Another Christmas has come and gone – which means a whole new batch of Hallmark Christmas/Holiday movies have joined the channel’s ever-growing catalogue. I didn’t watch them all but I did watch a handful of them, so I’m going to quickly recap/review them as we hit the nine month mark to Christmas 2026.
As a warning, there may be SPOILERS under the cut.
Unwrapping Christmas Quartet (Tina’s Miracle, Mia’s Prince, Lily’s Destiny, Olivia’s Reunion
These were four movies that technically were new in 2024 as they originally debuted on Hallmark+. However, they then aired on the Hallmark Channel in 2025, which is when I saw them – so I’m counting them!
Four friends - Tina Mitchell (Natalie Hall), Mia Parker (Kathryn Davis), Lily Morgan (Ashley Newbrough), Olivia Matheson (Cindy Busby) – run a gift wrapping business and are going to be hosting their town’s big Christmas fundraiser. But in the run up to the big event, they each go on adventures that end in love.
Tina learns to trust her heart again as she falls for handsome single dad Michael Alonzo (Alec Santos). Mia gets to live a romance rather than just read about one when she meets the town’s Prince Charming himself, Beau Cavannagh (Nathan Witte). Lily connects with a local journalist Sean Allen (Torrance Combs) as she finally deals with the grief of losing her dad. And Olivia reconnects with her ex-boyfriend, Benjamin Hall (Jake Epstein), when they end up snowed in ahead of Christmas.
I enjoyed all four movies but I wished we had seen the friends interact a little more. And like with The Wedding Veil movies, I also wish we had been able to see their respective love interests have more interactions together as well. However, all the movies are pretty good Christmas movies and can be watched separately. (Though it does make more sense if you see all of them).
Definitely recommend if you like The Wedding Veil movies.
A Newport Christmas
Another time-travel related holiday movie where Ella (Ginna Claire Mason) goes for a sail around her home of Newport, RI, in 1925. She sails through a strange wind storm and winds up in 2025 Newport. There she meets Nick (Wes Brown), who works at her family’s house, which is now a museum. She learns about the good work she ends up doing…but all of that starts to disappear the longer she stays in 2025. They realize she needs to return to her own time…but Ella’s and Nick’s growing feelings for each other complicate matters. Will they find a way to make things right and get their happily ever after?
It was interesting to watch this movie about a month after I visited Newport myself. I went for my friend’s bachelorette party and we had a fun time there, visiting the Elms and enjoying a really nice vineyard there. So I didn’t recognize too many locations in the movie except for one where they are walking by the seaport, which is where most of Newport’s nightlife is.
As for the plot, it was nice. Predictable, yes, but that’s what we expect from Hallmark. Mason and Brown had some great chemistry as Ella and Nick and weren’t afraid to be a little angsty. I feel like I got an idea of Mason’s Glinda from her portrayal of Ella and I liked it.
So if you’re a fan of movies like A Timeless Christmas, this one should be right up your alley.
Single on the 25th
Nell (Lyndsy Fonseca) is excited for Christmas – for the first time, her family is going to come visit her in Chicago. She plans the perfect week for them but it soon hits a snag. Her sister goes into labor early and so the family understandably can’t come and it’s likely she can’t go to them. Nell’s friend Julia (Teneisha Collins) invites Nell to Christmas at her in-laws but Nell declines. She decides she is going to stay home for Christmas and enjoy being single.
Her neighbor, Cooper (Daniel Lissing), had planned to go on a skiing trip to Aspen with his friend and colleague, Thomas (Victor Andres Turgeon-Trelles). That gets sidelined when Cooper needs to plan a big holiday party to help seal the deal with a potential big client for his company. Cooper ends up recruiting Nell to help him and in turn he helps her learn how to be single for Christmas.
But as the holidays progress, Nell and Cooper realize that while there’s nothing wrong with being single, maybe they were meant for so much more.
As someone who is pretty much single every Christmas, it was a little awkward to see the movie try to pretend like it didn’t think this was the worst thing possible while also trying to say it wasn’t. The single support group scenes felt particularly cringey, treating singleness almost like addictions.
But Lissing and Fonseca had some great chemistry which really carried the movie. You really wanted to root for them and felt invested in their journeys as well as their relationship.
If you like Fonseca and Lissing, you’ll enjoy them in this movie as well.
A Suite Holiday Romance
Up-and-coming writer Sabrina (Jessy Schram) gets a chance to stay at a legendary New York hotel that is clearly a stand-in for the Plaza Hotel in the lead up to Christmas. She is excited because it was the setting for author Hazel Holley’s book series about a young girl who lives in the hotel whose name is definitely not Eloise but it’s clearly supposed to be an Eloise-espy. Sabrina is there to write the memoir of Grayson Wescott (Al Sapienza), a wealthy art collector.
At the same time, British aristocrat Spencer Braxton (Adam Hurtig) is also staying in the hotel as he prepares to open an exhibit of his family’s legendary jewels. Everyone is excited because he’s an eligible bachelor but he and his family are very secretive and elusive. Mostly because the family is busy trying to hide how impulsive Spencer really is. Secretary Ian (Dominic Sherwood) is more of a babysitter than anything else.
Due to a case of mistaken identity, Sabrina believes that Ian is really a Braxton as the two connect. They experience Christmas in New York together as they fall in love.
Meanwhile, Grayson talks about being a young butler (Gino Anania) in the hotel, his friendship with author Holley (Lauren Cochrane), and his love affair with a beautiful young debutante named Charlotte (Megan Best). Will Sabrina learn from his mistakes? Or will she make the same ones?
And will everyone learn that it’s never too late for love?
This was a pretty cute movie, even with the mistaken identity. I was glad that Ian wasn’t the aristocrat so we didn’t have another case of “melting the ice prince.” I liked that the real aristocrat was a bit of a mess with a heart of gold underneath it. I didn’t mention but Spencer does get his own romance but it really is a C-plot.
I really liked the story of young Grayson, his relationship with Hazel and his romance with Charlotte. Honestly, I could’ve watched an entire movie about them.
If you liked Christmas at the Plaza, I think you’ll enjoy this movie.
A Make or Break Holiday
Liv (Hunter King) and Daniel (Evan Roderick) meet at a Christmas party and have an instant connection. We get a montage of their relationship over the next twelve months, including them buying their own house. They are still in the process of moving in as we reach the next Christmas and the main plot begins.
Since they have a new house, they agreed to host Christmas for their families. However, this places a lot of stress on them and they break under it – especially because Liv is very rigid about everything that needs to be done while Daniel is more go-with-the-flow and a little absentminded. After a fight, they decide to break up. They try to cancel the big Christmas with their families but everyone’s plans are set and nonrefundable so Liv and Daniel decide to pretend they are still together through Christmas.
As their families arrive, more stress is heaped on them. Liv’s parents are reluctant to create new traditions and want all their traditions to be followed. It’s very clear they have control issues and don’t like ceding any of it to Liv and Daniel. Meanwhile, Daniel’s mother has Unresolved Issues because her husband (his father) walked out on the family on Christmas and she hasn’t moved past that. And her mother is a master manipulator who has everyone believing she is a frail old woman on the verge of death so she can get whatever she wants.
Will all this stress be the final nail in the coffin of Liv and Daniel’s relationship…or will it bring them back together?
This movie was co-written by Vanessa Marano, best known for Switched at Birth. I think this is a good script though and I enjoyed the movie for the most part. The main issue I had was that I felt the parents, especially Liv’s got off a little too easily. I get it, it’s a Hallmark movie so they’re not really going to really address how their behavior is the reason for Liv’s anxiety and desire to be overprepared or how she really should be no contact with them.
Hallmark just doesn’t do that.
Because the heart of a Hallmark movie is the romance and this movie makes it clear why Liv and Daniel are perfect for each other, even if they can’t see it. You can’t help but root for them and hope they will get back together in time for Christmas. Their scenes are some of the best in the movie
The movie also featured Craig Geoghan, the winner of Hallmark’s Finding Mr. Christmas competition, as Liv’s brother Reid. And Jonathan Bennett made a cameo in the movie as well in a scene at a local restaurant. It was a pretty good scene and you should watch it as it’s also a great showcase of all the characters, their personalities and their relationships.
Do recommend, especially if you like a good second-chance romance. Not quite the same but close enough.
Final thoughts
This particular season of Hallmark’s holiday movies felt particularly weak to me though I’m not sure why. However, these movies did stand out and capture my attention. I look forward to rewatching a couple of them in the coming years.
I also wouldn’t mind them doing more movies like the Unwrapping Christmas series. That was fun to follow the same characters and get to know them individually.
We’ll see what this year brings…several months from now. Let’s not rush 2026!
Let me know what your favorite Hallmark movies were this year in the comments!
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