The Christmas House 2: Deck Those Halls
Aired: Saturday, Dec. 18
We love a sequel, especially when it stars Robert Buckley and Jonathan Bennett as brothers battling it out for Christmas supremacy. And guess what? This sequel was actually—gasp!—better than the original. More laughs, more emotion, more fun. So, of course, we are demanding a third outing next year.
The Santa Stakeout
Aired: Sunday, Oct. 24
Dare we say this was one of the most fun outings of the 2021 season?! Think Mr. and Mrs. Smith-style fake-relationship trope with Tia Mowry-Housley and Paul Campbell, the network's most sarcastic (and underrated) leading man, delightfully playing off each other as a festive rookie detective and a Scroogey veteran. We love it when we can tell the leads had a blast making the movie, which is exactly what's going on here. Also: Joe Pantoliano is freaking in it! Forget NBD, that is A BFD.
A Dickens of a Holiday!
Aired: Friday, Dec. 10
No bah, humbugs from us, this was just delightful. Kris Polaha was a wonder, delivering a top-notch performance as an A-list action star playing Scrooge in his hometown's annual performance of A Christmas Carol. Meeting him at his level was a never-better Brooke D'Orsay, his director who happened to be his high school crush. So many feels, including some frustration over not getting any real resolution about the characters' respective careers by movie's end.
Tis the Season to Be Merry
Aired: Sunday, Dec. 19
We have three words for you: Rachael. Leigh Cook. To us, she is pure magic. So, while the movie wasn't reinventing the wheel, watching her banter with Travis Van Winkle, straight off his ab-baring run on season three of You, was just delightful, elevated the material and was just a merry way to close out the 2021 season. She really is all that and this outing charmed the heck out of us!
Eight Gifts of Hanukkah
Aired: Friday, Dec. 3
IT'S CRAIG MANNING, YALL! Sorry, but you must indulge our inner Degrassi fan girl for a second as it was such a breath of fresh to see Jake Epstein as the leading man in this. And man, does the guy still have that effortless charm and charisma. Sure, the plot device is as old as time—girl receives anonymous gifts from a secret admirer who turns out to be her best friend—but still,'twas super refreshing to have the reveal happen before the halfway mark! Also, it was just cute AF. Plus, this movie serves as a reminder, as always, that when in doubt, kiss Craig!
An Unexpected Christmas
Aired: Friday, Nov. 26
Even though, at its core, it was a traditional Hallmark movie, it was a perfectly executed one. There was such a fresh and fun energy to this one and we think it's for a few reasons: Paul Campbell, another one of the network's leading men, wrote the playful script, there was an unexpected cameo from another Hallmark hunk, Andrew Walker, and the chemistry between a (gasp!) clean-shaven Tyler Hynes and One Tree Hill's one true gem Bethany Joy Lenz, two of our favorites, as exes pretending to still be together was pitch-perfect. We LOVE this movie. Play it in the Louvre!