It's a Christmas Miracle!
This year’s batch of Christmas movies were pretty insane. Chinggay and I went through all 40 of them and recorded weekly pods (and though it was a tight timeline, we somehow made it work). I’m glad we got into the groove of the ups and downs because honestly, I didn’t know if it would be a good year. Luckily, we were saved.
10. A Christmas Cookie Catastrophe
Though this one is the usual Hallmark fare, I put it in my top 10 because WHY NOT. It has two of my favorite actors and they really can do anything when it’s my favorite folks. Playing rival bakeries, Victor Webster and Rachel Boston really know how to work a basic ass plot. I will always adore my big burly mountain man that is Victor Webster.
9. My Southern Family Christmas
I really love the addition of Jaicy Elliot to the Hallmark family and even if hers wasn’t quite a love story, her chemistry with biological father, Bruce Campbell is always a welcome deal. I’m liking how Hallmark is leaning more into family stories rather than just the usual love stories and I know that they’re still the Hallmark channel but I appreciate a non-size 0 girl representation.
8. We Wish You a Married Christmas
Anything Kris Polaha is in, I tend to buy and this one was no different. We get the on the brink of divorce couple (hello, drama mama Marisol Nichols) and it was such a nice match-up. Of course, we still get the usual montages of small town Christmas life with a tense situation but I’m glad we get to see a less serious version of Cranberry Christmas.
7. Haul Out the Holly
There is a reason Lacey Chabert is the Queen of Christmas. And her turn with Wes Brown in a more comedic movie was such a treat. They pulled out all the stops with this one and I can’t believe I’m only ranking it seventh because truly, it was such a fun movie — and felt more than just a Hallmark movie. I’m so happy Lacey brought it.
6. The Holiday Sitter
The token LGBTQ+ movie didn’t feel token at all just because they made a love story and the leads happened to be gay and Jonathan Bennett was so amazing in this one where an alpha male refusing to settle down falls in love with the best uncle on the cusp of doing an adoption. It’s a classic opposites attract (during Christmas) and as I prepare to be the fun aunt, this was amazing.
5. Jolly Good Christmas
It’s hard to top Christmas Waltz, but Will Kemp teamed up with Reshma Shetty and somehow got an American accent but brought us on a British Christmas caper. Hallmark always likes to cross the Atlantic but usually in the royal variety (and this season we had those, too!) but I’m glad we kept it normal folks and they did it so well — complete with pubs and posh looking parties and just a good looking man.
4. Lights, Camera, Christmas!
When Hallmark goes meta, they can do it well and how could they not when Kimberly Sustad is at the helm of things! She played local dress maker, who suddenly gets thrown into a movie set. This is Notting Hill-esque with a gender swap but make it Hallmark! I honestly love anything with Kimberly in it and this was no different.
3. Ghosts of Christmas Always
Hallmark has always tried to do the Christmas Carol and they’ve always done it incredibly poorly. Well, no longer! Starring fresher faces, I was scared this wasn’t going to do well, but in fact, it stood the test of time (i.e. being earlier in the season). Despite the high concept, I was rooting for them to fall in love no matter what rules in the magical realism universe threw their way. Incredibly delightful.
2. Three Wise Men and a Baby
How could this not be in the top 2 at the very least. The only reason this didn’t make it to the top spot is because I couldn’t rank two movies as my top 1. But when you combine Andrew Walker, Tyler Hynes, and Paul Campbell, it’s pretty much a winner. And they did non-love story focused movie so freaking well. The fact that they played brothers and gave us all the tropes, makes me love it even more.
1 .Hanukkah on Rye
But really, call it recency bias, because the last movie the Hallmark channel released just trumped them all. Hallmark has been churning out Hanukkah movies every year and this one goes up there with Double Holiday and Jeremy Jordan and Yael Grobglas do You’ve Got Mail but make it Hallmark but make it Jewish and give us all the side characters that make it amazing. I can’t stop talking about this and I will force everyone to watch this.
Listen to the last podcast where Chinggay and I reveal our blended top 10 because when we average out our tastes, there may be some surprises!
