A Godwink Christmas

There’s just something special about Hallmark’s Christmas movies. Are they cheesy? Yeah. Are they formulaic? Yeah. But do we watch them year after year? Hell to the yeah. There’s just something about quaint towns covered in snow as people fall in love over and over that we just love to see.

Especially me.

We wish you a Merry SPOILERS!

Paula (Kimberly Sustad) works at an auction house and loves antiques. She also loves businessman Daniel (Giles Panton), who is becoming more and more of a workaholic. She has to surprise him at work to spend time with him in order to talk about the dinner planned with his parents that night. Paula likes to cook so she has planned for them to have dinner at his house but he reveals he made reservations at the restaurant, saying it would just be easier. She’s disappointed but brushes it off as she starts talking about a little storefront she saw for sale that she thinks will be perfect for the antique shop she wants to open. Daniel isn’t sure about it as she has a good job at the auction house and opening a store is risky. Before they can talk about it more, though, his phone goes off—he set a timer so he could return to work. Which he does.

I mean, on one hand—I get it. She did interrupt his work day and it seems he’s always running on a deadline. But on the other hand, she only crashed his work day because its the only time they have together and she was trying to talk to him about something important.

That night, Daniel and Paula go to dinner with his parents and his sister Jenn (Natalie Sharp). Daniel reveals that he had another reason for wanting to go to a restaurant rather than hosting dinner at home. He knew that Paula would’ve been busy all night cooking and serving, which would leave no time for what he wanted to do. Daniel pulls out a ring and proposes. Paula pauses and it’s clear she’s caught off-guard as well as having doubts. But with his family watching, she says yes.

She and Daniel return to their house and he notes that she’s not as excited as he expected. Paula says that she just was caught off-guard. He accepts that and starts saying she’s going to have to get rid of some of her stuff when they move in together since his place is a lot smaller than hers. Paula thought they would get something together but he insists that his place is closer to work for him, so it works best. She continues to see red flags but decides to table the discussion for now since it’s late.

Confused, Paul gives her Aunt Jane (Kathie Lee Gifford) a call. Aunt Jane can tell that her niece is conflicted about the engagement and invites her to visit her in Nantucket for the weekend. Paula agrees to go and is eager to have a weekend with her aunt.

Before Paula leaves, Jenn stops by. She had wanted to talk to Paula at dinner the other night but then Daniel proposed so that went out the window. She tells Paula that she’s conflicted. Daniel has gotten her a great law internship but she’s not sure she wants to be lawyer anymore. A friend of hers is getting ready to go on a marine biology expedition and has a spot for Jenn. Paula asks her what she knows about marine biology and Jenn admits nothing. Paula then tells her to listen to her heart and it will guide her. Jenn thanks her.

Paula then flies to Nantucket to visit her aunt. However, Jane's deadline for her book has been moved up so she needs to spend all day working on it. She gives Paula a ticket and tells her to go enjoy herself on Martha’s Vineyard while Jane works. They’ll spend the rest of the weekend together. Paula thanks her and heads off to the plane going to Martha’s Vineyard.

Meanwhile, we are introduced to Gery (Paul Campbell), who owns a nice inn on Martha’s Vineyard called the Charlotte Inn. He has just finished decorating the place for the holidays and goes to pick up something from the airport, showing up just as Paula arrives. She tries to get a cab so she can go visit some antique stores but Buddy (Ryan Alexander McDonald) has trouble with his cab. Gery offers to take her instead.

Paula and Gery get along well enough as he takes her back to the Charlotte Inn to drop some things off. She’s amazed by it and he reveals he’s the owner, saying he came to help his uncle fix it up and then his uncle sold it to him. He invites Paula inside and they share lunch together.

After a nice lunch and some lovely conversation, Paula finally gets to go through town. She visits some shops and finds a new antique shop owned by Susanna Berry (Lucia Walters). They talk a bit and Paula finds a print that appears to be a Currier and Ives. Susanna knows that there are many knock-offs and Paula tells her how to determine if it’s a real one. She has to go but Susanna promises to look into it.

Paula’s day in Martha’s Vineyard starts to come to an end and Gery takes her back to the airport. However, weather has cancelled her flight back to Nantucket and she’s stuck on Martha’s Vineyard for the night. She lets her aunt know and then heads back out to the airport, pleased to see Gery is still there. He offers to let her stay at the Charlotte Inn and she takes him up on the offer.

(She later learns from her Aunt Jane that he put her in the best room, one that people book months in advance to stay in).

Paula gets to know more about the town when Gery takes her to the local youth center. She had seen signs for a Christmas festival there and he explains that it’s an annual fundraiser to help keep it open. He helps run it and she’s impressed with his generosity. She suggests a few things they could do at the festival and he likes that she’s willing to help. He also talks about a carousel in a nearby town, which intrigues Paula.

Gery wakes up and finds out that flights have resumed out of Martha’s Vineyard. He goes to find Paula but is informed she went to go visit someplace but would come back. Gery figures out where she went and finds her at the carousel, which is closed for the season. She sits on one of the horses and tells him about her mother, who she lost a few years ago, and how they would ride carousels together. She is also the reason why Paula loves the holidays so much. Gery then tells her that flights have resumed and she agrees she should head back.

Before she leaves, she heads back to Susanna’s shop. Susanna thanks her for the tip and tells her that the print was a real Currier and Ives. Paula is pleased to hear it and she buys it, asking Susanna to have it delivered for her. Susanna promises to do that and Paula leaves to head back to Nantucket.

Reunited with her Aunt Jane, Paula talks about her engagement. Even though she figured they would get married, she felt blindsided by his proposal and she had some doubts about it. She isn’t sure she made the right decision when she said “yes.” Aunt Jane talks about when she married Paula’s uncle and moved away from the rest of her family. She said she was scared but she knew in her heart that it was the right decision. Paula needs to listen to her heart now.

Before she could listen to it, though, Daniel shows up to spend time with her. She’s touched…until he spends more time on the phone than with her. But she’s determined to have fun with him and is still pleased he showed up.

Meanwhile, back on Martha’s Vineyard, Gery is busy getting ready for the Youth Center’s holiday party and clearly missing Paula.

Daniel manages to put down his phone long enough to go on a walk with Paula as they take in some of Nantucket’s Christmas decorations or a festival of some sort, it’s not really clear. The scene is to show how distracted Paula is and how it’s not the same as when she was with Gery. Daniel notices and also realizes she isn’t been wearing her ring. Paula tearfully tells him that she hasn’t been wearing it since he got there…but he only just noticed. She says she is having doubts and needs time to figure out what she wants. Daniel is upset and he decides to give her some space.

He leaves and Paula is just as conflicted as ever, especially as she feels bad that she had so much fun with Gery. Jane tries to give her some advice but it pretty much boils down to Paula listening to her heart to figure out what she wants.

Susanna delivers the Currier and Ives print to Gery, saying Paula wanted her to bring it there. He realizes something and thanks her, running off.

Paula heads back home as Aunt Jane assures her that she’s always welcome for Christmas. But Paula is pretty sure she and Daniel will be celebrating at home. She walks through the airport and is surprised when Gery arrives. He asks her for an hour of her time and explains that he left some parts out of his story. He explains that he used to have a fancy job in a city and was married. Then one day, he passed by a store with the Currier and Ives print Paula had previously seen in his office and realized he wanted so much more. When he went to help his uncle, he realized what he wanted. But after some time, his wife realized it wasn’t what she wanted and their divorce had been finalized earlier that year. When he got the Currier and Ives print she sent him, he believed it was another sign, just like that first print.

It brings Paula to tears and she tells him that she should’ve told him that she was in a relationship—that she’s engaged. He’s disappointed but understands. He wishes her a safe trip and a Merry Christmas before heading back to Martha’s Vineyard while she takes her conflicted self back home to Daniel.

She gets home and plays her own carousel, still clearly upset.

The next day, Jenn comes to visit her. She tells Paula that she’s decided to accept her friend’s offer, that she needs to follow her heart. Jenn knows that Daniel is disappointed but in the end, it’s her life and not his. He can’t make decisions for her. Paula wishes her well and does some thinking of her own.

She heads out and finds the store she was thinking of buying has been sold. After some more thinking, she goes to visit Daniel. He’s busy on calls but she manages to get a few minutes of his time. She tells him that they want different things in their lives—he’s focused on his career and while she is too, she also wants a family and someone who support her. Daniel just expects things to go his way and she can’t handle that anymore. She gives him back his ring, wishes him the best and they part ways as Daniel takes another call.

Paula calls her Aunt Jane and asks if she can spend Christmas with her. Jane agrees, going off to plot something.

When Paula arrives in Nantucket for Christmas Eve, Jane rushes her right onto a plane to Martha’s Vineyard so they could do some shopping. Paula isn’t too keen to be so close to Gery but goes along to spend the day with her aunt.

That night, Buddy’s cab breaks down again. He keeps trying to call Gery for help, but he’s busy at the Youth Center party. Paula keeps insisting that she and Aunt Jane should wait elsewhere as she doesn’t want to see Gery but Jane doesn’t cooperate. Finally, Gery gets Buddy’s messages and Paula walks off, finding the carousel.

Gery finds her there as well. She tells him that she ended the engagement with Daniel and she believes her heart was leading her to him. They’re about to share a kiss when Jane, Buddy and Gery’s coworker at the inn show up. They all had conspired to get those two together for Christmas. When they realize what they interrupted, they clear out and let the two kiss in the snow as the carousel comes to life and goes around.

(There was also a scene at the Youth Center party where Susanna reveals she’s selling her antique store, a sign that Paula needed to move to Martha’s Vineyard. Just thought I would note it).

(Also, the movie ends with a picture of the real Gery and Paula. Yep, this was based on a true story!)

This was a sweet movie with a relationship that felt a bit more organic than some of the others. It was still a bit rushed but that just seems to be the nature of the beast. I was a fan of Sustad in The Nine of Lives of Christmas and felt she did a great job as Paula. Campbell brought an affable quality to Gery, which made you root for him. He and Sustad had great chemistry, which helped make this movie pretty good.

There are a few more days left to Hallmark’s Christmas movie extravaganza. If you have a chance, check it out. It’s a nice way to pass a couple hours, if you ask me.