Hallmark’s Countdown to Christmas is in full swing and has been since October 20th. As they do every year, they introduce many new movies to add to their collection and I like to try to review at least one before the New Year.
And here it is!
We start with the classic trope of hardworking city woman returns to her small town and learns the true meaning of Christmas while falling in love. But there is a twist in how she learns her lesson.
My world is changing/I’m rearranging/Does that mean Christmas SPOILERS
Addy (Lyndsy Fonseca) lives in Chicago and works on promotional campaigns. Her latest one is an app encouraging people to make their Christmas wishes so they can get what they want for Christmas. And companies can make lots of money. All Addy wants for Christmas is a trip to somewhere nice and tropical, which her best friend and colleague Suma (Joanna Carpenter) supports.
But then gets a call from her brother, Connor (Andrew David Bridges), calls her. He asks her to come home for Christmas because he is planning on proposing to his girlfriend. So Addy agrees and just decides to push her trip back. She is a bit reluctant to head home to her small town, saying it’s very Christmas crazy. But she will do it for her brother.
So Addy heads home and her mother Sharon (Julie Warner) is thrilled to see her. Her father Nick (Jim O’Heir) isn’t so thrilled and seems to avoid her. Sharon tries to brush it off as everyone being busy with Christmas coming – especially since Nick runs a charity that gives gifts to veterans and their families. But Addy can’t help but feel like an outsider.
She also runs into her childhood best friend Dana (Mandi Masden), who makes her promise to come to the Christmas pageant at the school on Christmas Eve. Addy promises, knowing it’s important to her friend.
However, she experiences some issues with her car so she goes to the gas station to check in with her old mechanic. But she learns he has died and his grandson Hunter (Michael Rady) has taken over. He’s somewhat antisocial and has a lot of cars but listens to her car. It sounds fine but he says she can bring it back another day and he’ll take a look at it.
Dinner that night is tense and Addy continues to feel like an outsider in her own house. She also isn’t feeling the Christmas spirit even as she finds her own journals talking about Christmas and her past feelings. Her Santa app comes to life and she wishes that Christmas didn’t exist.
Uh oh.
Sharon wakes up Addy and asks her to get another Christmas tree for the house. Addy drags herself out of bed and makes the drive. But her car starts to act up and she ends up spinning off the road, crashing into a tree.
It’s always a car crash, isn’t it?
Addy comes to and everything is black and white. She is disoriented as Hunter rescues her, saying he saw her car from the road. He promises to get fix it as Addy realizes everything is black and white. She asks if things look different to him and he says no. He asks if she needs medical help but she insists she just needs to go home.
When she gets home, everything is still in black and white but even more confusing. Addy’s house looked like Christmas threw up inside it but all that is gone. She asks what happened to the Christmas decorations but no one in her family knows what Christmas is.
Looks like Addy really did wish Christmas out of existence.
Uh oh.
Everyone is concerned about Addy because she insists things don’t look right and keep asking about something called Christmas. So Addy finally agrees to go see the town doctor. Dr. Rago (Mitch Poulos) says nothing is wrong with her and she feels even more confused. But she asks him about his daughter and he says that he and his daughter don’t talk. He orders Addy to leave and she does.
She runs into Dana again but this time she is stressed and grumpy. Addy asks about the Christmas Pageant and Dana thinks she’s crazy. She snaps at Addy, saying she needs the upcoming Winter Break to be alone and to focus on herself. She does enough for the parents and students and isn’t appreciated so why would she do anything additional?
Dana storms off as Addy realizes everyone is grumpier and meaner to each other without Christmas.
Addy goes to check on her car and tries to get inside but finds that Hunter has locked the door. She knocks and demands to be let in. Hunter does it and she starts ranting but he shuts her down, snapping about how stressed and busy he is and so doesn’t have time for her delusion.
She steps back and apologizes before handing him a ring. Addy says she found it in her car and thinks he dropped it when he looked at it the other day. Hunter takes it and we enter a flashback.
Color returns as the garage is decorated for Christmas. Hunter is dressed in Army fatigues as he talks with his grandfather ahead of his deployment. His grandfather says he is proud of him and gives Hunter his ring to wear.
We return to the present day as Hunter recalls that Christmas. He then wonders how he could forget Christmas before he returns to color, looking odd in a black and white world.
Addy, though, is thrilled. She figures she just has to remind people of Christmas and they’ll turn back. She asks Hunter to help her but he says he’s been trying to hide from everyone. Being in color is just going to make him stand out more. So he’s just going to lock himself in his office instead.
Hunter needs more Christmas spirit, if you ask me.
Anyway, Addy decides to go around town trying to remind people of Christmas by singing Jingle Bells. All she achieves is going viral – at least in her town, which appears to be cut off from the rest of the world as she can’t reach Suma no matter how hard she tries. Her family is worried about her but her father and brother are also concerned as Addy goes to bed, hoping she can find a way to restore Christmas before, well, Christmas.
In the morning, Addy and Nick have another fight. She then has a fight with her brother, who says she always upends things when she visits. He asks why she even came and she reminds him that he invited her because he’s proposing to his girlfriend. Connor has no clue what she’s talking about, saying he and Sienna have a good relationship and don’t need it to change. He pretty much tells her to butt out of their lives.
Addy, though, is determined to save Christmas. She goes to visit Hunter, who is bundled up so people can’t see he is in color. Addy convinces him to come with her to visit her friend Dana at the school, thinking she knows how to restore Christmas.
Addy visits Dana at school, who is a bit suspicious of Hunter. She and Addy apologize before Addy tries to remind her of Christmas, getting Hunter to reveal he is in color. Dana is shocked to see it. Addy then hands her a sweater and Dana remembers making it with her mother as a memory plays. Dana then remembers Christmas and turns back to color as well.
Dana agrees to help restore Christmas and vows to get started on the pageant right away. Addy is pleased to have someone else on their side and leaves with Hunter to continue her mission.
Hunter and Addy go get a Christmas tree for his house and decorate it as he explains how being in the army and seeing war changed him. He retreated to his cabin and shut out the world, including his grandfather – and so he wasn’t there when his grandfather died. But he’s now willing to open up again and let himself interact with others.
Addy is touched and she helps him decorate his tree. She helps him make an ornament and recalls making ornaments with her mother. That gives her an idea and she heads back home.
When she gets home, she asks her mother to do an arts and craft project with her. They make ornaments and Sharon remembers making ornaments with little Addy, including a special stamp they would put on their ornaments. She regains her color as she remembers Christmas. She realizes they need to decorate for the holiday.
They decorate for Christmas but Nick and Connor are not pleased when they get home. Nick tells Sharon to take it all down and Connor yells at Addy about how she’s created chaos yet again. They leave and Sharon comforts Addy.
Meanwhile, Dana has spread the Christmas cheer and more people know remember. Mayor Matt (Alvin Keith) still doesn’t and says that the town council has passed an ordinance pretty much banning Christmas decorations. He reveals that Addy’s father has led the charge, disheartening her.
Hunter, though, keeps supporting her and helps her as she helps Connor remember. She brings him to the jewelry store and the clerk gives him the engagement ring he bought. We see how he met Sienna (Melanie Sutrathada) on Christmas Eve right after she moved into town. He escorts her to the pageant and the rest, as they, say is history. Connor remembers and his color returns.
By this point, even the mayor has gotten his color back and Nick is not pleased that he’s still in a Grinchy minority. Addy tries to talk with him but nothing seems to work. She makes him more angry.
Christmas Eve arrives and almost everyone is in color except for Addy and Nick. They have a big heart-to-heart where he confesses that he feels like she’s pushed him out of her life, like she’s embarrassed of him. That whenever they visit her, she’s always sending them on things to do and never letting them meet her friends or experience her life. She apologizes, saying that’s what she thought they wanted to do. But she promises that she loves them and that she will do better to include them in her life.
Nick and Addy make their way to the Christmas pageant where Dana calls Connor up. He proposes to Sienna, who says yes and regains her color as she remembers Christmas. Sharon is overjoyed but Nick is a little upset that he just watched his son get engaged but still can’t accept Christmas. Addy assures him that they will figure it out together before she realizes that Dr. Rago is sitting with his daughter, both in color. Everything is good with them again – even if she is still a terrible cook.
The pageant ends and Hunter gets up to say that the town has managed to pull together to make sure there are plenty of toys for Nick’s foundation for veterans. Everyone thanks Nick for all his hard work and he finally turns back to color as Christmas returns for him.
Everyone heads outside and Hunter gives Addy her keys back, revealing he fixed her car. She thanks him and then kisses him. But when she pulls back, she lets out a groan of frustration and wonders why she is still black and white when she’s doing everything correctly – including kissing him. Hunter is hurt that she just kissed him to turn back and he walks away.
Addy decides that she needs to go back to Chicago and climbs in her car, trying to drive away from her hometown as her Santa app taunts her. She tosses the phone out her window before she keeps ending up right back in her town every time she tries to leave the town limits.
She is stuck.
Returning home, Addy has another heart-to-heart with her father. He tells her that she has always been so focused on what she thinks she should be doing, she’s never really stopped to ask herself what she truly wants from her life. It certainly gives her something to think about.
Addy wakes up on Christmas and is still in black and white. But she celebrates the day, helping her father out with his charity event while wondering if she would get a chance to see Hunter again. Everyone assures her she will but she still has doubts.
Night falls and Addy worries that Hunter has locked himself away again. He tells her that she’s not that good of a kisser, revealing that he came after all. The family makes themselves scarce so Addy and Hunter can talk.
She apologizes for what she said about the kiss and confesses that she really likes him. He says he likes her too. Addy reiterates whatever lesson she needed to learn – the magic of Christmas, slowing down and really living her life, appreciating what she has, take your pick – and she turns back to color again. She and Hunter then share a kiss before everyone celebrates.
A happy ending for everyone!
So that was Where Are You Christmas?!
Overall it was a pretty cute movie and a bit different from the others. It still had a lot of the same messages but the way it was delivered was interesting. If you get a chance to see it at least once, I would recommend it.
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