Must Love Christmas | 2022 Christmas Movies

While I was waiting for this weekend’s group of movies to air, I popped back over to CBS to watch Must Love Christmas. I think this is the first year I have ever watched a network television Christmas movie. They are very similar to the Hallmark stuff.

Natalie (Liza Lapira) is a Christmas romance novelist. She is also a recluse currently suffering from writer’s block. In order to help her finish her newest book, her editor, Gloria (Lossen Chambers), teams up with her publicist, Ryan (Adam Beauchesne), to force her into a book reading at the bookstore that first sold her books. Unfortunately, Natalie and Ryan get caught in a snowstorm that strands them in Cranberry Falls, where Natalie ends up in a love triangle between her high school crush, Caleb (Nathan Witte), and a journalist writing an article about her, Nick (Neal Bledsoe).

This was a decent enough movie. It seemed like they tried to throw a little bit everything into the plot, which makes it a little chaotic. As a result, I found myself going between paying attention to the movie and playing games on my phone. The acting and the writing and everything was fine. There was just a lot going on.

So, I don’t know how to rank this movie. It was perfectly fine but a little overwhelming to me. I guess give it a watch, just make sure you keep your phone nearby in case you find yourself overwhelmed as well.

Merry Liddle Christmas Baby | 2021 Christmas Movies

In 2019, we had a Merry Liddle Christmas. Last year, we had a Merry Liddle Christmas Wedding. This year, we’re having a Merry Liddle Christmas Baby. This is a very active Christmas family!

Jacquie (Kelly Rowland) and Tyler (Thomas Cadrot) got married, had their honeymoon, and bought a new house. Now they are expecting a baby! The rest of the Liddle family is back to celebrate the soon-to-be new member of the family and, of course, Christmas. Nothing can go wrong this time, right?

The first movie in the series was terrible. Somehow, they managed to make the characters more likeable and turn everything around for the second movie. Thankfully, they keep the family love going for the third installment. As usual, the carefully laid plans all get messed up but the family comes together to fix the problems. I’m glad they ditched the bratty kids and selfish sisters. The Liddle family is better when they are looking out for each other instead of themselves.

If you enjoyed Merry Liddle Christmas Wedding, you will enjoy Merry Liddle Christmas Baby. I’m glad that this series with an almost entirely black cast has found its footing. There is a setup for a fourth movie and I’m actually looking forward to it. As long as they don’t go back to the first movie, I will gladly continue to watch the series.

The Nine Kittens of Christmas | 2021 Christmas Movies

In 2014, the Hallmark Channel showed The Nine Lives of Christmas. Here it is 2021 and we’re getting a sequel - The Nine Kittens of Christmas. Do you think we’ll get another movie in 2028?

Zachary (Brandon Routh) is a captain at the fire station in Bend, Oregon. A box containing nine kittens was left on the doorstep of the fire station. Thankfully, his veterinarian ex-girlfriend, Marilee (Kimberley Sustad), is back from Miami for the holidays. Together, they need to find appropriate homes for all nine kittens.

No, I didn’t watch the original 2014 movie. I’m sure that means there are inside jokes and references that I missed. Ah well. That is what they get for waiting seven years for a sequel.

While most of the movie was fine, the cat thing was a little annoying. Both Zachary and Marilee let their cats, Ambrose and Duchess, respectively, make decisions in their lives. That is weird. It would have been fine if they just held their cats a lot (which they do) or talk to their cats (which they do) but the movie seriously wants us to believe the cats were tossing cell phones around or answering phone calls. It’s a bit much. Not to mention that they had homes for almost all of the kittens pretty quickly. A side character had to back out of adopting three kittens in order to make the movie last longer. I get that the movie is about cats but the writers didn’t have to shove it down our throats.

I guess if you really, really like cats, you’ll enjoy The Nine Kittens of Christmas. For the rest of us, it’s fairly skippable. There isn’t a lot that goes on that doesn’t involve cats. Put it on in the background and peek in every few minutes to aww over the cute kittens. That is about what the movie is worth.

Merry Liddle Christmas Wedding | 2020 Christmas Movies

Sometimes a sequel is better than the original movie. That almost never happens in Christmas movies. Merry Liddle Christmas Wedding is the exception.

There are only 2 days left until Jacquie (Kelly Rowland) and Tyler (Thomas Cadrot) have their perfect Christmas Eve wedding. When Jacquie’s family shows up, things go awry.

Last year, we saw Jacquie and Tyler meet in Merry Liddle Christmas. And that movie was terrible. Jacquie was too much of a control freak and her entire family is like a chaos tornado that ruins everything they touch. Somehow, they family has tamed their wild ways. Since the movie needs some form of unbridled chaos, we are instead given Garrett, the wedding planner who refuses to speak to anyone besides Jacquie and quits abruptly after her family talks to him a whole three times. (Yes, that part annoyed me to no end.)

Of course, once the infuriating wedding planner quits, the Liddle family jumps to work trying to get Jacquie’s dream wedding ready in two days. While there are still catastrophic accidents that occur, there aren’t nearly as many of them. That makes Wedding much more bearable than the original.

It’s also nice that Jacquie isn’t as ridiculously controlling as she was previously. I don’t know if that is because she’s been spending time with Tyler’s kids or if she had some sort of epiphany. She is still a little weird - she wants an entirely white wedding on Christmas Eve with these atrociously ugly decorations and she apparently tries to feed children goat’s cheese with vegetables. But she isn’t throwing tantrums when things get ruined. She just kinda shrugs it off disappointingly.

The best part of this movie? You don’t need to watch the first one to understand this one. There’s a “Previously in Jacquie’s life” opening and the family members still all call each other by their relationship: “Hey Sis!,” “I love you, bro,” etc. (Let me say that I have a younger sister and I don’t think I have ever said anything like “Hi, Sis!” to her.)

Merry Liddle Christmas Wedding is definitely on my watch list. There are some adorable moments that made me smile. And that doesn’t happen a lot in Lifetime movies!