Eight months to Christmas!
I know, I know. I’m barely thinking about it myself. Especially now that the weather is turning and is getting all nice. I’m focused on spring and summer right now. But I’m still reviewing one Christmas movie a month, so here we go!
Oh, there’s no place like home for the holidays/for the holidays you can’t beat home sweet SPOILERS!
Julia Crawley (Rachel Boston) is a high powered attorney on the verge of making partner as Christmas approaches. But one of the partners is stuck elsewhere so the vote won’t happen before she heads home for the holidays. She’s afraid it will hurt her chances but everyone encourages her to go. With promises that they will keep her in the loop, she heads home to Colorado.
She arrives in her tiny town and is reunited with Ryan Mason (Wes Brown), whose family owns an inn that serves as the main competition for the inn owned by Julia’s family. Their families have been feuding since the town was founded and they are pretty much the Hatfields and McCoys. But Julia and Ryan seem to be pretty chill and don’t really understand the rivalry, so they are pretty nice to each other and are clearly going to fall in love by the end of the movie.
Julia reunited with her mother, Sandra (Charla Bocchicchio), and sister Lexi (Anna Daines). Lexi reveals that because it’s the town’s anniversary, they are going to hold a Christmas parade and let the people pick who will be the Grand Marshall. She’s campaigning to be the Grand Marshall and her main competition is Ryan’s brother. She’s determined to win while Julia just seems amused. They take her home and her father, Tim (Richard Karn), greets her as well as Grandma Cathy (Barta Heiner). Everything seems to be right in the world.
At their inn, Ryan talks with his family – father Bill (Christopher Cousins), mother Evelyn (Jan Broberg) and brother Frank (Logan Donovan). Everyone is focused on winning all the competitions the town holds during the holiday season, especially wanting to beat the Crawleys. Ryan is just amused but struggles with his father, who is resistant to the changes Ryan wants to make to the inn to attract more guests. Ryan worries his father doesn’t believe in him.
Enter the Bogeyman.
AKA the big hotel and spa chain that wants to open their newest location in this particular Colorado town, which would likely force both the Crawleys and the Masons to close their inns.
Uh oh.
Both Ryan and Julia find out their fathers have been offered packages from the Big Chain Hotel to buy their inns. Both have refused. But Julia and Ryan know that if Big Chain Hotel moves in, then it will be all over. They meet up and decide that their best option is to work to keep Big Chain Hotel out of their town. However, they have their work cut out for them as Big Chain Hotel starts to seriously court the town’s people so they can make their deal.
(There was also a running plot where Julia was preparing to represent a big corporate interest after the holidays regardless if she got the promotion or not. I kept waiting for it to be revealed that she would be working for Big Hotel Chain but it never came).
So how do they combat Big Hotel Chain? By combining their strengths and deciding to end the feud between their families so that they could present a united front. Apparently the feud was over who really built the first inn in the town, with the Crawleys insisting it was them and the Masons insisting it was them. Grandma also warns Julia that a Crawley once fell for a Mason but he broke her heart. She doesn’t want Julia to suffer the same fate but otherwise, Grandma seems to be on the “It’s time to end this silly feud” bandwagon.
To end the feud, Ryan and Julia decide to use the town’s holiday traditions to their advantage. They find ways to foster cooperation and goodwill between their families, whether it’s helping with a lights display or baking cookies. And it works. Tim and Bill start to thaw to each other and things seem to improve.
Julia and Ryan continue to get closer and feelings are definitely developing. However this time it seems that a Crawley is going to break a Mason’s heart. Julia is determined to head back East to take her new promotion and get working right after Christmas. It seems she and Ryan aren’t going to work out.
Things also take a turn in their battle against Big Hotel Chain when Eddy (Emiliano Diez) sells his bar to them. It seems everything is over and things look bleak.
Julia talks with her grandmother and does some introspection, putting her skills to work. She goes to Ryan and explains everything. They then present their plan to their parents, who agree. In short, Julia is able to block the sale of Eddy’s place to Big Hotel Chain because it is of historical and architectural value. Both the Crawleys and Masons buy it and promise to keep it as it is while turning it into a nice lounge for the people of the town and the guests who come to ski. It seems like it will be a win-win!
And there is more to the win! Julia has re-evaluated what she wants from her life and decided to turn down the promotion. She’s also quitting the firm and moving back to Colorado to open her own law firm there. Which also means that she can have a relationship with Ryan, who finally knows that his father supports and believes in his ability to run their inn. So in short, a happy ending all around.
I’ve done a lot of compacting the plots here but there are just so many ways to describe “family hanging lights” or “family making cookies.” And ultimately, they are just fun holiday scenes and don’t really have much impact on the plot except that they happened.
The plot seemed low-stakes to me the entire time and I never doubted that they wouldn’t come out on top. I mean, of course it’s predictable – it’s a Hallmark movie and we all love them for their predictability. But there are some where plots are more tense or have higher stakes. This one never really got there.
Does that make it a bad movie? No. I just wouldn’t suggest it as one you might want to really sit down and watch. Honestly, this seems like another good one to put on and have in the background when you’re doing other things. If you get busy, you won’t miss much. The characters are still engaging and the chemistry between the two leads is very good. You’ll definitely be rooting for them.
See everyone next month!
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