Wow! This movie had so much going on! There’s a few minorish spoilers listed, so read at your own risk. I try not to give away too much, but for this review, I need to give you some details to explain myself.
I feel like Hallmark tried to do too much in one movie.
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- Mom and Dad selling childhood home
- Mom and Dad potentially separating
- Mom retiring
- Mike possibly losing his job
- Mike’s love interest in Andi
- Brandon and Jake trying to adopt
- Brandon and Jake are opening a bakery
Is it real life? Yes. Do I get why they did it? Yes. But do I want real life in a Hallmark Christmas movie? Not really.
Don’t get me wrong. They did this really well. All of it, except for maybe Marvelous Jim, was real. You know, because he was magical. Haha! – We will blame this lame attempt at humor on the late hour I wrote this.
There was so much to enjoy about this movie.
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- The brothers little contests. Racing to the rental car. Racing to get the most boxes into the moving truck. They perfectly captured sibling contests.
- Mike’s promotional video for Andi’s business with Noah. It was sweet that Mike embraced Noah so openly.
- Mom with the whistle going over the plans for the Christmas House – this made my type A heart pitter-patter.
- The Dynamic Duo of Majestic Mike and Awesome Andi. It was sweet watching the flashbacks with the magic scenes.
- The Dad jokes!
- What do you call a spruce tree that knows kung fu? Spruce Lee!
- Here today, gone tamale
- The final Christmas House. It was so amazing! It’s like every child’s Christmas dream come to life. I wish every town had a house that did this. Maybe even a travelling Christmas House, so each family could put their own spin on it.
- That ending! Oh man, the ending is like waking up on Christmas morning and having all your wishes come true. It’s Hallmark Gold.
This movie took me on a roller coaster ride of emotions. I was feeling really glum around the middle of the movie when it felt like everything was going down hill for everyone, but this is Hallmark! I should know by now, it’ll all work out.
I’m giving this 4 out of 5 stars because I really felt like Hallmark tried too hard to put too much into one movie and they tried to hide too much, e.g. selling the house, parents separating, the adoption, etc. This is still a great movie and I think it’s well worth watching. Give it a try! Happy movie watching y’all