Lilly is out there, mourning the loss of her dad, trying to find the motivation to decorate without him. To make matters worse, her nosy neighbor is really onto her for putting up her decorations. Lilly is excited to go on a date with the most eligible bachelor but has to give an interview to some guy named Sean first for an article he's writing. She ends up hitting it off with him, and it's clear he's taken by her. She then goes to meet her date, Owen, who is a real estate agent and a total tool. But she agrees to go on a second date with him.

As luck would have it, Sean is going to need to meet up more to finalize the article. So they keep meeting up, and sparks are flying. She thinks, "I really like this guy, but what about Owen? He's the city's hottest eligible bachelor!"

Owen insists on helping her out with a charity event, and at the event, all she can think about is Sean. Much to her frustration, Owen brings her on stage and kisses her on the cheek. She tells him to get lost. She goes to find Sean at his office, but he's already left to go find her. She's told that he went home to be with his wife. He shows up at the gala, but she's gone, and then he sees pictures of the kiss on the cheek.

There's a lot of misunderstanding, but ultimately, they meet back up and right the wrongs. They help decorate a grumpy lady's Christmas booth at the festival, and then they kiss.

The movie kicks off with Angela and Brian from The Office trying to convince us that they can play other characters. We're at the Holly Hills Post Office, where every year, Brian and the other postal workers judge the best Christmas card. The winner goes on the Wall of Fame. It’s Settie’s dream to win, but the same person has won 18 years in a row.

Cut to a year later, and Settie sits down to write her annual newsletter. To her surprise, it doesn’t just write itself. She thinks, "If only I had this famous author to write my Christmas card!" This author, Juan, wrote her current favorite book. So, she decides to go for it and emails Juan’s manager, offering to pay him to come to her town and write the letter for her. Juan, who's in a bit of a funk, agrees to take the gig.

When he arrives, he gets into a rideshare with Settie’s daughter, Lilly. When Settie’s rival, Sue, shows up, they lie and tell her that Lilly and Juan are engaged. Juan agrees to stay, though he’s completely confused about what’s going on. But after meeting Sue, he realizes he can’t stand her and decides to stay for a while longer.

Soon enough, sparks begin to fly between Lilly and Juan for real. But Juan is still struggling with writer’s block, even when it comes to the Christmas card. Meanwhile, Sue has been running things in town for too long—she even has rules about how people can decorate for Christmas. So, to surprise Settie, Lilly and Juan stay up all night decorating Sue’s yard with Christmas lights and lawn ornaments. They love the result.

But the night isn’t over. Lilly and Juan run lines for a play she’s auditioning for, and they share a kiss—purely for the love of the art, of course.

Sue thinks she’s figured out who Juan really is and confronts him at a Christmas party. But she’s wrong—he’s not in the mafia at all. However, it’s revealed that Sue doesn’t actually write her own Christmas letter.

After the excitement of the party, Lilly and Juan share some big kisses.

Juan gives Settie the Christmas letter she asked for, but she decides that she wants to write her own letter after all. The next day at breakfast, Settie reads the letter she wrote out loud, and it’s perfect—honest, heartfelt, and even admitting she hired a ghostwriter. She also explains how she fell back in love with Christmas, and how her family’s Christmas traditions are perfect just the way they are. The letter ends up winning the Christmas card contest, and we all cheer.

Asha works is a nurse at the ER. She takes a call from her parents who are sad she isn't home on Christmas. But she explains that after years of avoiding this shift, her luck ran out.
We then meet Jake who is a reporter covering the Christmas Day basketball game. He's leaving the game and sees a women with a bunch of gifts in her hands and goes to help her. He ends up slipping on the ice and goes to the ER.
When Asha sees him, it's clear they knew each other. She was his chemistry tutor in high school and he was a mr. athletic in high school. They catch up on where they've been. The sparks begin to fly and his heart rate begins to increase. HE shoots his shot and asks her to go out for a drink and she says yes!
They have some candy cane martinis, talk about their parents, and he walks her home and he's about to walk away but then he pulls her in and they kiss!!!
We then see a year go by and see them grow closer and closer. We're back to another Christmas season and he proposes!
Now it's time to meet the parents - up first is Asha's family. Asha's dad is a real hoot who does some classic fatherly hazing to Jake such as giving him a hard time about his rental car, getting on him about not asking for his blessing, and tricking him into eating some real hot chicken.
They go to meet Jake's dad and it's a different vibe and they end up getting into a bit of an argument about how many kids they'll have. His dad expresses concern over Jake not being ready for marriage.
Jake's parents are divorced, hence his fathers hesitancy towards marriage, so they go to meet his mom. She's much more excited for them to get married and also excited to show off her knowledge of Indian culture she's learned from pop culture.
The next day, Jake falls off a ladder when he finds out that he's not the first guy to propose to Asha. She explains to him that her dad really liked this guy but i didn't and I said no. They talk about it though and make up.
The next day, the families all come together in the most anxiety driven scene in the history of Hallmark. Jake's mom wears a traditional Indian saree and they don't take off their shoes. They get in an argument about where the engagement party is gonna take place. But that's nothing a little Silent Night won't handle.
After going to the Christmas carnival together, both sets of parents have conversations about hesitation on if these two cultures can blend.
There are some more speed bumps along the way such as Asha and Jake waking up on the couch together, a bit of an argument about what he will wear to the engagement party, and frustration that they double booked on Christmas Eve.
It all comes to a head when they show up late to Asha's families Christmas service because they were with Jake's family. A huge argument errupts which leads to Asha saying that she doens't think this is going to work.
Samual and Jake Sr talk about how they done goofed and decide to work together to make sure their kids work out.
Samual apologizes to Jake and gives him his blessing for him to marry Asha.
Then Samual goes and apoogies to Asha and they have an amazing father/daugther moment.
It's time for the engagement party complete with some traditional ceremonial speeches given by both of the dads. They all dance and Asha and Jake kiss under the mistletoe.

The movie kicks off with great animation, and that's how you know you're dealing with a heavy-hitter flick. We meet Avery, a school teacher who makes toddlers give speeches about Christmas ornaments. She loves crossword puzzles and juice boxes. While she's in the teacher’s lounge, other teachers keep congratulating her, but she has no idea why. Her best friend Ruby explains that she signed her up to be a competitor on The Great Holiday Dash, something that is definitely NOT The Amazing Race. Avery is not thrilled.

Cut to Andrew Walker, selling juice—a real stretch for my boy AW. His character’s name is Wes, a retired professional athlete looking for his next big thing, and it turns out that next big thing is The Great Holiday Dash.

Avery thinks it over and realizes it could be a great way to bring attention to her school and maybe even get some extra funding. So she starts training, even though she’s never done anything like this before. She ends up meeting Wes at the gym, and it does not go well. Classic treadmill situation.

The competition begins, and Wes is shocked to see Avery from the gym there. The game is simple: there’s one silver bell hidden somewhere in America. The first one to find it wins. But this year, the contestants won’t compete individually—they’ll team up in pairs. Naturally, Avery and Wes are teamed up. The game kicks off with one team being eliminated after the first round. Luckily, Avery and Wes crack enough nuts to move on to the second round, which takes them to Boston. The next game involves shooting pucks, which works great for Wes.

Producer Dirk pulls Wes aside and tells him to flirt more with Avery for the ratings—“Wes, you’re the star! A little flirting will really boost the numbers.” That night, Wes and Avery actually connect. Gotta hate when that happens.

The next day, they head to New York City for a window display competition. Instead of immediately diving into the task, they spend more time talking and getting to know each other. Their theme is “Three French Hens,” so they go with a French theme for their display, and it looks amazing—almost like professionals came in afterward and finished it for them. And good for them—they WIN the round! They hug, and Producer Dirk tells Wes, “Good job.”

Next, they head to Texas for a dance contest. This competition is a little weird, but their dance quickly turns sexy, and they win again.

After a hitchhiking detour, they assume they’re out, but surprise—they’re not! So that’s a relief. They head to Oregon for the next round, but first, there’s an extracurricular gift exchange, for reasons that are unclear.

Avery and Wes make it to the finals, and the sparks are flying. However, when Avery overhears a conversation between Wes and the producer, she gets really mad. What she doesn’t hear, though, is Wes telling the producer that he doesn’t want to play the game anymore because he’s really into her.

The producer tells her about Wes’ feelings right before the final competition. They do a crossword puzzle and race to find the best gift under the tree. Wes falls and hurts his leg, so Avery continues on alone—and wins!!!

They celebrate by announcing what they’re going to do with their prize money—both plan to give back to the community.

In the end, they make up and and make out.

The movie kicks off with a great rendition of Deck the Halls that might be the new theme song for Deck the Hallmark. Cut to a woman driving in a car, giving herself a pep talk and talking to herself and her baby, whom she is pregnant with. Suddenly, she feels a sharp pain, drives into a town, and runs into a diner, saying she thinks she's going into labor but that the snow is really coming down. Luckily, there’s a doctor in the diner who has personally delivered over 100 babies! The birth is successful, and the baby is healthy. She names her Evie Lang. The group takes a picture to celebrate—there’s a doctor, a police officer, a lawyer, and some other fancy folks. The doctor gives the baby a little checkup and realizes the baby may have an abdominal blockage, so they all work together to get the baby to the hospital. They save the baby’s life, take up a collection to pay the hospital bill, and send them on their way.

Cut to the present day, when the mother, Elizabeth Lane, is giving a speech about the success of her skincare brand, Lane Cosmetics. Evie is now an adult, and her mom brings her up on stage to celebrate the success of women. Evie is clearly uncomfortable being on stage. She’s in fashion but isn’t having much success. Her mom tells her she’s been spoiled and needs to learn how to do something hard. So she gives her the Polaroid of the people who helped her on the night she was born. Her mom explains that Evie has to go and find these people and grant Christmas wishes to each of them. If she fails this mission, she’ll lose her trust fund.

So, Evie heads back to the town and is disappointed by the absolutely massive inn she has to stay in. She goes by the name of Mary so as not to give herself away. She decides to go and ask the only attorney in town for help finding the people in this picture. He says, “I could do that, but why would I?” She says she wants to give them an award. He replies, “That’s not what this town is all about, especially dressed like that.” So, she goes to find an outfit that’s a bit more low-key. They go and grab a bite to eat, and the diner owner tells them the story of what happened that night.

Kyle agrees to help her find the people, but they’re going to go at his pace. Up first is Roy, and Evie ends up being voluntold to be the elf in the town square. The diner owner quickly figures out who she is, and she comes clean. She asks what his wish is. At first, he’s hesitant but tells her to let him think on it. She is blown away by how nice everyone in this town is and realizes that’s going to make it hard for her to finish this project quickly.

The next day, she ends up backing out and almost hitting a police car. Turns out, that cop is someone she needs to repay, but she doesn’t want to reveal her true identity, so she ends up getting arrested. Evie is blown away by the kindness and doesn’t know how she’s going to repay them. She finds out that someone has been this town’s Secret Santa—paying hospital bills, etc., for a long time. She calls her mom, and her mom explains that she tried to repay everyone many moons ago but couldn’t do it. So, good luck, kid. It’s just your trust fund at risk.

The pressure is mounting, and what better way to deal with said pressure than by ice skating with Kyle? She decides to tell him the truth about who she is, and Kyle’s like, “Oh, yeah, I know.” But he was unaware that she was doing this just to make sure she didn’t lose her trust fund. You can tell he’s like, “Oh, boo hoo to you,” but they continue their quest, and he continues to just watch her from afar.

The diner owner is impressed by Evie, and he calls Elizabeth to encourage her to come and see all the good that Evie has been doing in the town. So, Elizabeth comes, and she’s so proud of Evie. She has done so much good. She finds out that Kyle’s dad was the one who took the picture, so she has to make his wish come true.

They have a birthday party at the diner for Evie, and she tells her mom she wants to do more of this kind of stuff with her trust fund. She asks Kyle what he wants, and he says, “I want you,” and they kiss. Everyone takes one more picture together.

12/7 - A Very Merry Beauty Salon

12/14 - The Holiday Junkie

12/15 - Christmas on the Alpaca Farm

12/21 - A Carpenter Christmas Romance

12/22 - Engaged by Christmas

Watch on Philo! - Philo.tv/DTH

The movie starts with Mia in some sort of fantasy sequence that reminds me of a really weird fantasy romance novel. Turns out, she's just sleeping on the job. Silly Mia! Her friends wake her up and tease her for dreaming about that guy from her books again. It’s going to be a crazy week—busy, busy, busy! But if I’ve learned anything from the first movie, it’s that Mia will barely have to work in this one, with little to no consequences for the business.

Mia’s sister asks her to watch her cat, but Mia is allergic, so she ends up falling asleep at the office again. She dreams about the book prince once more when there's a knock at the door. Gotta be honest—the lower third of his face looks a whole lot like the lower third of the dream prince’s face. He buys something and hands her a $100 bill.

The next day, her friends tease her, thinking she's still dreaming, but then he shows up again. She’s not dreaming! Turns out, his name is Beau Cavannagh. The Cavannagh family is super wealthy, and Beau is next in line to run the whole thing. This is the type of family that has his entire life planned out, including who he’s supposed to end up with. In fact, he’s already engaged.

But he keeps coming around, and the sparks are flying. There’s a lot of "will they or won’t they?" I think they will. She tells him this isn’t going to work—but then it does. They kiss. Yay.