Six Degrees Of Santa | 2022 Christmas Movies

Six Degrees Of Santa has a very cute gift giving premise in it. However, in real life, it would only work with a group of friends. The holiday spirit isn’t that strong between strangers.

Harper (Kathryn Davis) has created a program called Six Degrees of Santa. One person gives a gift to a second person, who enjoys the gift then passes it on to a third person. This continues until the gift has reached the sixth person, who gets to keep the gift. Tech businessman, Jason (Steve Lund), received a children’s book that was originally gifted by Harper. He makes it his mission to figure out who was his First Santa.

In the movie, strangers graciously hand the Santa present onto other people. I don’t believe that would actually happen. Either the person receiving the gift would never open it. (Honestly, who opens gifts left by strangers on park benches?) Or someone along the line wouldn’t pass on the gift. This situation only works when people are held accountable in some way.

As for the movie itself, it’s decent. It has the usual pitfalls - the conflict could easily be solved if everyone would just have a conversation about it. But the acting isn’t terrible. Davis and Lund have a bit of chemistry. Not enough to make the movie amazing but enough that it’s believable that they would get together. I do wish we got to see a little more of the gift giving aspect between other people, even if I do think it’s unrealistic. It would have been cute to see people in the background handing the Santa boxes off to other people.

Six Degrees Of Santa is one of those movies that is perfectly fine to watch. Maybe with a mug of cocoa and your phone nearby in case you get bored.

Christmas Bedtime Stories | 2022 Christmas Movies

I keep forgetting that Hallmark throws all of their military-themed Christmas movies on their Movies & Mysteries channel. While I don’t have a problem with characters being in the military or characters having family members in the military, these movies feel like they are fetishizing the military. It kinda makes my skin crawl. And, yes, that includes Christmas Bedtime Stories.

Danielle’s (Erin Cahill) Marine husband goes missing during a mission gone bad. His is the only body they did not find in the wreckage. Three years later, Danielle’s daughter, Audry (Alice Comer), starts asking about her father. As Danielle tells her bedtime stories about Colby (Charlie Weber), Danielle mysterious things occur that happen to be related to each story. Despite trying to move on with her new fiancé, Pierce (Steve Lund), Danielle can’t shake the feeling that Colby may not actually be dead.

Uggghhh. There are so many things I hate about this movie. Why did Audry not only wait three years to ask about her father but also wait until the literal day her mother gets engaged to another man? A man that both of them supposedly like a lot. Why does Danielle agree to marry Pierce anyway? She never seems to enjoy his company, much less love him. Why do all of the mysterious things keep happening? If this isn’t Colby’s ghost giving some sort of “remember me!” events, why would the universe be like “Yep, Colby’s alive. That is why this Christmas tree salesguy called his trees the same exact phrase Colby did! And yep, all bells everywhere now have red ribbons because Colby gave you one of those. Oh, and here’s a freak snowstorm because there was a snowstorm when you gave birth to your kid.” It’s all just so dumb.

I always feel bad giving negative reviews to movies that feature military members. It makes me sound like I hate the military and I don’t. What I hate are movies that go out of the way to make the military look like some angelic force that can do no wrong. If you don’t think that is what is happening here, wait until the end of the movie and tell me that final scene doesn’t look like some sort of holy ghost. The whole scene even has that hazy dreamlike filter on it. It drives me crazy. Sure, we can have Colby miraculously be the only survivor of a devastating disaster and show back up three years later. But don’t make it look like he’s been living it up at a tropical resort drinking margaritas the whole time. That’s messed up.

In my opinion, I don’t think you should watch Christmas Bedtime Stories. There isn’t anything good here. The acting is terrible, poor Pierce who does nothing wrong gets screwed over in every single scene, and the ending is simply unbelievable. I can suspend disbelief for most things. Not for that. I really hope that a better military-themed Christmas movie comes out later this year. I don’t think we’ve had a semi-decent one since 2020.

Single All The Way | 2021 Christmas Movies

Single All The Way has been making a big splash around social media lately. It’s not the first Christmas movie with a gay romance as the main story but it is getting a lot of talk right now. With stars like Jennifer Coolidge, Kathy Najimy, and Barry Bostwick, I have high hopes.

Peter (Michael Urie) is always “the single one” at the family Christmas gathering. When he finds out that his current boyfriend, Tim (Steve Lund), is actually married to a woman and has children, he is understandably upset. He asks his roommate/best friend, Nick (Philemon Chambers), to go home with him to New Hampshire to pretend to be his boyfriend. Nick agrees to go with him…but not fake a romantic relationship. If Peter’s family has any say in the matter, it won’t be a fake relationship anyway.

I loved Single All The Way so much. Peter and Nick had the right amount of awkwardness when they each wanted their relationship to go further but were afraid to talk about it. James (Luke Macfarlane), the blind date that Peter’s mother Carole (Kathy Najimy) arranges for him, has the perfect amount of likeability that makes you want him to date Peter. While everyone is perfect in their roles, not every character is perfect. Aunt Sandy (Jennifer Coolidge) is completely oblivious to how blasphemous her Christmas pageant is. She brings the right amount of wackiness to the movie to keep it from being stale.

It is looking like Netflix is the place to be for Christmas movies. Definitely head over and watch Single All The Way. Then watch it again for the hilarious antics of Jennifer Coolidge. And one more time for Kathy Najimy’s mom-attempting-to-be-woke. They all deserve it.

Debbie Macomber's A Mrs Miracle Christmas | 2021 Christmas Movies

Sometimes not watching Hallmark Christmas movies before 2018 bites me in the butt. For example, A Mrs. Miracle Christmas is the third movie in this series. However, the first two came out in 2009 and 2010. That was so long ago! Well, despite not being familiar with the franchise (or the books they are based on), I watched the newest entry.

Laurel’s (Kaitlin Doubleday) family is suffering from loneliness and grief this Christmas season. The baby she was fostering with her husband, Will (Steve Lund), was returned to his mother. Her grandmother, Helen (Paula Shaw), recently injured her wrist, leaving her to sit home alone. Since Laurel and Will both work full time, they hire Gloria Merkle (Caroline Rhea) to help Helen during the day. But Mrs. Merkle ends up helping more than just Helen!

Before I started watching Hallmark movies every year, I thought that this was what they were going to be. A religious-but-not-too-religious movie about lost faith and regaining the Christmas Spirit. As you know, a majority of the movies are not that. They are more about the romance then about actual Christmas. That said, this was a nice breath of fresh air in the world of Hallmark movies. It was almost like a Mary Poppins for Christians. Surprisingly, I quite enjoyed it!

It can be difficult to pin down exactly why one likes a movie. I think that it was the downplayed magic of Mrs. Miracle that I loved the most. Her blue handbag (in the picture above) carries anything and everything. When grumpy Helen is looking for a reason to get rid of Mrs. Merkle, Laurel asks for references. Mrs. Merkle pulls out three giant stacks of references and reviews. In another scene, she pulls out a pair of ballroom shoes, even though there’s no way they would fit in that tiny bag! Add into that Mrs. Merkle’s low-key way of pointing the family in the right direction. In any other movie, the things she says would come off as cheesy or eye-rollingly annoying. But the way Caroline Rhea says these things…she makes me want to change the direction of my life!

If you are looking for a sweet, slightly religious, feel good movie, definitely watch A Mrs. Miracle Christmas. I can’t speak for the other two movies in the series but this one is worth your time and attention. I might watch it again when I need to cleanse my movie palate from other Hallmark movies.

Unlocking Christmas | 2020 Christmas Movies

The Hallmark Movies & Mysteries channel gives us another mysterious Christmas movie. This time it’s a riddle-based adventure around town.

Kate (Taylor Cole) is a doctor working on her fellowship. Kevin (Steve Lund) is trying to figure out what he wants to do with his life now that he has returned from the Air Force. Each of them find a mysterious key and riddle on their front door, leading them on an adventure through town.

Unlocking Christmas is an interesting movie. The idea of a sort of riddle-based scavenger hunt isn’t a new one. Giving the pair two envelopes - one to open now and one to open after they completed their task - is a strange twist. It relies on them being honest enough to not open that second envelope immediately. Considering the riddle-makers (yes, we do find out who is behind all of this) don’t really know Kate, it was awfully trusting of them to be like “Don’t open this!!” It would have been better if they just gave them the second envelope after completing the first.

Despite that, it isn’t a terrible movie. Some of the solutions to the puzzles are a bit of a stretch but it isn’t anything that ruins the movie. If anything, I would have liked for the ‘scavenger hunt’ to last longer. I think the movie takes place over a week or so. It would have been nice to have it last a couple of weeks so Kate and Kevin could get to know each other better. As it is, the Big Kiss at the end feels forced. I didn’t see anything in the movie that looked like they were falling in love.

Go ahead and watch Unlocking Christmas. Maybe you’ll get some ideas for new Christmas traditions for your family.