Debbie Macomber's Joyful Mrs. Miracle | 2024 Christmas Movies

Back in 2021, I watched my first Mrs. Miracle Christmas movie. That was the third movie in the series, which didn’t matter much because it was a new actress (Caroline Rhea) playing the Mrs. Miracle character. This year’s Joyful Mrs. Miracle has Rachel Boston in the role. I love that this is a character that can easily switch actresses with no real consequence to her.

After the passing of their grandmother, siblings Charlotte (Pascal Lamothe-Kipnes), Benedict (Matthew James Dowden), and Henry (Max Lloyd-Jones) reunite to decide who will take over as CEO of the family company. Annie Merkle (Boston), an estate planner, arrives to help the family realize what is really important to them and to help Charlotte reconnect with her first love, Austin (Tanner Novlan).

I loved this version of Mrs. Miracle. To me, Caroline Rhea made the character a bit more goofy. The Rachel Boston version is still a little silly but in a that-person-is-too-happy kind of way. There is a scene where a couple gets engaged and Annie tries her best to contain her excitement before she yells “Oh! I’m a hugger!” and hugs the newly engaged woman so tightly. I honestly hope that Hallmark keeps Boston as Mrs. Miracle for any future movies. She really was the brightest spot of the movie for me.

Don’t get me wrong…the rest of the actors are great in their roles. Even Charlotte’s son, Cody (Logan Carriere), was decent. As a matter of fact, there is a possibility that Joyful Mrs. Miracle will be my favorite movie of the year. Other movies will have to work very hard to beat it.

Rating: I would like Mrs. Miracle to come hang out with me

A Christmas Cookie Catastrophe | 2022 Christmas Movies

When I’m making my list of Christmas movies I’m going to watch in a season, I do as little research about the titles as possible. I might do a quick search to make sure that it fits “Christmas movie” but that is about it. So titles like A Christmas Cookie Catastrophe can be really confusing. I mean, how catastrophic can a cookie be?

Annie Cooper (Rachel Boston) has taken over her late grandmother’s cookie company. As Christmas creeps closer, Annie starts cutting all of the fiscally irresponsible activities in the company. During the company Christmas party, someone sneaks into the corporate headquarters and steals the recipe for the cookies. At first, Annie blames cookie competitor Sam (Victor Webster). When he is cleared of the wrongdoing, Annie teams up with Sam to try to figure out the recipe on their own before Christmas.

Hallmark movies frequently require a certain suspension of belief. Usually they fall into the “Miracles happen” category. This time around, we’re supposed to believe that Annie would be able to figure out who stole the recipe without going to the police (yes, she states numerous times they aren’t telling the police about the robbery) and that no one else in the company would notice the missing recipe and say something about it to anyone. I don’t think a “Removed For Cleaning” sign works for a recipe. Honestly, this really is the weakest part of the movie. It would have been easier and more believable to have the paper recipe get ripped or messed up or something. Then they wouldn’t have to inform the police of an actual crime. Or at least have them call the police but the police are inept. That is an actual thing!

Looking beyond the weak plot of the movie, the rest of it was pretty cute. Boston and Webster have decent chemistry together and Averie Peters as Sam’s daughter, Bella, was a good addition to the mix. Despite being “the kid” in the movie, she actually contributed to the vibe of the movie. I might have liked her better than the adults, to be honest.

A Christmas Cookie Catastrophe is a fine movie to watch, assuming you can get past the ridiculousness of the plot. As long as you tune in to appreciate the relationships, and Bella’s dancing, you should be fine. There are a lot of cookies involved so you might need to keep a snack nearby.

A Carousel Christmas | 2020 Christmas Movies

I guess carousels are now magical. We had a time travel carousel in Christmas Comes Twice. A Carousel Christmas gives us a wish-granting carousel. Everyone needs to be more careful the next time they go to an amusement park!

Lila (Rachel Boston) and her father, Roy (Stuart Hughes), are hired by the royal family of Ancadia to restore a carousel made by Roy’s grandfather. While there, Lila pairs up with the prince, Whitaker (Neal Bledsoe), to plan a Christmas festival to gain support for an arts academy.

Besides the fact that the carousel story is stupid, there is a lot wrong with this movie. The acting is rather terrible, the rest of the plot is boring, and the conflict is dumb. If I was to look for one redeeming quality, it would be the very subtle budding romance between Roy and Heidi (Jennifer Vallance), one of the royal family’s staff members.

Don’t watch A Carousel Christmas. If you’re looking for a royal Christmas movie, there are so many better ones out there. Or, even better, let’s stop romanticizing royal families. They all kinda suck.

Advent Day #13: A Christmas In Tennessee

OMG. A Christmas In Tennessee is everything that Welcome To Christmas wanted to be. It is almost exactly the same premise but a million times better.

Matthew (Andrew W. Walker) is a consultant for a real estate developer who rolls into White Pines, Tennessee to try to get the townspeople to sell their property so they can put a ski resort there. Allison (Rachel Boston), a single mom, owns the local bakery. She is also one of two descendants of the town founders. Matthew only needs one of them to sign the contract but will they?

Tennessee also has a couple of subplots going on. One involves Allison’s daughter, Olivia (Kate Moyer), wishing the bakery made more money. Santa and Mrs. Claus order a ton of cookies. When Olivia’s tale of Santa’s favorite cookies goes viral, the bakery is busier than ever. A second subplot involves Allison’s mother, Martha (Patricia Richardson), resuming her life after the death of her husband. She is the musical director at the local church but she doesn’t want to sing anymore. And there’s a bit of a love story between Martha and the town mayor.

Unlike Welcome to Christmas, this movie is packed with personality. The only character that gets sidestepped a bit is Matthew’s evil assistant, who doesn’t even get a credit on the show’s IMDB page. (I even forget her name…Rebecca, maybe?) While I didn’t want her to be more involved, she is the cause of the big problem at the end of the movie and we never see her getting her comeuppance. I mean, the lady literally forges a signature. It would have been nice to see her get arrested or something.

I found myself actually charmed by Tennessee. Considering a groaned inwardly when I saw that this was another real estate movie (does big-Christmas-television think that this is an interesting concept? Because it isn’t.). Thankfully, the casting director hired some amazing actors that were able to bring this all together. You’ll definitely enjoy Caroline Rhea as Mrs. Claus. Whoever decided to cast her needs a raise!