Image via: https://www.hallmarkchannel.com/my-christmas-family-tree
Rating: āāāā
What the what Hallmark!?! I’m not sure what to make of this movie. I was all set to make it a 4 or 5 rating until the last 10 minutes. Now I’m debating downgrading it to a 3. Ugh! Here’s a quick re-cap and my full two cents to explain my frustrations.
Quick Re-Cap
Vanessa’s mother died when she was 9 and she was fostered until she turned 18. Not having any family, she does a genetic test and discovers a paternal match. She meets her father who invites her to join the family over the holidays. Vanessa joins them and starts to feel like a member of the family until she receives a call saying the genetic testing company had a mix-up. Can she keep the family she’s begun to love?
My Two Cents
First things first. ANDREW WALKER! I haven’t always been an Andrew Walker fan. However, over the past few years he’s been steadily growing on me. I would compare him to aged wine, but I’m a Wisconsin girl, so he’s more like an aged cheddar…sharper and tastier over time. š
I also need to give a shout out to Aimee Teegarden. She was wonderful! She does sweet and cute really well in this movie. I also enjoyed her in A New Year’s Resolution earlier this year.
As much as I enjoyed Andrew and Aimee, I had a hard time with the reality of this movie. I understand not all Hallmark movies are real or believable, but this one had a major flaw that I really struggled with. Vanessa and/or Richard should have recognized an issue earlier.
Richard said Vanessa’s mom should have been Trish, but Vanessa’s mom’s name is Patty. Richard met Vanessa’s mom in Providence, but Vanessa never knew her mom to be in Providence.
I suppose when you have DNA telling you that you’re related, sometimes you’re blinded to the possibility it couldn’t be real. But it still felt like Vanessa and Richard should have second guessed things a lot earlier.
Okay, moving past that big flaw. I still really enjoyed the movie!
I loved the first phone call with Richard and Vanessa! It was so awkward and sweet. I would imagine most first phone calls would go this way. I also liked how the half siblings felt about Vanessa and we saw those relationships grow naturally.
I wrote all of this before the last 10 minutes of the movie. Then the last 10 minutes happened and I had no idea what to think. Way to throw a curve ball Hallmark!! I’m still not sure what to think. I’m going to try not to think about it too much and just say at least it has a Hallmark happily ever after.
This movie won’t hit my personal Countdown to Christmas must watch list. Mostly because of the ending. It didn’t feel complete. Who’s daughter is Vanessa? Does it really matter since she loves Kris and the family no matter what? I don’t know, but it bothered me too much to put this in the must watch category. Even Jeff was sitting here asking WTF??
Have you seen it? What did you think? What was that ending? What do you think was the actual truth? Leave a comment!
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The ending strongly implied that Vanessa being told that the DNA results were a mistake, was a mistake, and she is Richard’s real daughter after all.āŗ
Thanks Lisa! That’s what I thought too, but it really annoyed me. It made it very unbelievable and unfinished at that point to me.
I missed the last 15 minutes due to family health issues and was hoping Vanessa and Richard,were family. Yes or no? Let me know, thanks!
I think so? In the end, they make it sound like she is despite the DNA not matching. They show a picture of Vanessa’s mom and confirm she’s Richard’s ex.
Yes, i had alot of questions too. First, she z told that this man is her DNA father….then, he may not be? I thought DNA is accurate? She leaves sadly and then the fatger runs to the closet and finds an kkd photo of his ex girlfriend who died 9 yrs after the birth and declares. THEY LOOK ALIKE. !!!AND SUDDENLY, ALL IS WELL ?? THE PRESENT WIFE is all happy too? Meanwhike, i ask “why didnt vanessa s mom tell Richard she was expecting ? Plus who was the second daughter a child of?
Haha! I totally agree! In fairness, the present wife is happy, because the previous relationship happened before they ever met. So, she has no reason to be upset. He didn’t know he had a child out there.
Wanted the whole truth to come out. Not guess. Hoping DNA saying mismatch is wrong.
Thank you. I DVR’d this, but the more promos I saw, well … meh was my thought. You TOTALLY saved me wasting time on this. We all know Hallmarks formula, but if there’s no magic, it’s not worth watching.
This movie could have been great. Loved all the characters. But the ending was confusing, and left us with a lack of ending. Which ruined it.
You are so right! It was frustrating that it could have been a top 100 (because how can you only choose 10?!) movies! One of my friends asked what was confusing about the ending. At first, I couldn’t really put it into words. Eventually, I realized it was the loose ends that frustrated me. If Vanessa got a call saying she wasn’t the match, then the other Vanessa must have gotten the same call. So, what happened to the other Vanessa? Why didn’t she call her newly matched father? She could have shown up at the house or reached out to her new Dad. It would have been better if the DNA mismatch was never part of the plot. It wasn’t necessary for the story at all.
Yeah, I was so confused at the ending that I went to the internet. Your summation of why the confusion at least clued me in. I surmise that it was a real match, just a bad, unprofessional call from the DNA folks. Hey, at least it wasn’t the typical Hallmark plot: two people fall in love, one gets the job of a lifetime and has to move, but doesn’t move due to true love. haha. Well, maybe if I watch again knowing the ending, it might help.
Iām not going to spoil the ending, but I will say they never reconcile the mistake the agency made. It made a messy ending.
Totally agree! That’s what bothered me about it!!
Hallmark really dropped the ball on this one! Leaving the DNA error unresolved made a very delightful movie feel unfinished! We are supposed to be convinced that one picture outweighs DNA testing! They needed some reasonable explanation for the error of the error! Ridiculous! This movie went from being at the top of my list of Christmas movies to the DON’T watch again list!
Be thankful the writers of this movie are not airline pilots!
I was also bothered that the call from the DNA agency was not resolved.
I did enjoy the movie though.
I thought the actors did a nice job.
I think the mix up was the nationality percentages. They made a big deal about her west african ancestry so I think that was going to be the mix up
Personally, I enjoyed it. The acting was sincere and refreshing
I loved this movie but….
A couple things that were a little annoying
First, the youngest daughter singing Away in a Manger at the Christmas Pagent, was she really singing or was she lip synching? It was awkward.
Second, when Richard found a picture of Vanessa’s mom, Vanessa looked exactly like her mom. How did he not noticed the resemblance between Vanessa and her mom when he first met Vanessa? (or is his memory that bad?)
Besides the 2 above, I loved this movie š
Aadila Dosani as Dee Dee was good as the token ethnic.