn’t end up with.

It wasn’t a total loss, at the end I found out about January 5, When Calls the Heart Season 12! I still ended the night smiling!😊 ~Abigail

🎄 Tried my hardest to watch Santa Tell Me. Didn't make it very far. It reminded me for a minute, of A Boyfriend for Christmas. Daniel was great from what I watched. Wasn't a fan of the rest and I just don't love the HM home improvement type movies. I saw lots of chemistry with E & J on WCTH, but not the 2 in this movie. She was snotty and mean. I just couldn't keep going. ~Sabrina

🎄 Review: Santa Tell Me -
Family-friendly? Yes -
Recommend? Slightly yes -

I am not a big fan of Christmas movies where magic is involved, so from the start that was one strike against it. And you can pretty much predict the ending! But that said, this is a fun, and oftentimes funny, movie! I also thought the acting by everyone involved was really good, especially by Erin. (This could actually be one of my all-time favorite performances by her!) You get the feeling that Erin and all of the guys were really enjoying themselves on this set! Anyway, if you can throw believability out the window, and play along with the fantasy, I recommend giving this a watch. - Mark 25

🎄 Santa Tell Me - When Net💞was wonderful enough to tell us about Erin & Daniel repairing, I said NOPE can't go back there, but where I was Saturday night they wanted to see it, they have never seen WCTH.

In my emotional state, I flashed back to so much of Elizabeth & Jack- how much I Loved them, heartbroken when Daniel left💔💔
Loving Lucas from the beginning and having my heart broken again💔💔
The 3 Nick's were comedy gold at times, I loved her sister❤️

My Church ladies that I watched it with, they each had their favorite Nick, but said well (Daniel) he is a Cutey pie, so Ok👍👍
Which made me 🤣😂
In that God gave me Grace, and I embraced it🙏🙏 -Kathy❤Texas

🎄 “Santa Tell Me” – I enjoyed this movie more than I expected to. I laughed out loud so many times! I felt this role was perfect for Erin and my favorite out of all of her movies. Plus, seeing her with Daniel again melted my heart. They were magic together. They too, have an ease about them that was heartwarming. Plus, very magical kiss at the end! – Joan


'Tis the Season to Be Irish - November 10, 2024

🎄 Tis the Season to be Irish is clean and quite charming. –Maria

🎄 Tis the Season to be Irish was very cute and heartwarming! And sweet characters!! I always love the highland films. And what a great cottage!! My mom is a house flipper and a lover of the old Ireland/Scotland country homes. She’ll enjoy this. Plus it was family friendly!!

Didn’t care for the mentions of luck, fate, and the wishing fairies, but that’s to be expected in Ireland. It’s not one I would buy, but I enjoyed watching something new. Just what I needed after painting the house all day! ~Abigail

🎄 Review: 'Tis the Season to be Irish -
Family-friendly? Yes -
Recommend? Borderline No -

And the season of lies and deceptions just keeps rolling along...

So here we have the character Sean who deceives Rose by making her think she is buying a nice looking cottage (based on an online picture) when in fact it is a shambles. When she goes to confront him, he is rude, especially when she want to fix the place up and he tells her she is forbidden from doing this, that, and the other thing. I don't know - based on his arrogance and rudeness, I had a hard time believing she would eventually fall for him. So anyway, the next thing we know (after a commercial break), she has somehow fixed the place up to make it look attractive and livable practically overnight! (I actually did a rewind to see if I missed something, but no.) Not believable at all.

But on the plus side, I thought Fiona was excellent in her role, and I also enjoyed the two supporting women, and I felt for the one who was having a hard time parting with her late husband's ashes. To me the scenes with the three women were the highlights of the film. But this still wasn't enough to compensate for the problems I mentioned. –Mark 25

🎄 'Tis the Season to be Irish I felt similar Mark, I enjoyer it because it was new, had sweet characters like the ladies and as you said Fiona was really great!! And to be truly honest the scenery and accent drew me to it! ;) I didn’t care for all the good luck, fate and wishing fairies talk, but I wasn’t surprised that was in there being in Ireland. And thought Sean was kinda dry. ~Abigail

🎄 'Tis the Season to be Irish - I never enjoy writing negative reviews, but I honestly did not like any of the following movies that aired two weekends ago: “Five Gold Rings”, “Christmas in Rockwell”, “Tis the Season to be Irish”, “Case of the Christmas Diamond” and “Trivia at St Nick’s”. Of those movies, I gave the Irish movie the most chance as I watched about 30 minutes of it. I am a huge fan of Fiona’s and I thought this was her best role, but I did not like her with Sean. The scenery was lovely however, nothing really happened during the time I spent on it. So, now I am caught up on the Christmas movies from last week. :-) – Joan

🎄 ‘Tis the Season to be Irish. Agree with Mark 25 and Abigail. I liked the actor who played Sean but I didn’t like all aspects of the way his character was written by the writers; his rudeness, lies, manipulations, unreasonableness and contradictions (especially in the beginning) just didn’t make sense and made it somewhat hard to root for him as the romantic hero. Fiona was good as Rose and I liked the friendship storyline between the three women (and Caitlin singing on the cliffs was beautiful!). A lot of this movie was not believable or even understandable, but I love all things Celtic and the Irish warmth and accents and scenery made up for the weak and farfetched storyline. And Lambchop… you gotta love Lambchop!! This one was okay for a one-time watch. Family friendly (just be aware of the usual Celtic ideas of luck and faeries, etc.). ~~Jane (aka Smiling Irish Eyes)


Christmas with the Singhs - November 15, 2024

🎄 Christmas with the Singhs. Meh. Maybe okay for a one-time watch? Maybe not? I very much liked the main couple and their story starts off good but the whole thing gets carried away with the over-the-top and rude parents. It’s actually intended to be a bit overdramatic (especially with her uber-protective father) but they took it too far and it just felt kind of ugly and uncomfortable at times. I think I was supposed to laugh at certain things but I just didn’t find them funny, they instead felt tactless and unkind. Throughout the movie they make a big point of saying the Singh family is “Christian” instead of Hindu, and the mother converted when she married the father, and the father takes pride in carrying on his father’s tradition of reading the Christmas story to the children in church every year. I suppose that all sounds good, but it just didn’t quite feel right to me. In their family home they still carry out some Hindu superstitions and traditions such as a ritual to keep the evil eye away, and lighting candles and praying before pictures of deceased ancestors and referring to the biblical Christmas story as the magic of Christmas. I understand that magic can often be interpreted in these movies as “sparkle” or “specialness”, but the “Christian” label felt like just that… a label, an identifier (Christian vs Hindu). It felt like whoever wrote or directed this didn’t really quite understand the Christian faith; plus, they should have toned down the overall unpleasantness a bit. I suppose the movie, as a whole, was maybe okay for a one-time watch, especially since the main couple are so cute and well matched (and Jake’s outdoor Indian dance scene was funny); but the rest of it just felt rather uncomfortable at times. I would also say it’s not family friendly for young or impressionable kids. Little comments here and there make it clear that the main couple live together (when they go to stay at her family home, he actually acts surprised when the mother puts them in separate rooms and he asks her why he’s not sharing a bedroom with his fiancé!). Also, there was a discussion of divorce that felt ugly. Needless to say, not a keeper. ~~Jane (aka Sugar & Spice)

🎄 Christmas With The Singhs was good and clean for the most part. They did try to stay in the same room at the family's house, but the Mom wouldn't let them. ~Grace


Jingle Bell Run - November 16, 2024

🎄 Jingle Bell Run NO, NO, NO this is NOT family friendly. I am so disappointed in Andrew Walker. It unfortunately has homosexual contestants and share a kiss 🤮with four minutes to go. -Anonymous

🎄 Didn't have room to record Jingle Bell Run, but I'm hearing on Twitter that there's a gay couple kissing at the end. (definitely no surprise there because of well, Ashley. 🙄). -Maria

🎄 Sadly Jingle Bell Run is not family friendly at all. They even had a gay kiss at the end of the movie. It totally ruined it for me. -Anonymous

🎄 Jingle bell run had a team of 2 males that developed a romance with a kiss at the end. -Anonymous

🎄 Review: Jingle Bell Run -
Family-friendly? No (Two guys develop a romance during the contest) -
Recommend? No -

Aside from the two gays guys who are predominantly featured, the movie just seemed very formulaic and problematic. For example, Ashley's character is recognized as the brainiac of the group with a knack for solving problems. Each time she quickly (and too easily) solves the clue that leads to the next destination, and yet every pair seems to arrive at the destination around the same time, every time! And did anybody also find it odd that the organizer of the contest would pair up two guys when part of a contest involved slow dancing together? A by-the-numbers movie that I won't be revisiting! –Mark 25

🎄 Was so disappointed in Jingle Bell Run. Was really looking forward to that one because of Andrew. I have to confess I'm not a big fan of Ashley even before she went "woke"! I suffered through about an hour of the movie before I turned it off! Definitely not family friendly! ~Joyce in Carolina

🎄 JINGLE BELL RUN - (NOT clean)
There was a gay couple in the competition. I let the movie run in the background naively thinking they were just friends. I didn’t pick up on their “vibe” at first because I was watching while washing the dishes and doing chores around the house (it was pretty boring and did not worth all my focus). In all honestly, I didn’t like it that much, even if there was no agenda. The chemistry was not there. I don’t think Andrew Walker and Ashley Williams made a suitable couple to me personally. I sensed more brother-sister vibe. Had I known about the agenda, I wouldn’t have watched it. Don’t waste your time on this! –CH Mom


Confessions of a Christmas Letter - November 17, 2024

🎄 Confessions of a Christmas Letter is a STINKER!! We haven't seen our main couple yet and we meet Mom's son and his husband. Needless to say we deleted it right away. ~Anonymous

🎄 And from what I'm hearing, Confessions of a Christmas Letter is also dirty. 🙄 Such 'big wins' there, Hallmark! (not). –Maria

🎄 Confessions of a Christmas Letter is NOT family friendly. There was a gay couple (I think the lead characters son) in just the first few minutes in. ~Grace

🎄 Confessions of a Christmas letter
- not family friendly
Unfortunately just after the opening scene they introduced a same sex couple. ~Anonymous

🎄 Confessions of a Christmas Letter- not clean (gay couple), stopped watching ~Grace


Christmas on Call - November 22, 2024

🎄 Christmas on Call was not your standard Hallmark Christmas movie, and I liked that about it. It was also family friendly and heartwarming. It follows several people through the holiday season: a new doctor in the ER far from family for her first Christmas, an ER nurse missing her military daughter, a fire chief who is trying to be more present with his family, and a couple of cops and EMTs. All their lives intersect, and each one plays a part in making the others' holidays happier. There are two romance storylines. The one between the doctor and the EMT was sweet, and the actors had great chemistry. However, the one between the two cops fell flat for me. I didn't see any chemistry between them at all. Because this is a Hallmark movie, there isn't much in the way of the true danger of these professions. There is one fire that's intense by Hallmark standards, but you sort of know everything will be fine. The "crime" that the cops face is almost laughable. I have a feeling Philadelphia cops do more than chase vandals and settle disputes between neighbors over Christmas decorations. But, this is a Hallmark Christmas movie, after all. Overall, this one had enough to set it apart to make it enjoyable while still retaining the feel-good vibes Hallmark is known for. One final nit-picky thing: I may have misheard, but towards the beginning of the movie when the nurse is listing all the couples she has worked her matchmaking skills on, one sounded like two men. I thought I heard her say "Devon and Steve." Of course, I could have misheard (she was rattling off lots of names), and Devon could also be a woman's name. Just thought I should mention it. (And these days I think I'm paranoid!) No other hints at all of same-sex relationships that I noticed, however. ~melnewlife

🎄 Christmas On Call- Good and clean. ~Grace


Three Wiser Men and a Boy - November 23, 2024

🎄 Three Wiser Men and a Boy review - This one didn’t interest me so much as I thought it would. I loved the first one, but this one kinda bored me. It was family friendly though. And they did have a lot of the main cast there which is always nice. ~Abigail

🎄 “Three Wiser Men and a Boy” was great! I was laughing throughout, just so funny and relatable. I totally felt Andrew when he was in the car & goes “I’m just a dad and my back is on fire” 😂 Those three guys just flow so well together and the supporting characters do too, down to the annoying neighbor. Hoping they make a 3rd one, maybe Three Wise Men and a Wedding? ~Paula

🎄 Three Wiser Men and a Boy. Felt like they were trying too hard in this one and it just didn’t live up to the first one. It was more awkward and uncomfortable, and not always funny where it was supposed to be. But, nonetheless, it was still fun for a one-time watch and the three main actors are perfection at fast quips and priceless facial expressions. Perhaps the funniest line this year was “Question. What’s the School Board’s policy on black market penguins?” And the scene where they sit around in a tent in the living room was sweet and sad and poignant.

The tacky school play ended up being adorable, and this year’s rendition of the brothers’ famous dance was almost as fun as last year’s. I loved the warmth of their family celebration at the end. I think that warmth seems more real because we see all their flaws and disagreements and vulnerabilities throughout the movie and it makes them more realistic and genuine in their love for each other and not as saccharine sweet as in other movies.

Family friendly warning: it’s briefly mentioned in the early parts that Paul Campbell’s character and his girlfriend from the last movie have been living together for five years now. Nothing more about it is mentioned and he and his brothers all temporarily movie into their mom’s house, so nothing is shown of their living together. ~~Jane (aka Rooty Toot Toots)

🎄 Three Wiser Men and a Boy was meh. The three brothers, in my opinion didn't seem any wiser. In the first one, they started out selfish and immature, but the baby made them grow as people. In this one, they are still selfish and immature, but now it's just flat out annoying. The only redeeming thing was that the little boy was cute. I couldn't stand a single one of the brothers by the time it was all over. Though it's family friendly, it just wasn't an enjoyable two hours. I recommend skipping this one. ~melnewlife

🎄 Review: Three Wiser Men and a Boy -
Family-friendly? Yes -
Recommend? No -

I am in total agreement with melnewlife's review. The main missing ingredient in this one is...charm. The first movie was charming in watching the guys trying to cope with handling a baby and maturing as a result. This one lacked charm. It's like the guys didn't learn from their experience five years ago, or reverted back to their old ways. To use melnewlife's word, they were annoying. And the humor was so much better in the first one (because much of it had to do with the guys and the baby - here, no baby and no real humor). It was obvious that they were stretching to make a sequel. Unfortunately, it didn't work. ~Mark25

🎄 Three Wiser Men and a Boy Is family friendly. Taylor has a new female love interest named Caroline. Stephan proposes to Susie. Lucas with a new wife named Sophie & he adopted Thomas.

The Brenner Brothers are back and putting on a holiday pageant for young Thomas, while trying to cope with life's curveballs, including their Mom named Barbara’s new boyfriend named Roy. This movie is so boring. ~Anonymous

🎄 Three Wiser Men and a Boy- good and clean ~Grace


To Have and To Holiday - November 24, 2024

🎄 To Have and to Holiday is clean, and a ton of fun! –Maria


🎄 To Have and To Holiday. I don’t know what to make of this one. Part fun, part odd, part original, part ridiculous, part delightful, part annoying. It felt like the writers were trying too hard to be quirky. Overall, I’d say it was rather cute for a one-time watch and the actors were all good, but it’s not a keeper, for me. The pastor in this one is, at times, uncharitable, rude, and immature in relation to his daughter’s new fiancé; and the whole pre-marriage bootcamp is kind of fun and unique but it just becomes too much and highlights the unkind side of her father’s character. I understand that he’s protective of his little girl but it just goes overboard and drags on for too long.

It is still an okay movie but I would advise parents about a scene at the beginning. Lead actress is talking on phone and says “I gave up my apartment and I’ve been staying at Jason’s apartment [her boyfriend]” and then we see them in reindeer pj’s doing a creative, sort of fast-forwarded Christmas-Day-in-one-hour celebration together before she has to get on an airplane and go home for Christmas (but then later, their plans change and it turns out they both end up going to her parent’s house for Christmas). If I remember correctly, that’s the only bit that is not family friendly. ~~Jane (aka Parson Brown)

🎄 To Have and To Hold- Good and clean ~Grace

🎄 “To Have and to Holiday” - This was a one-time watch as well. ~Joan

🎄 To Have and To Holiday – I think they were attempting to emulate a movie I like very much, 'Father of the Bride.' They even included flashbacks of the father imagining his daughter sitting at the table as a little girl, and that was a touching moment/memory, but other than that, I thought the movie was rather annoying.

Overall, the movie is family-friendly, but as Jane mentioned, there is a little talk in the beginning about the girl staying at her boyfriend’s place for a while.

For me, To Have and To Holiday, is one To Skip and To Avoid. ~Net


Debbie Macomber's Joyful Mrs. Miracle - November 28, 2024

🎄 Joyful Mrs. Miracle is an excellent movie!! -Maria

🎄 “Debbie Macomber's Joyful Mrs. Miracle” – This was another ‘fail’ for me. Oh my gosh, Rachel was over the top! I wanted to tell her to ‘step away from the espresso!’. I deleted this movie after about 10 minutes of watching Rachel and the siblings fighting. ~Joan


A '90s Christmas - premieres at 6 pm ET/PT - November 29, 2024

🎄 A '90s Christmas - (Bad) night for Hallmark, as BOTH new movies ended up being (not family friendly)! (90's Christmas has yes, another gay man at the start of the movie saying he has a boyfriend!). Hope you all appreciate me finding this all out for you! –Maria

🎄 A 90’s Christmas is not family friendly. Gay receptionist, gay sister, didn’t get far watching it at all. ~Anonymous

🎄 A 90’s Christmas. Not family friendly. The first scene of the movie shows the lead character (an attorney) telling her sad client to look at the signing of her divorce papers as a second chance at life that everyone deserves. Then her gay assistant comes into her office and invites her to celebrate Christmas with him because “my boyfriend got a 10-pound ham, which is way too much for two people”. But, wait… there’s more, because Hallmark couldn’t let two ugly scenes be it. The next scene is her talking to her sister on the phone and we find out that the sister is getting ready to go on a date with another girl. Time to DELETE!! Man, I love clearing out space on my dvr! Thank you Hallmark. ~~ Jane (aka Run Run Rudolph!!)

🎄 A 90's Holiday-not clean (gay couple), stopped watching ~Grace


Deck the Walls - November 29, 2024

🎄 Deck the Walls - (I sat through this abomination so you wouldn't have to): No, as you can guess very early on in the movie, Deck the Walls is not family friendly –Maria

🎄 Deck the Walls. NOT family friendly. I should've looked at the writer and cast members first; two are openly gay with agendas. I'm so disappointed since I love Wes Brown in movies. Oh, well, another opportunity to delete and make space on my dvr! ~~Jane

🎄 Deck The Walls-not clean (gay couple), stopped watching ~Grace


Believe in Christmas - premieres at 6 pm ET/PT - November 30, 2024

🎄 Believe In Christmas was good and clean. The only part I didn't like was that they sang "Go Tell It On The Moutain" but changed the words and didn't sing, "that Jesus Christ is born!" ~Grace

🎄 As ridiculous as Believe in Christmas is, it's a clean movie, so that makes it a winner! –Maria

🎄 Currently watching Believe in Christmas. So far family friendly but at about 42 minutes singing Go Tell it on the Mountain and they changed the words to It's Christmas Morn, when it is Jesus Christ is born. Sad to take Jesus out when He is the reason for the season. They could have picked a different song. ~Anonymous

🎄 I just finished Believe in Christmas, and it is family friendly. If you've ever read or seen the movie Austenland, it follows the same basic plot. Loved Austenland and also loved this. Basically, Christmas Land is an immersive Christmas fantasy. The two friends each meet a guy and start to fall in love, but how much of it is real and how much is an act? This allows for some mishaps poking fun at Hallmark movies themselves, but not in a mean or cynical way. If you've seen Austenland, you'll know how it will end (like me, haha), but it won't take anything away from the charm of this movie. ~melnewlife

🎄 Review: Believe in Christmas -
Family-friendly? Yes -
Recommend? Nope -

Five years ago there was a Christmas film called "A Christmas Movie Christmas" that was about a young lady who was an absolute lover of Christmas movies, and wishes she could live in one, and her friend who was just the opposite. For me it was a wonderful spoof of the stereotypical Hallmark movie, super-funny, and as a result one of my all-time favorites. This movie reminded me of that one - one person loves those movies and wants to be in one, and the other who absolutely does not - but this one doesn't work at all!

First of all, the acting. I never thought that Meghan Ory was that good of an actress, and, well, she's not good here. I so enjoyed John Reardon in A Christmas Secret, but here it seems like he is on auto-pilot. Very lackadaisical! And even though these two are married in real life, I just did not sense any chemistry between the two of them! On the other hand, the actress Lindura who portrayed her friend was excellent, and I hope someone puts her in a leading role soon!

The other thing was the storyline. I mean (Spoiler Alert), nothing says Christmas spirit like having the town's residents deceive its guests and lie to their faces (there's that theme again!) in order to get them to appreciate the season! And throughout the movie the feelings of Meghan and John toward each other seemed to change with the wind, which makes you question their sincerity towards each other. So, no, this movie is a definite skip it! ~Mark 25


Holiday Touchdown: A Chiefs Love Story - November 30, 2024

The Finnish Line - premieres at 6 pm ET/PT - December 1, 2024

🎄 The Finnish Line is clean and quite the adventure. –Maria


The Christmas Quest - December 1, 2024

Private Princess Christmas - December 6, 2024

Sugarplummed - December 7, 2024

Leah's Perfect Gift - December 8, 2024

Hanukkah on the Rocks - December 13, 2024

The Santa Class - December 14, 2024

Following Yonder Star - December 15, 2024
A DaySpring Movie

Happy Howlidays - December 21, 2024


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🌟HALLMARK MYSTERY:


This Time Each Year - October 24, 2024

🎄 This Time Each Year is clean. Great job by the director! –Maria

🎄 This Time Each Year was so sweet and family friendly. Alison and Niall were great together. I’m not one for characters lying, but they did own up to it and apologize. I always enjoy seeing a married couple get back together anyway. I loved how Kevin was 100% committed to strengthening their marriage. He knew he made some big mistakes, but he was taking action in trying to make it right. This was a very heartfelt film. Get those tissues ready!!

P. S. I loved Alison’s hair in this movie. She looked great. ~Abigail

🎄 This Time Each Year - Abigail, I was going to write a positive review for this movie, but you beat me to it and said everything I was going to say! Yes, it's another "lying" movie this year (what's going on??), but I liked how this movie was different from most others: a couple is separated because of his past drinking problem, but he is determined to do what it takes to get back together. A little slow moving at times, but still it's a winner! ~Mark

🎄 This Time Each Year - It’s always refreshing to me to watch a movie when the married couple find their way back to each other. I thought this film was definitely special. But since you mentioned his drinking problem, I did find it odd that he worked as a bar tender. In a real case, I would think that it would be way too much as a temptation. ~Abigail

🎄 I watched This Time Each Year and enjoyed it! It is family friendly and it was fun to see a cameo from someone from Signed Sealed Delivered! My favorite show! Allie B

🎄 This Time Each Year was excellent, and a I feel it’s a must watch! It was family friendly, but due to the storyline, I feel kids would not enjoy it as much. The redemptive arc was very moving, especially for anyone who has had to go through difficult times in life & marriage. I feel like this will be one of my favorites this year, but we will see! ~Ruthabega

🎄 “Same Time Each Year” - This was another movie that was a departure from the same boring over-used storyline. Niall and Alison were magic together. Even though the story was sad in parts it was also hopeful and very realistic. I was impressed with the acting and way they handled the subject matter. Kudos to everyone involved in this one. ~ Joan

🎄 Then HM 1st movie with Alison & Naill- also about lying.... -Kathy❤Texas

🎄 This Time Each Year – I thought Alison’s and Niall’s performances were good in this; however, I must gently caution: There is an underlying story that involves drinking while driving. It is handled discreetly and there are consequences for the behavior, but I know this storyline might be difficult for some.

As for appearances, I thought Alison looked like quite lovely in this, especially the different hair styles. At times, she seemed to glow… especially the scene where she wore the gold blouse and her hair was swept up on the sides.

Overall, I felt this movie was nice, yet rather slow; however, (SPOILER) I like when a separated couple finds their way back to each other. This movie, in my opinion, is best suited for a mature audience. ~Net


My Sweet Austrian Holiday - October 31, 2024

🎄 My Sweet Austrian Holiday is a very tasty and delightful movie! (and yes, it's clean!). –Maria

🎄 My Sweet Austrian Holiday. Movie was ok but predictable. Was it just me or was audio terrible. Both leads sounded like they were muffled. Like I say, maybe me and my old ears, but other actors and actresses could be heard clearer. ~JoCo

🎄 “My Sweet Austrian Holiday” was so cute! Yes it was predictable but sometimes those are the best kinds of movies to watch on a night in with family. I thought Will and Brittany had such natural chemistry together and I also loved the actress who played Maya and how she had her own little romance going on. I would watch this one again. ~Paula

🎄 My Sweet Austrian Holiday. Semi-sweet movie, but lacking effervescence and chemistry. Nevertheless, I think others will like this movie much more than I did. The Christmas in Austria angle was nice, simply because I love seeing the architecture and cozy Christmas displays of old European cities. But the multiple storylines were tired and overused and not really acted/directed/written to be anything unique or special or plausible. And I felt like the two sidekick characters were better than the leads. I love Will Kemp, but this just wasn’t his best performance (he’s more vivacious and the romance is more believable in his movies with Lacey). I like Brittany - she has a naturalness about her - but I’ve yet to see her in a starring romantic role where her performance was all that great (“Just Jake” would be my favorite, so far). I rarely feel the romantic tingles when she plays the lead (it’s as if she herself hasn’t really bought into the romance of her character); for me, she’s much better as a secondary or sidekick character (she seems to shine better in those roles). I thought about deleting this at the halfway point but decided to watch the second half in a sort of fast-forward style. The best line came near the end when Will makes a quip about his dance skills that’s funny if you’ve seen his other movies and know his dance background. But then they ruin that fun moment by throwing in a completely hokey, over-the-top and unrealistic dance scene where a more reserved and quieter one would have been better. For a cute, predictable, run-of-the-mill Christmas movie, this one isn’t bad, and is fine if you’re in the mood for some cozy Vienna Christmas scenes, but it’s just not a keeper, for me. It’s family friendly, although it’s vaguely implied that the dead grandmother is communicating her approval (or whatever) through a cuckoo clock that chimes at opportune moments. ~~Jane (aka Jane-gle Bells)



Five Gold Rings - November 7, 2024

🎄 Oh my, Five Gold Rings is incredible! And it has elements of having faith as well! Felt like something DaySpring would make. -Maria

🎄 Five Gold Rings is family friendly so far, haven’t watched the whole movie but like it so far. I think the story line sounds interesting. -Elizbeth

🎄 Five Gold Rings is family friendly about an artist named Audrey Miller returns home for the holidays & gets tasked with a Christmas quest left by her Grandma. She & a local PI named Finn O’Sullivan must return 5 lost items to their owners before Christmas. ~Anonymous

🎄 Five Gold Rings. Didn’t knock my fuzzy Rudolph socks off, but it was cute enough for a one-time watch. It moved a little slowly and was, at times, cheesy and awkward, but, nevertheless, I quite liked the premise and the mystery angle and the fun search for the owners of the five rings (I believe that the writer for this also wrote the Mystery 101 series.) Holland was good in her role and basically carried the movie; the lead guy was okay but rather stiff; there was a smidgen of chemistry but the whole romance felt somewhat clumsy, to me. I thought I read somewhere that this was a faith-based movie but I did not pick up on any real Christian faith elements; in fact, there was one line about the deceased grandmother’s body being gone but her spirit still being around that might have been a comforting thought for the family, but it wasn’t biblical. Otherwise, it's family friendly. This movie’s not a keeper for me, but it might be a good one for families with mixed-age children because the main focus is more on the mystery search than the romance. ~~Jane (aka Three French Hens)


A Reason for the Season - November 14, 2024

🎄 A Reason For The Season - Hallmark is not a channel I watch now, but I did watch A Reason For The Season on Hallmark Mystery. What a rewarding two hours! I love Kevin McGarry and Taylor Cole. They were spectacular together! The story is a heart warmer for certain. The mystery was easy to guess early on, but the story is beautiful. So happy I watched! It is family-friendly. ~kitkat

🎄 A Reason for the Season is clean, and quite nice. -Maria

🎄 Reason for the Season is family friendly and so far the best Christmas movie I’ve seen this year. A lot of charitable characters whom make me want to be a better person. ~Anonymous

🎄 A Reason for the Season is such a great and uplifting movie with a strong message. Kevin and Taylor did their parts so well. I like the story of a community, people helping and supporting each other. It teaches you some valuable lessons. My favourite Hallmark Christmas movie so far. *Oksanka*

🎄 Review: A Reason for the Season -
Family-friendly? Yes -
Recommend? Definitely!

This is such a wonderful movie, all about giving back to others who have helped you in the past. (At first I was put off by the mother not reaching out to these "helpers", but after awhile you discover that she indeed reached out, but they refused her offers.) It was so heartwarming seeing how these helpers really appreciated the gifts they were given! A great story, with excellent acting all around (especially by Taylor, who changed from being someone who was stuck-up and spoiled all her life to someone with a heart). A keeper all the way! – Mark 25

🎄 “A Reason for the Season” is now my favorite Christmas movie this year! Oh my…where do I start? What an amazing joyful celebration of the holiday season! This little gem of a movie should be the playbook for others in the future. It was so refreshing to view a movie without any contrivances, or a tired storyline, or an inevitable ‘shoe-drop’, or a silly misunderstanding or over-the-top zaniness! Yes, there was a bit of lying, but the lead actress came clean – half-way through the movie! And I understood why she initially wanted to keep her true identity a secret. Anyway, it was so nice to not see the lead go back to her old hometown to rescue a business and run into an old boyfriend. Seriously I was cheering instead of shaking my head and rolling my eyes. Every single one of the actors/actresses blew me away. There was an authenticity to every performance and every connection was genuine. Nothing felt forced. Besides Taylor and Kevin, other standouts to us were Eric & Peter. Taylor and Kevin’s chemistry was off-the-charts but what really got to me was the way he looked at her as his feelings for her deepened. It was so profound it just melted my heart. The two of them together are hands-down my favorite couple of the season. I loved Jesse and Jill a lot in their movie, and they are a close second favorite couple. But I enjoyed Taylor and Kevin’s relationship even more. It was sweet, funny, and sincere. This movie touched my heart in away that only a handful of Christmas movies have done this year and earlier years. I was moved to tears, more than once. Kudos to everyone who had a part in bringing this movie to our television screen. ~Joan

🎄 A Reason for the Season is a great movie. Taylor and Kevin were great and well as the other actors too. Uplifting movie! It's a keeper! ~Joyce in Carolina

🎄 A REASON FOR THE SEASON
This was alright. Quite enjoyable to watch 1 time but I probably wouldn’t watch it again. I do think the movie had all of the good intention. Heartwarming storyline, with the theme of giving back to the community. However, the “big reveal” of Evie being Evie Lane didn’t quite have the emotional impact I think the movie was aiming for. It was not a bad movie but it could’ve been better. Taylor Cole and Kevin McGarry were both a delight to watch as expected –CH Mom


A Novel Noel - November 21, 2024

🎄 Gay pub owner in A Novel Noel. –Maria

🎄 A Novel Noel. First off, there is one blip in the movie that is not family friendly. Second, it’s not really a keeper anyway so you wouldn’t be missing anything by skipping it. The writing seemed disjointed and the acting felt “phoned in”. It was as if somebody had a good idea for a cute, warm Christmas story (albeit, with some overused plotlines) and they wrote a general outline or partial story. But then someone else came along and wrote the rest of the script and bungled the original idea. There are glimmers of a good movie in there but the final product feels, for the most part, unnatural and contrived. As if no one could figure out how to seamlessly combine the two different writing styles. It seemed like the writers were grasping at straws to create conflict or sparks between the two leads, but what they intended as cute bantering and bickering was instead ridiculous and rude and snippy. And there were too many things that simply weren’t realistic. (It makes me wonder if some bigwig called in a favor for his mother-in-law who has always wanted to write a Hallmark Christmas movie?) But to be fair, it wasn’t all on the writer’s shoulders. It felt like the two lead actors were on autopilot through most of the movie; I like them both in other movies but this just felt like I was watching them recite their lines and, for the most part, I wasn’t “feeling” any real romantic chemistry (although, there were some sweet moments). The overall movie atmosphere was warm and cozy, and there were a few cute, unique elements to the story, and the relationship did improve in the second half, but it just wasn’t enough to make it a keeper, for me. It had the potential to be a good movie but too much of it felt kind of lame and forced… a weird cross between “phoning it in” and “trying too hard”. Also, it’s not friendly for the entire family. I’m guessing Hallmark had to pay their holiday season dues to the DEI mob so they added one brief scene at about the 15-minute mark. The male friend who owns a British pub says “years ago I fell in love with Henry, a local carpenter, and followed him back here and we built the pub together… He passed five years ago”. That’s all we hear of that story angle. So, if you're an adult and can get past the DEI blip, then I think it might be okay for a one-time watch. Maybe? Maybe not? Probably not. ~~Jane (aka Hoof Prints on Her Forehead)

🎄 A Novel Noel - Hey Jane-gle - I am in agreement with you on this one for the most part. I didn't think the acting was quite as bad as you thought (especially by Julie). But yeah, any chemistry was definitely missing, and the storyline was certainly by-the-numbers. And they definitely could have skipped the "blip" scene - totally unnecessary! For me, this one's okay for a one-time watch, but that's it! –Mark25

🎄 A Novel Noel - Mark 25, yes, I think Julie was better than Brendan but just not much chemistry between them, although I felt it improved as it went along. I liked the Christmas bingo card (a cute twist on the standard to-do list and it turned out to be even more so sweet and poignant as the story unfolded). I don't think I've ever seen a gift wrapping contest done while wearing oven mitts, so that was also a fun twist on a standard, and the Yule log tradition amongst the friends was special. So, agreed, it was okay for a one-time watch, but it had the potential to be so much better. On to the next one!! ~~I'm Jane-gling all the way!!

🎄 “A Novel Noel” was such a good one! Julie and Brendan were so good together, very natural. The bookstore gave the a movie a very cozy vibe, would definitely watch again. ~Paula

🎄 A Novel Noel- I did watch this all the way through, even though there was a reference to a man's husband (I think that is what he said). Besides that, I liked it. ~Grace


Christmas Under the Lights - November 27, 2024

🎄 Christmas Under the Lights- Good and clean ~Grace

🎄 Christmas Under the Lights. Not bad. Not great. Okay for a one-time watch. Didn’t give me a whole lot of warm Christmas fuzzies, but I did find the friends’ party with the white elephant gift game to be fun and warm. I liked the lead male character (and the alpacas and goats he was taking care of!). Didn’t really love the female lead character in this one - the actress was fine, it was just the character that occasionally annoyed me (I liked the actress’s role much better in “Come Fly With Me” with Niall Matter, who, by the way, has a fun cameo here). I think maybe she bothered me simply because she wasn’t actually doing anything (zilch!) she was supposed to be doing for the Christmas Carnival she specifically came home to help with? Or maybe it’s because everything was all about her and her feelings?! Plus, she was obsessed with pestering the main guy to produce artwork to save the Carnival or some such silly thing. Idk? It made no real sense, other than she was overly impressed with the fact that he was kind of a famous artist before he went into hibernation and she liked the fame part(?). However, I did like the slower or more cautious way they approached getting involved. And I appreciated her character grappling with her emotions pertaining to the death of her mother and their relationship, which was shown in flashbacks. One funny flashback was her as a preteen packing to run away and her mother offers to get her some snacks because “the last time you ran away you got hungry” – hah! (I liked the actress that played the mother.) This was family friendly except for a couple of mild things, nothing too terrible. She’s learning to milk a goat and says as she’s squeezing, “I really feel like I should buy her dinner first”, so that was unnecessary. There are a few mildly tacky double entendre. There’s also a scene in the cold winter snow where he gets sweaty chopping wood and feels the need to pull his t-shirt up to wipe his brow and thereby flash his buff abs (eye roll). And there’s a bit of feel-good secular mumbo jumbo pertaining to the spirit of the deceased mother. So, not a keeper, for me, but okay for a one-time watch, and I think others will like it more than I did. ~~Jane (aka Eight Tiny Reindeer... or Alpacas )


A Dance in the Snow - December 5, 2024

All I Need for Christmas - December 12, 2024

Trading Up Christmas - December 19, 2024


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🌟UPtv:


Country Roads Christmas - November 3, 2024

🎄 "Country Roads Christmas. Beautiful singing, especially ‘O Holy Night’; the lead actress has a beautiful voice and I actually thought her “father” was singing but it turns out they had seamlessly dubbed in a professional singer and it sounded great. The movie had a few odd, disjointed and cheesy bits that didn’t fit or make sense but, overall, it was nice for a one-time watch. It wasn’t overly Christmassy. And the romance was backseat to the family reuniting storyline. Also, it’s another one of those movies where the female initiates first kiss and declaration of love; ugh. I wouldn’t recommend buying the dvd but if they play it on UPtv next year, it would be okay for a one-time watch (if only for the music). Family friendly." ~~Jane

🎄 "Country Roads Christmas – Overall, this movie is family friendly, about a grown-up daughter, Skye, who loses her job and becomes her father’s (Harris) road manager. Harris is a well-known country singer whose been singing on the road for many years; he left his wife and daughter years ago, so there are old emotional wounds that need healing. I loved hearing them sing the John Denver classic, “Country Roads,” and Skye sings beautifully throughout the movie. Skye is played by Lanie McAuley, who you may remember from "Chesapeake Shores," "The Song to my Heart," or "Write Before Christmas." It was also nice to see Lauren Holly ("The Town That Came A-Courtin'," "Call Me Mrs. Miracle," "A Country Wedding") portray Skye’s mother and the wife Harris had left years ago. Along the road, there is forgiveness, redemption, and love… so it’s definitely worth the trip!" ~Net

🎄 Country Roads Christmas was very good! –Maria


The Case of the Christmas Diamond - November 9, 2024

🎄 "The Case of the Christmas Diamond is family friendly mystery movie. Blue collar, Andy is a little nervous but thrilled when she is invited to her rich friend's estate for Christmas, but when the family matriarch's multi-million-dollar gem suddenly goes missing she finds herself accused of the theft. With the help of a famous mystery writer, Andy must find the real culprit amid the litany of wealthy guests all of whom have their knives out for her. Blue-Collar Andy finds herself accused of theft when a multimillion-dollar gem suddenly goes missing from her rich friend’s estate. With the help of a famous mystery writer, Andy must find the real culprit amid the litany of wealthy guests" ~Anonymous

🎄 "The Case of the Christmas Diamond is family friendly mystery movie about Blue collar Andy is a little nervous but thrilled when she is invited to her rich friend’s estate for Christmas. But when the family matriarch’s multi-million-dollar gem suddenly goes missing, she finds herself accused of the theft and at the center of the investigation led by Detective Billings. (Review may contain SPOILERS) With the help of a famous mystery writer, Andy must find the real culprit amid all the wealthy guests all of whom have it out for her. Blue-collar Andy finds herself accused of theft when a multimillion-dollar gem suddenly goes missing from her rich friend’s estate. With the help of a famous mystery writer named Jackie Evenson, Andy must find the real culprit amid the litany of wealthy guests. Jackie plays the role as Detective from Whodunnit Game hands 2 envelope on the pillow with cards: The Theft & The Prowler while Andy is sleeping & took a shower. Andy is being sidekick to Jackie. Andy can solve the case by using cards from Whodunnit Game. Detective Billings arrives in the afternoon at Kenilworth Estate with the guests & Andy plays the role as Deputy Detective. Jackie - The Detective Olivia - The Innocent Liam - The Gambler Harper - The Liar Margaret - The Lover Amelia - The Schemer Raphael - The Thief Lenora - The Opportunist Bridgette - The Harlot Gary - The Cheater The Prowler Gary runs toward the hall when the polices after him. Detective Billings & Polices handcuff Lenora & Gary. Andy knows Jackie sent her cards oh The Thief & The Prowler. Jackie wants to write mystery books with Andy. The Case of the Christmas Diamond by Jackie Evenson & Candace “Andy” Kayne. Andy drinks Kenilworth Spiced Ale with cinnamon stick. Liam hands Andy an album. Andy & Liam kids under the mistletoe" ~Anonymous

🎄 "Finally got around to watching the 2 ION movies I've had on the DVR for a while, and here's my reviews: THE CASE OF THE CHRISTMAS DIAMOND: I very much enjoyed this one, very intriguing." ~Maria


Christmas in Rockwell – November 10, 2024

🎄 "Christmas at the Rockwell – This movie is family-friendly and takes place in the small town of Rockwell. Stephen Huszar, who you will likely recognize from Hallmark and UPtv movies (including A Homecoming for the Holidays and Christmas in the Rockies), stars in this movie alongside Trish Stratus (Christmas in the Rockies and a former WWE professional wrestler). Trish portrays the famous Alyssa Strader, who was a child actress in the popular Christmas movie, Holly’s Puppy Christmas, turned mega-star as an adult, and still managed by her own controlling, stage-mother, Jenny, portrayed by Sherry Miller (Signed, Sealed, Delivered: The Vows We Have Made, Pride, Prejudice, and Mistletoe, etc…) Alyssa returns to her hometown of Rockwell, hoping to get away from all of the pressures of her Hollywood lifestyle. Jake (Stephen Huszar) runs the local theater, which is struggling financially, with his mother. It’s their hope that the 25th Anniversary of Holly’s Puppy Christmas will bring back viewers to the theater once again and save their business. Jake kindly asks Alyssa to attend their special screening of the film, but she just wants a peaceful Christmas out of the limelight. The chemistry between Alyssa and Jake is very sweet; they have a special connection from the past. The misunderstanding they have near the end, however, is a bit annoying, but I figured it was inevitable. Also, I could never understand why Jake let his mother continue to choose depressing foreign films to play at their theater. No wonder they couldn’t bring in any customers. It was obvious no one wanted to see the movies she was choosing. Besides that, I enjoyed the storyline and sweet flashbacks to the past. Overall, Christmas at the Rockwell is lighthearted and wholesome. For us, it was a nice afternoon watch." ~Net

🎄 "Christmas in Rockwell. (Very mild spoilers ahead.) Average movie that had its cute parts and cheesy parts and sweet parts and tired/overdone parts and funny parts and, overall, was good for a one-time watch. I see that Net already gave a good description of the story; I’ll just add that this movie loosely borrows a storyline from a Julia Roberts movie called Notting Hill and it even copies a famous romantic line from that movie -- “I’m just a girl, standing in front of a boy. . . ” (fyi, I would say Notting Hill is not clean for family audiences even though rated pg-13). In this Rockwell movie, Trish, the lead actress, had way too much heavy makeup on and she appeared rather “hard” or weathered which just accentuated the fact that she’s ten years older than Stephen Huszar in real life. However, she has a very sweet smile and facial expressions and gentle voice and she won me over with how she portrayed her character (I just wish they would’ve toned down all the harsh makeup and let her personality shine through). I was less impressed with Stephen’s character, who felt a little backward to me (something was off, it felt like he was trying to fit into a character that wasn’t a good fit for him; he was supposed to be about 38 years old but something about his character didn’t feel like a mature adult, to me), and his acting was too melodramatic in this movie and his lines were way cheesier than Trish’s. (I’ve liked him, and his characters, much better in other movies like Return to Christmas Creek, Time for Us to Come Home for Christmas, and A Homecoming for the Holidays.) That being said, there were still some good scenes between the two actors in this movie that were sweet. Some of them revolving around Trish’s character trying to re-experience a “real” Christmas for the first time in like twenty years -- she has a very, very long list of Christmas activities she wants to experience and it’s sweet that she wants to attempt to do all those many things that she remembers from her childhood spent in this small town. So, in conclusion, I wouldn’t recommend paying money for the dvd but if they run it on UPtv or something next year, it might be worth a one-time watch. Family friendly." ~~Jane

🎄 Christmas in Rockwell is amazing! –Maria


Dognapped: Hound for the Holidays – November 16, 2024

🎄 "Dognapped: Hound for the Holidays is family friendly about when an egotistical social media influencer named Victoria Frost’s dog named Tiny is dognapped, her long-suffering assistant named Emily teams up with charming local veterinarian named Jonathan to find puppy before Christmas. As two investigate suspects, they form a romantic bond along the way Tiny is Victoria Frost’s new rescue dog." ~Anonymous

🎄 "Dognapped: Hound for the Holidays. One part early in movie is not family friendly. I deleted the movie so I don't know about the rest of it. The main actress is on a phone call with her mother about coming home for Christmas and bringing a friend to stay. The mother says "[She] can stay in your sister's old room, she can't come home this year because she's headed to Florida with her new girlfriend to meet her family". Main actress says "Ah! It must be serious.". And the mother says "Finally!! And are you seeing anyone special?" ~~Jane


A Very English Christmas – November 17, 2024

🎄 A Very English Christmas. Ugh. No. Couldn’t make it all the way through. This movie had almost everything I dislike about Reel One movies. Frustratingly horrible (!*@!*#!) sound issues – either too soft and muffled or too loud (Reel One needs to fire all their sound people!). Ridiculous story premise (but that could be said about many Hallmark/GAF/UpTv movies, as well). Loud music that, annoyingly, overpowers every scene (seriously, need new sound people). Lack of attention to detail – one minute it’s sunny and the next minute after walking one block away it’s pitch-black nighttime. Editing and filming need some help. Horrible acting, mainly by the lead actress. The whole thing just feels like it was written, directed and produced by a tweenager on an adolescent’s budget. The movie did have some nice Christmassy decorations at the craft market and most of the other actors were okay-ish. I think if they got a new lead actress and a new director, had an adult re-write and tighten up the script, and got rid of the technical issues, it could have been a cute low-budget film good for a one-time watch. Who knows? Maybe it got better in the second half? The part I saw was clean, except the sister getting married is already pregnant (so, oops). ~~Jane

🎄 A Very English Christmas - Dear, oh dear. oh dear. 90 minutes of utter boredom, slower than slow-pace, little happening , poor and stilted dialogue. Originally called Christmas in the Cotswolds (a hilly country region in England). Perhaps a Christmas market in a small settlement could be successful at the weekends with tourists etc but in cold and frosty weather it opened early in the morning - utter nonsense. Little chemistry between the leads and the female lead's half-sister whose wedding she has come to organise is already pregnant so not family friendly. I can only offer one piece of advice - if you get the chance to watch this - DON'T. - Florence's rating 2

🎄 Despite what the bad reviews say, A Very English Christmas is quite charming. -Maria


The Search for Secret Santa – November 23, 2024

🎄 "The Search for Secret Santa is not family friendly about Cub reporter named Sofia/Sophia thinks she’s found a Christmas story that will save Christmas story that will save her career when she discovers a long lost, gift addressed to B. to Claire. Tony & Abigail reunited. Sophia’s best friends named Nancy & Laura to their honeymoon in Austria to honor the Prince & Finn the commoner to take historical nutcracker. Jackson hands Sophia a nutcracker" ~Anonymous

🎄 "THE SEARCH FOR SECRET SANTA is family friendly about Cub reporter Sofia thinks she's found a Christmas story that will save her career when she discovers a long-lost, undelivered Secret Santa gift... from "B. to Claire." But the mystery gets even juicer when she learns that the item - a priceless Fabergé egg - was in fact stolen years ago. With the help of a handsome & shady art dealer, she sets off on a dangerous, romantic quest to match the Secret Santas and catch the thieves." ~Anonymous

🎄 "The Search for Secret Santa. Not family friendly. Such a shame because this was a cute and cozy movie with good lead actors and a fun Nutcracker mystery up until the one-hour mark. As the mystery is unfolding, we then hear a detailed story on how there was a royal prince back in the late 1800’s in a small European country and he was the only one left to carry on the royal line. But Peter “was not the marrying kind”. Twenty-four-year-old “Peter loved Finn, a male commoner” and he showered Finn with gifts and Finn took some of the gems and made a gold and precious-gem-encrusted nutcracker as a gift for Peter. The king found out about their relationship and separated the two and banished Finn, and young, heartsick Peter died of a heart attack and the valuable nutcracker became cursed forevermore. After being told this secret tale the lead actress says, “it’s 100 years later and we’re still struggling to accept people for who they are and who they love”. That’s when I was about to hit delete but I decided to fast forward through the movie to see if I could confirm a suspicion I’d had since the beginning of the movie. And, sure enough, at the end of the movie we find out that the lead actress's two best girl friends are actually lesbian lovers and about to get married and go on a honeymoon. Ugh. This makes two Ion movies that I’ve tried to watch that were not family friendly so I’m thinking I’ll not watch anymore Ion movies?" ~~Jane

🎄 "The Search for Secret Claus Unfortunately I don’t see that coming until end of the movie in fact, Sophia’s best friends named Nancy & Laura ahead to their honeymoon in Austria to take historical nutcracker to honor Prince & Finn the commoner. I thought this family friendly but isn’t . Unless Sophia lectures nutcracker until see above until others asking Sophia about Tony & Abigail - Abigail shows up & sees Sophia so, Sophia walks toward Abigail until she calls out Tony, Abigail says Tony & Tony says Twirly, Abigail’s nickname. Jonathan carves heart (Jonathan & Sophia), Jonathan hands handmade nutcracker to Sophia Jonathan & Sophia need to avoid the thieves who want nutcracker named Justin Hawkins & Simon with eye patch just before cops come so, Jonathan asking Simon where’s his Sister in somewhere in the theater 🎭" ~Anonymous

🎄 "The Search for Secret Claus is not family friendly" ~ Anonymous

🎄 "The Search for Santa Claus is not family friendly when I found out at the end of the movie about 45 mins. Sophia lectures the audience by saying her best friends named Laura & Nancy are about to get married & ahead to their honeymoon to take historical nutcracker in Austria 🇦🇹 to honor the Prince & Finn the commoner" ~Anonymous

🎄 "THE SEARCH FOR SECRET SANTA WAS WONDERFUL BUT NOT REALLY CHRISTMASSY BUT IT WAS A GREAT MOVIE" ~Anonymous


Festival of Trees – November 24, 2024

🎄 So I was going to skip “Festival of Trees” because UpTv is hit or miss for me, mainly miss. I liked a lot of the older movies that they replay here and there. The production wasn’t the best (sets, acting) but the storyline was interesting and the little girl was so cute. The bond between her/her father and the main girl was natural and pleasant to watch. It was cute for a one time watch. ~Paula


A Prince and Pauper Christmas – November 30, 2024

🎄 "A PRINCE AND PAUPER CHRISTMAS: Loved this one!! Plus it's also clean." –Maria

🎄 "THE PRINCE AND THE PULPER , IM SORRY BUT I COULDN'T WATCH IT. VERY DISAPPOINTED. I LOVE SOME OF THE OTHER PRINCE MOVIES THOUGH, THEY ARE SO GREAT!!" ~ Anonymous

🎄 “A Prince and Pauper Christmas” – Seriously boring movie. I stopped watching after 10 minutes. ~Joan


A Bluegrass Christmas – December 1, 2024


12 Dares of Christmas – December 8, 2024

🎄 Reel One's The 12 Dares of Christmas is clean (aside from a small rainbow flag on a cash register), and a whole lot of fun. -Maria

🎄 12 Dares of Christmas. Double meh, for me. Cringey, low-budget, b-list mess. I couldn’t make it all the way through. The movie was a weird mish mash of storylines. The part that was “12 Dares” could have been cute had it been better planned out with a better script and better actors and “dares” that were all wholesome (as most of them were). Unfortunately, the first dare was the tacky “go to bar and give your phone number to 12 strangers” – yuck! The actress who plays the sister is better than the lead actress, but they both acted silly, especially with lines like “Yay! Hot girl winter!” – cringe! And the lead actor is just not my version of swoony – more like an effeminate nerd. I kept watching for a while and just when I’d think there was some cute banter or positive elements, they’d go and ruin it with more silly scenes and subpar acting. This thing was a train wreck. It was a Reel One movie so, of course, it had the obligatory annoying and odd background music that plays too loudly through scenes where people are talking. And I don’t think it was even Christmas music (unless it was some weird version of Jingle Bells), it sounded more like oompa-loompa polka music or game show music that’s been slowed way down. What was that?!! So, I probably only made it a third of the way through. What I saw was family friendly and I’m guessing a teenage crowd might like this movie better than I did. Also, the director is an actress/director/producer who has been a part of several homosexual projects and whose bio paints her as a “queer Muslim Middle Eastern-Canadian” who is “very passionate about joyful representations of minority groups” so who knows what might be included in the rest of this movie?? ~~Jane


A Novel Christmas – December 15, 2024

North by North Pole: A Dial S Mystery – December 22, 2024


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🌟LIFETIME:

Christmas at Plumhill Manor - November 16, 2024

🎄 Christmas at Plumhill Manor is clean (save for quite a bit of drinking) and quite charming. -Maria

🎄 Christmas at Plumhill Manor. Ugh. I tried, but I couldn’t even make it to the halfway point. Ridiculous script. Horrible acting – all around – both the lead and secondary actors!! The best part of the movie was the scenery and the pretty manor house. Maybe the whole thing gets better as it goes along? I was in no mood to find out. Delete. What I saw was family friendly. ~~Jane (aka Figgy Pudding)


Holiday in Happy Hollow - November 17, 2024

🎄 Holiday in Happy Hollow is clean. ~Maria

🎄 Holiday in Happy Hollow. Meh. It gets better as it goes along, however, I still decided to delete at the two-thirds point and I suppose mainly it was just my mood. Actually, if I hadn’t been multitasking, I would have deleted after ten minutes because the acting and music and sound and storyline were just not great, especially in the beginning. For a B-list movie, I suppose it’s okay and I think others might find this one to be fun. It was part cute, part ridiculous, part sweet, part predictable, part quirky. But I just decided I wasn’t really loving it and it was time to move on. What I saw was family friendly. ~~Jane (aka Frosted Fruitcake)

🎄 Holiday In Happy Hollow- Good and clean ~Grace


Christmas in the Spotlight - November 23, 2024

🎄 Christmas In The Spotlight-Not clean (agenda friendly references), stopped watching ~Grace


Sincerely, Truly Christmas - November 24, 2024

🎄 Sincerely Truly Christmas is clean and heartfelt. -Maria

🎄 Sincerely Truly Christmas. This was a bumpy, awkward ride that I jumped off of before it ended. At times it was quirky and cute and weirdly enjoyable; and, yet, at times it also felt uncomfortable and clumsy and unnatural. There was a huge focus on lying. The lead actress’s character claims to be all about “honesty” - to the point where she blames her horribly tacky, insulting, unsolicited, and unprofessional work behavior on “just being honest.” But then halfway through the movie she flip-flops and flat out lies at the biggest moment and doubles down on the lie and then even blames the lie on Jake Epstein’s character. The whole thing just felt ugly to me in my spirit, so I quit watching with about 20 minutes to go. Other than the lying, I suppose it’s family friendly, but I wouldn’t recommend it unless you were using it to teach kids what not to do. Also, there’s a father/son relationship where the son seems more in charge than the father. And there are magic wishing powers granted. ~~Jane (aka Dancin’ and Prancin’ in Jingle Bell Square)


BeBe Winans’ We Three Kings - November 30, 2024

🎄 We Three Kings is amazing!! Highly recommend. –Maria


Make or Bake Christmas - December 1, 2024

🎄 Make or bake Christmas is clean(save for 1 swear word). –Maria


A Very Merry Beauty Salon - December 7, 2024


How to Fall in Love by Christmas - December 8, 2024

🎄 How to Fall In Love By Christmas - is a clean and very, very delightful romp! -Maria

🎄 I watched a cute movie last night. It was "How to Fall in Love by Christmas". My husband and I really enjoyed it. It was clean and a lot of fun. Teri Hatcher and Dan Payne were the leads and they had warm, natural chemistry. It was nice seeing older leads fall in love. :-) They had a really interesting meet-cute. I laughed out loud. ~Joan

🎄 How to Fall in Love by Christmas. Cute movie with more mature leads, which I appreciated. Teri and Dan were great and believable (the meet-cute was fun). The premise about the 10-step dating article and the company board not being happy was a bit convoluted and confusing to me but it didn’t really affect my enjoyment of the movie. This was a nice little standard Christmas movie with some warm “feels” good for a one-time watch (and possibly a re-watch in the future?). Not as good as Teri’s “A Kiss Before Christmas” from two years ago. Family friendly. ~~Jane

🎄 How to Fall in Love by Christmas – This Christmas movie, starring Teri Hatcher and Dan Payne, was such a delightful watch. I enjoyed the comedy (such a fun meet-cute!) and heartwarming moments, too. It is such an easy-going, enjoyable movie that will surely leave you with a smile on your face. ~Net


The Holiday Junkie - December 14, 2024

Christmas on the Alpaca Farm - December 15, 2024

A Carpenter Christmas Romance - December 21, 2024

Engaged by Christmas - December 22, 2024


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🌟STREAMING MOVIES:


🌟HALLMARK+:

Unwrapping Christmas Tina’s Miracle

Hallmark+ Unwrapping Christmas Tina’s miracle is family friendly. I did like this movie. I felt it was a little slow at first but glad I finished it. It Inspires you to self reflect and to not let the past dictate your future. -Elizbeth

Hallmark +'s Unwrapping Christmas: Tina's Miracle is a sweet movie, highly recommend. Hopefully the next 3 movies are also good. –Maria


Unwrapping Christmas: Lily's Destiny

Unwrapping Christmas: Mia's Prince is clean and so heartfelt and romantic! –Maria


Unwrapping Christmas: Mia's Prince

Hallmark +'s Unwrapping Christmas: Lily's Destiny is clean. –Maria


Mistletoe Murders

🎄 Mistletoe Murders is family friendly (1st episode) and liking it so far. -Elizbeth

🎄 Mistletoe Murders - Okay, so I decided to get Hallmark+ for the Christmas season. I’ve watched the first two episodes of “Mistletoe Murders,” and it is a cozy sort of mystery.

Sarah Drew (“Guiding Emily”) is the lead and she is good in this genre. Her character, Emily Lane, owns and runs a Christmas shop, but she also has a covert mysterious past.

The show has a sort of “Murder, She Baked” vibe to it with all the community involvement in Fletcher’s Grove, and Emily has two adorable cats. Sarah Drew’s opposite is Peter Mooney (“Fly Away with Me”), who plays local police officer, Sam Wilner. He is a single divorced father with a daughter in high school, who also works with Emily at her Christmas shop.

I won’t give any of the mystery away, but one of the suspects is an unmarried pregnant woman. There is some mystery as to who the father is of her unborn baby. Another male suspect is referred to as her (and I quote) “Baby Daddy.” Due to that and some violence centered around the murder, the episodes are best-suited for a mature audience.

Thus far, “Mistletoe Murders” is an intriguing mystery series. ~Net

🎄 I’ve been watching the Mistletoe Murders Mystery series and so far it’s pretty good. I just finished the first half of episode 2 and so far it’s been family friendly. ~Abigail

🎄 Mistletoe Murders – (episode 3&4) Each murder mystery in The Mistletoe Murders series are written to cover 2 episodes, so it’s basically like watching a movie. The 3rd and 4th episodes were mostly family-friendly for a show that revolves around murder. These types of shows are best suited for pre-teen age and up, anyway.

Cautions: A woman who was killed in a car “accident,” was thought to be having an affair with a man who is in the local choir. This same man is questioned by Emily (Sarah Drew’s character) and when she asks if he was involved with her, he says something like, she’s not my type and Emily says, blonde?, and he simply says woman. Nothing else is said or shown afterwards. There is another murder near the end of the 4th episode.

Overall, I love the sweet relationship between Emily and Sam, and his teenage daughter, who is a breath of fresh air. The Christmas shop is darling, and it was nice to hear the choir sing Christmas carols in these episodes. ~Net


🌟NETFLIX:

Hot Frosty

🎄 Netflix's Hot Frosty is clean (save for a few swear words), and a wonderful bundle of sweetness and laughs! -Maria

🌟AMAZON:

Holiday for Hire

🎄 Holiday for Hire – (streamed on Amazon Prime) This movie is basically a rip-off of Holiday Engagement. Yes, the fake boyfriend trope has been done many times before, but this movie attempts to copy-cat Holiday Engagement way too closely.

The acting isn’t always the best, but as the story progresses; I felt more of the heart of the characters. I was actually feeling rather sad for Josh (who is pretending to be Dean), since this is his first Christmas without any family since his mother’s passing and it’s obvious he’s enjoying being around Katie’s family. But then there’s a scene with terrible karaoke singing that pulls me back to my original thoughts. The karaoke scene is another poor attempt to copy the beautiful piano singing scene from Holiday Engagement.

And then (mild Spoiler) the original Dean shows up at Katie’s family’s house… and basically, if you’ve seen Holiday Engagement, then you know the story. There are a few differences, but not enough to make it truly unique.

Except for the fake boyfriend deceitfulness, Holiday for Hire is family-friendly, but it’s a one-time watch for me. ~Net

🎄 Holiday for Hire - Funny enough I watched this the other and my review would be very similar to yours. You could script this yourself - you know exactly what is going to happen. I can't say I know Holiday Engagement so maybe that was a bonus.

The big plus for me was that although I didn't know Christie Leverette or Andrew Rogers playing Katie and Josh I really liked them - like yourself the fact that this was Josh's first Christmas without his mother pulled at my heartstrings and you could see how much he was affected by being embraced into the family.

He was by no means a momma's boy or nerd though. While it's not one I would pick out to rewatch it if it was on the TV some afternoon it wouldn't be a hardship to do so. I would stretach to a 6.5 for this - Florence


Royally Yours, This Christmas

🎄 Royally Yours, This Christmas (2024) is a family friendly about a Royal Prince named James Winter falls in love with a single Mother & hotel housekeeper named Neve Collins at Christmastime after he mistaken a her for a wealthy hotel guest. Neve has a Daughter named Prim Collins & her friend named Faith Ferrera. It’s available on Prime & Freevee ~Anonymous

A Fireman Christmas

🎄 A Fireman Christmas (2024) is family friendly about Dani is summoned from New York to come home to Holly, MI & plan for her best friend named Kathy’s wedding. As she plans an elegant event at historic Holly Hotel, she is paired with a best man who is a fireman named Trevor. He’s a handsome & kind fireman who she just can’t get along with or can she? A Sparks fly between Danielle and a firefighter named Trevor when she returns home to Holly, Michigan, to plan her best friend's wedding. Best Man’s friend is a Groom named Matthew. It’s available on Prime. ~Anonymous

🎄 A Home for the Holidays (2023) is family friendly about a local hardware store owner named Ella is ecstatic to finally be in possession of the mansion to purchases a rundown house in a small Colorado town, only for the heir named Russell of the original owner to show up with his 10-year-old son named Ben to turn up reclaim it. Townspeople fix the electrical fuse to turn the lights back on. It’s available on streaming services: Prime,

A Merry Royal Christmas

🎄 A Merry Royal Christmas (2024) is family friendly about a high powered wedding planner named Felicity is pulled in at the last minute to plan a royal wedding set for Christmas Day. She meets a handsome & alluring stranger named Prince Vincent, who she shocked to later discovered is the Prince who wedding she is planning. Felicity has a Daughter named Junie. George & Princess Juliette. Prince John & Princess Ranaeda. It’s available on Prime & Freevee


A Christmas of Wonders

🎄 A Christmas of Wonders (2024) is family friendly about After years of globetrotting, a travel writer named Eliza Gardiner returns to her small hometown for the holidays, where she rediscovers the magic of family traditions & reconnects with an old flame named Will Matthew’s." Eliza & Colin realize that they aren’t right each other. Eliza & Will are in love each other. It’s now available on streaming services: Prime & Freevee


🌟Xumo Play:

Meet Me at the Christmas Train Parade

🎄 Reel One's Meet Me at the Christmas Train Parade is clean, and very quite enjoyable. (streaming on Xumo Play). –Maria


A Sprinkle of Christmas

🎄 Reel One's A Sprinkle of Christmas is clean, and that's all I have to say. (streaming on Xumo Play). –Maria


🌟Freevee:

A Perfect Christmas Carol

🎄 A Perfect Christmas Carol (2023) is family friendly about when a fiercely independent pastry chef named Carol Martin agrees to accompany her hunky dream man named Max home for the holidays, things quickly devolve as he reverts into a momma's boy and she finds herself caught in a tug-of-war with his smothering mother. Christmas Bake off. White Christmas is snowy in the night. It’s available on Freevee


A European Christmas

🎄 Reel One's A European Christmas is clean and spectacular! (streaming on Freevee). –Maria

Snowy with a Chance of Christmas

🎄 Reel One's Snowy with a Chance of Christmas is clean a bit charming. (if the female lead doesn't really annoy you). (streaming on Freevee). –Maria


The True Miracle of Christmas

🎄 The True Miracle of Christmas (2023) is family friendly about True Miracle of Christmas is heartwarming that follows the journey of loving couple, played by Steph & Natasha Carse, as they rediscover the true magic of Christmas by reflecting on their cherished memories. It’s available on streaming services: Freevee ~Anonymous


🌟Showtime Family Zone:

Mistletoe Ranch

🎄 Watched Mistletoe Ranch (Another 1 of Steve Jaggi's movies) on Showtime Family Zone tonight. Pretty good movie. –Maria


🌟Hulu:

Operation Mistletoe

🎄 Operation Mistletoe (2024) is family friendly about when Grace’s former classmate & (crush) Ryan St. Nicholas arrives home for Christmas, Grace’s best friend initiates “Operation Mistletoe” to search for mistletoe. Ryan isn’t selling St. Nicholas’ House to keep his family legacy that belong to his Grandma’s. Ribbons & Bows Christmas Fundraiser with help from Jack & Olivia. Mayor Sami Hoffman & her Husband. Olivia gives Grace a mistletoe. Grace has a mistletoe while Ryan holds mistletoe from Grace as they kissed under the mistletoe. Jack & Olivia go outside. It’s available on Hulu via Disney+ ~Anonymous

🎄 Thank you for sharing about this movie! I just watched it and it was so cute! It stars Jen Lilley and Nick Bateman. They had great chemistry together and the supporting cast was great especially her best friend and brother who are married. Very cute and fun! It’s available on Hulu. ~Sara S.


Renovation Romance

🎄 Renovation Romance - Just wanted to let y’all know that a new Christmas movie with Jessica Lowndes and Daniel Lissing called Renovation Romance is now on Hulu. It was really cute! A heads up that both of them have significant others when they start the movie because I know that can bother some people with storylines like that. But I do feel that the breakups are very interesting and the communication is rather profound during those scenes so I feel like it was surprisingly handled pretty well. Even though I don’t mind those storylines usually I was a bit nervous at how they were going to handle it considering it was going to be two relationships ending. It was so good to see Jessica Lowndes and Daniel Lissing together again! I loved them together in A December Bride and watch it a couple times each Christmas season because it makes me smile so it made me really happy to see them together again in a new movie. They really have great chemistry together! While it was clean, they are working with couples who aren’t necessarily married yet that are renovating homes (at least in the opening scene and in the relationship between Daniel Lissing and his significant other) it is never implied that they live together. Really enjoyed the movie! ~Sara S.


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Stay tuned...

I will be updating this post above, from time to time, as reviews from our *It's a Wonderful Movie" family & friends come in!

Thank you once again to EVERYONE above who has contributed and made this movie review post a success.


HOW TO SHARE A REVIEW:

*Simply leave your movie review in comments anywhere on this site. I'll share your review in this post above.

*Be sure to first write the Christmas movie title, share your review, and please sign at the end of your review your name, initials, nickname, etc… (Our friend, Jane, who is loyal reviewer here, also suggested that those who want to be Anonymous, could use a fun Christmassy name, like Sugar Cookie, Santa’s elf, etc… Whatever you choose, please continue to use that name throughout the Christmas season, so we know those reviews are from you!)

*If possible, please don't include spoilers, or just give a spoilers warning if you need to.

*It goes without saying, but please also be kind and thoughtful in your reviews. It's possible one of the actors, actresses, writers, etc. may see your comment.


Again, thank you all! I truly look forward to hearing your take on the upcoming 2024 Christmas movies!

God Bless Us, Everyone!
Net