The 2021 holiday movie guide: 100+ new films to get you in the spirit – Wisconsin Public Radio News

Every year, more outlets offer holiday movies (and by that I mean overwhelmingly Christmas movies, but occasionally not). And the places that offer them seem to offer more. It has become a kudzu situation. How are we getting VH1 holiday movies now? How did Food Network get involved?

Nonetheless, here we are for the third year in a row to look at this year’s crop, complete with trope elements in bold. A few notes:

1. I didn’t cover most of the kids’ movies or animated movies. This is primarily a guide to the romances and romantic comedies that are so very thick on the ground at this time of year, plus a few that seem to be specifically aimed at adults but not aren’t romances (some are kind of mushy and inspirational).

2. It’s entirely possible I missed something somewhere. There is no centralized repository of holiday offerings other than ones created by other fallible journalists and writers, and so I tip my hat to some of the people who I cross-checked with to make sure there wasn’t anything I missed: especially TV Line and the very helpful and exhaustive catalog maintained by this Tumblr user. The ones that have already premiered are most likely still rerunning from now until Christmas, so don’t be dismayed if they’ve already aired once!

3. As a concession to the shortness of life and a desire to keep this guide somewhere in the vicinity of a hundred movies, there are a few outlets I didn’t individually write up, but who do have movies coming. Being a completist at this point is just not practical. I skipped a few from ION Television, Roku, Tubi, Crackle, and a couple other places, including two that are only going to be on Hallmark’s streaming service. (I think two different Hallmark cable networks is enough.) Also of note, former Hallmark executive Bill Abbott is now running a new cable channel called GAC Family, which says it celebrates “American culture, lifestyle and heritage.” There’s very little information on their site about most of their films, but if that sounds appealing, you can check out their lineup.

4. More inclusive content is something I hope for every year and am glad for every year when it comes up. I commend to you some commentary from the writer Tressie McMillan Cottom recently about holiday movies, and especially about Hallmark’s Christmas In Harmony. If you’re looking for more Black leads, you’ll find more at Lifetime than at Hallmark, but even at Hallmark, the tide is turning somewhat. There is a lot to be said about this. Take Dr. McMillan Cottom’s words under advisement.

With that said, let’s dive in.

You, Me & The Christmas Trees

A headstrong expert on evergreens (cool job alert) heads to a man’s family business, a tree farm, to help him save his trees from certain death. (Hallmark, 10/22)

Boyfriends of Christmas Past

Lauren is visited by … well, the ghosts of her old boyfriends. (Hallmark, 10/23)

Christmas In My Heart

A violinist and a “reclusive country music star” are “joined through the connective power of music.” Sounds dangerous. (Hallmark Movies & Mysteries, 10/23)

The Santa Stakeout

Two undercover detectives (Tamera Mowry-Housley, Paul Campbell) put on a fake relationship as newlyweds to bust a string of … holiday party heists? Sure, okay. (Hallmark, 10/24)

Christmas in Harmony

A woman named Harmony (yuuuup) auditions for a chorus so she can perform music directed by her ex-boyfriend. (Hallmark, 10/29)

Coyote Creek Christmas

Event planning brings two people together. (Seriously, that’s all I know. I don’t know any more!) (Hallmark, 10/30)

The Christmas Promise

A grieving woman hires a hot helpful man to help renovate a house. (Hallmark Movies & Mysteries, 10/30)

Christmas Sail

A woman comes back to her hometown with her moppet daughter and meets up with her old friend. (Hallmark, 10/31)

A Rich Christmas

A dad sends his spoiled daughter off to work with unhoused folks to teach her a lesson about the true meaning of Christmas. (BET+, 11/4)

Love Hard

A woman impulsively flies out for a holiday visit with a guy she’s been talking to on a dating app on the Amazing Internet. When she realizes she’s been catfished and identities are scrambled, the regular guy agrees to make it up to her by setting her up with the guy she thought she was getting. (Netflix, 11/5)

Gingerbread Miracle

They are packing a lot into this one: His family business is a Mexican bakery that makes cookies that grant wishes. She’s his old friend. (Hallmark, 11/5)

Next Stop, Christmas

We all get frustrated with holiday travel, but this woman has a particularly peculiar experience: She gets on a magic train back to her hometown and goes 10 years into the past, where she gets to consider: What if she picked a different guy? (Note: The supporting cast includes Christopher Lloyd and Lea Thompson! In a time-travel movie! Get it?) (Hallmark, 11/6)

Debbie Macomber’s A Mrs. Miracle Christmas

There are a lot of branding words in this title. As for what it’s actually about: Mrs. Miracle helps a couple rediscover the true meaning of Christmas. (Hallmark Movies & Mysteries, 11/6)

Father Christmas is Back

Kelsey Grammer plays the big jerk dad of four daughters who are reunited at their ostentatious house and surprised when said dad shows up. (Netflix, 11/7)

A Christmas Treasure

Former American Idol Jordin Sparks plays a woman opens a time capsule and meets a chef (…sure), which motivates her to consider moving to New York (as you do after opening a time capsule and/or meeting a chef). (Hallmark, 11/7)

Christmas With A Prince: The Royal Baby

Did you know there’s a “Christmas With A Prince” series about the royal-ish that’s different from the “Christmas Prince” series on Netflix? There is, and this is the third movie in it. (UPtv, 11/7)

Open by Christmas

A woman and her friend look for the writer of an anonymous Christmas card from high school. (Hallmark, 11/12)

Ice Wine Christmas

A sommelier goes home to … Evergreen (PUN TOWN ALERT!) … for the annual “ice wine festival,” only to find that a Suit Man is planning to commercialize Christmas ice wine after taking over from her “ice wine mentor.” Seriously, I missed holiday movies so much. (Lifetime, 11/12)

My Christmas Family Tree

In a premise so potentially sketchy it makes my teeth itch, a woman takes a DNA test, finds new relatives, and goes to see them for Christmas. (Hallmark, 11/13)

A Picture Perfect Holiday

A photographer (Tatyana Ali!) goes to a “Christmas photography retreat” (sure) and winds up in trapped together in a cabin with a wildlife photographer. (Lifetime, 11/13)

One December Night

I hardly know where to begin! Peter Gallagher (!) and Bruce Campbell (!!) play rock star dads (!!!) who have to be brought together at Christmas. (Hallmark Movies & Mysteries, 11/13)

A Snowy Christmas

A woman goes back to her family home for Christmas, and she needs to save the place! Will she be able to rely on this hot helpful man who just showed up? (UPtv, 11/13)

A Holiday in Harlem

Another one jam-packed with classic setups: A hard-charging career woman returns to her hometown to care for her injured grandmother and winds up reconnecting with her old best friend to run the neighborhood holiday party. (Hallmark, 11/14)

Snowed In For Christmas

An au pair is snowed in with the family she works for, and she’s going to teach these moppets and their hot uncle about the true meaning of Christmas. (UPtv, 11/14)

The Princess Switch 3: Romancing The Star

You might remember that The Princess Switch, in which there were two royal-ish Vanessa Hudgenses, was followed by The Princess Switch 2, in which there were three Vanessa Hudgenses. It appears that they have decided three is the limit for now, because there are still the same three Vanessa Hudgenses in The Princess Switch 3: Romancing The Star. If you want four Vanessa Hudgenses, you might have to wait for Princess Switch 4: Four Vanessa Hudgenses. (Netflix, 11/18)

Nantucket Noel

In a setup so familiar it seems like they have to have already made this movie at least once, a woman discovers that developers are going to take down the wharf (!) where her adorable small business, a toy store (!!), is located. But the developer’s son is a surprisingly hot enemy, soooooooo maybe that will help? (Hallmark, 11/19)

Dancing Through The Snow

When a clip of a hot single dad and his moppet daughter doing ballet together goes viral on the Amazing Internet, he suddenly becomes a sensation. But he’s into his daughter’s ballet teacher! (Lifetime, 11/19)

Candy Coated Christmas

Okay, apparently it’s now mandatory for everyone to make a Christmas movie, which is the only explanation I have for the fact that Discovery+, via the Food Network, has this one coming out, in which a woman goes back to her mom’s charming hometown to save the family business and runs into a baker played by the Pioneer Woman. CAN WE JUST STOP ADDING OUTLETS THAT MAKE CHRISTMAS MOVIES? (Discovery+, 11/19)

A Christmas Together With You

A woman and her “father figure” head out on a road trip looking for the love of his life, but maybe she’ll find the love of hers! (Hallmark, 11/20)

You Make It Feel Like Christmas

A career woman is too busy to come home for Christmas, but an ex-boyfriend sets out to get her to return. (Lifetime, 11/20)

Five More Minutes

Anything I tell you about this movie would pale in comparison to the fact that it is based on a song about the passage of time by Scotty McCreery, the former American Idol contestant. (Hallmark Movies & Mysteries, 11/20)

Mistletoe and Molly

A woman who’s a “waitress and animal lover” is getting desperate for a break, because she needs to fix her car and it’s almost Christmas! I wonder if this hot helpful man can do anything for her. (UPtv, 11/20)

Who Is Christmas Eve?

A woman who was left at a church as an infant learns about her past with the help of her boyfriend. (Bounce, 11/21)

A Kiss Before Christmas

A guy who’s too nice to get ahead in business (sigh) magically wakes up in an alternate reality where he wasn’t so nice, and he doesn’t have his family but he has lots of money, and only you can make a guess as to what he will conclude about the big question: What if he had money but not love? (Hallmark, 11/21)

Baking Spirits Bright

A woman’s family business is selling fruitcakes. (Hey, she likes fruitcakes.) They hire a Suit Man to help with marketing, and she has to, I’m sure, make sure that the true meaning of fruitcake is not lost. (Lifetime, 11/21)

Christmas on 5th Avenue

A “professional wish granter” (cool job alert) is redecorating for a writer who won’t be home for Christmas. But then he is home after all! Can she make him rediscover the true meaning of Christmas? (UPtv, 11/21)

The Nine Kittens of Christmas

If you know anything about these movies, you know that The Nine Lives of Christmas, in which Brandon Routh played a firefighter who met a girl and got a cat, is one of the best ones. Now, there’s a sequel that’s been given prized placement on Thanksgiving. But it suggests that the couple from the first one is getting back together in this one, which means they broke up so that they have to be brought together at Christmas, and now all my old Christmases are ruined. (Hallmark, 11/25)

Christmas Deja Vu

Amber Riley plays a woman who wishes she had pursued a singing career, and an angel is ready to give her a look at what if she had that life. (BET+, 11/25)

A Castle For Christmas

Netflix has put a lot of its Christmas muscle into somewhat younger demos with movies like The Princess Switch franchise and the Christmas Prince franchise. But like Hallmark and Lifetime, it knows that some of the holiday-movie bread is buttered with cholesterol-free alternatives, so it’s putting a lot of weight behind this more mature romance starring Cary Elwes and Brooke Shields as a royal-ish castle owner and a writer who do not hit it off when she tries to buy his ostentatious house, a.k.a. castle. (Don’t you hate it when somebody you don’t like wants to buy your castle?) (Netflix, 11/26)

Christmas CEO

A woman who owns a small business (a toy company!) gets a chance to sell out big-time, but her former business partner — is he the one who got away? — has to agree. (Hallmark, 11/26)

An Unexpected Christmas

A writer gets his ex-girlfriend to enter into a fake relationship and pretend to be his current girlfriend. (Hallmark, 11/26)

Reba McEntire’s Christmas In Tune

In a movie that pulls out all the stops for its intended audience, beloved famouses Reba McEntire and John Schneider play exes, an estranged singing team whose daughter (too old to be a moppet, but same difference) tries to bring them together for Christmas to participate in a charity event. But they still hate each other! Just kidding. (Lifetime, 11/26)

Making Spirits Bright

This story involves — let me consult my notes — “the son and daughter of rival holiday decorating families.” Oh, that old story. Anyway, decorating contest, hot enemies, new bonds, and probably somebody pitching in at the end when somebody else has trouble. Maybe they’ll team up? (Hallmark, 11/27)

Christmas at Castle Hart

Hallmark staple Lacey Chabert plays a woman who goes to Ireland to research her family and is mistaken for an elite event planner when identities are scrambled, which winds up getting her stuck planning a party for a big fancy royal-ish Irish dude. I hate when that happens. (Hallmark, 11/27)

Merry Liddle Christmas Baby

The next installment in this franchise finds Jacquie (Kelly Rowland!) getting ready for a baby. (Lifetime, 11/27)

Time For Them To Come Home For Christmas

This somewhat unwieldy title belongs to a movie about a woman with amnesia who can only figure out who she is by going to the Christmas festival. Producer is … Blake Shelton. (Hallmark Movies & Mysteries, 11/27)

Christmas in Tahoe

A woman’s family owns a charming hotel, which naturally has an annual Christmas show (…?). To save the show this year, she has to approach her former boyfriend … and his band (NO!). (Hallmark, 11/28)

The Christmas Contest

Hallmark staple Candace Cameron Bure stars as a woman who competes against some hot rival to win money for charity? And the whole charming town gets in on it? Details are sketchy. (Hallmark, 11/28)

Miracle in Motor City

Tia Mowry plays a woman who’s event-planning her church’s Christmas celebration and winds up leading them to believe beloved famous Smokey Robinson is coming. (Shades of Marcia Brady and Davy Jones.) She and her ex-boyfriend have to get together and try to get Smokey to come! (No spoilers, but, uh, Smokey’s in the movie.) (Lifetime, 11/28)

Welcome to the Christmas Family Reunion

A singer named Tiffanie Christmas (YES!) is having a family reunion, and her event planner has enough challenges without falling for Tiffanie Christmas’ cousin! (Lifetime, 11/29)

Adventures in Christmasing

Kim Fields plays a talk show host whose hot enemy is a survivalist dude she has to work with for a Special Christmas Event. (VH1, 11/29)

A Christmas Wish

A single mom needs a miracle at Christmas. Information is very minimal! (BET+, 11/30)

A Chestnut Family Christmas

A live-in chef invites her family to her boss’ place for the holidays, but identities are scrambled to the degree that her family thinks she lives there herself. (OWN, 11/30)

Match Made In Mistletoe

A woman is hired to do the interior design for an embassy, but the ambassador (whom you can consider royal-ish for this purpose) doesn’t like her style and makes her his hot enemy, because he’s “minimalist.” (LOL.) Will they learn to get along while she decorates? (Lifetime, 12/1)

The Business of Christmas 2

It’s a sequel, obviously, and the children of the Franklin family are learning to get along without their dad. (BET+, 12/2)

Single All The Way

My personal pick for “I can’t wait to see this one” is this film in which (the great) Michael Urie plays a guy who gets a friend to fake a relationship and pretend to be his boyfriend when he goes home for Christmas. When his mother, played by (the great) Kathy Najimy sets him up with an entirely different hottie, things get awkward. Jennifer Coolidge is around also, and it’s a story with a gay lead going home to his family where it seems to have nothing whatsoever to do with either coming out or family disapproval, and that is a nice change. (Netflix, 12/2)

A Christmas Village Romance

I could not stop laughing at this title, because I kept wanting to type it as A Christmas Village Christmas, which would be the best movie title ever. Aaaanyway, a romance novelist discovers that a “charming pioneer village” (absolutely no idea) is “struggling to stay afloat” (in what sense?), she sponsors a big party for Christmas. But she gets all kinds of friction from the (checks notes) “blacksmith and town historian.” (Lifetime, 12/2)

The Bitch Who Stole Christmas

RuPaul and some absolute queens appear in this parody in which a journalist goes to a small town where someone is trying to destroy Christmas. (VH1, 12/2)

Eight Gifts of Hanukkah

Someone asked recently whether Hallmark made Hanukkah movies, and I said occasionally, and hey, here is one! And unlike some in the past, it doesn’t look like it’s exclusively about Hanukkah as an alternative to Christmas. This one has a Hanukkah secret admirer. (Hallmark, 12/3)

A Christmas Dance Reunion

They’re closing the resort! Better try to save the place with one last Christmas celebration! That’s why Lucy and her mother go off into the snow, where they run into her ex-dance-partner who are brought together at Christmas. There’s presumably some pretty good dancing here, since Monique Coleman and Corbin Bleu (reuniting from High School Musical!) are the leads. (Lifetime, 12/3)

A Very Merry Bridesmaid

A woman whose birthday is on Christmas Eve (the worst) also has a brother whose wedding is going to be on Christmas Eve (sir!). So it’s up to her old crush to give her an actual birthday. (Hallmark, 12/4)

Kirk Franklin’s A Gospel Christmas

A woman becomes lead pastor of a church only a month before Christmas, and she needs some help to get ready for the Winter Jamboree! Kirk Franklin appears in and wrote music for this one. (Lifetime, 12/4)

A Clusterfunke Christmas

A comedy parody of the kind of movie that populates the rest of this list, this movie is by Ana Gasteyer and Rachel Dratch, and it’s about a career woman who goes to a small town to buy an inn, and I can’t really list tropes because it’s specifically about tropes! But I will watch it. (Comedy Central, 12/4)

Our Christmas Journey

Holly Robinson Peete is a single mom of a son with autism, and something happens around Christmas, but the description doesn’t really say what it is. I guess that’s the Christmas journey! (Hallmark Movies & Mysteries, 12/4)

Christmas Under The Stars

A “Christmas blogger” (job from 2006 alert) heads to a place called Christmas World (I mean, it makes sense) to get some delicious content. The guy who’s about to inherit Christmas World needs her help to save the place! (UPtv, 12/4)

Sister Swap: A Hometown Holiday

I’m not sure how I went this long without knowing that Kimberly Williams-Paisley and Ashley Williams are actual sisters, but they are, and they’re both experienced holiday movie people, so here they are together! Real relatives playing relatives! Apparently, their uncle has just died, and he owned the theater in their town. So the sister, widowed single mom, comes back to town to help save the theater (maybe?), and she meets up with her onetime rival from the debate team, so that sounds hot. (Hallmark, 12/5)

My Favorite Christmas Melody

Mýa plays a woman who can write real songs but is off writing jingles. (This is nothing to be ashamed of, it seems to me!) The high school music teacher in her hometown gets her involved in trying to save the arts programs at the school. Hopefully, she teaches all the kids that there’s no shame in making a living in the arts, even if it means you write jingles! (Lifetime, 12/5)

A Furry Little Christmas

(I just want to make it clear that I don’t write the titles of these things.) A doctor (a city guy) meets a vet (a small-town girl), just in time for Christmas. (UPtv, 12/5)

Secretly Santa

There’s one every year where I just think, “You have to quote the entire thing, or it won’t come through.” So here’s the official description: “Miranda (Alicia Dea Josipovic) and Paul (Travis Nelson) are business rivals who accidentally meet at a costumed Santa crawl and spend a romantic evening together without learning each other’s identities. As their anonymous romance continues online, their businesses merge, forcing them into an unwanted partnership. As they clash while working together on a holiday gift-giving app, their hearts must reconcile their online love when unexpected feelings develop for one another.” (Lifetime, 12/6)

Hip Hop Family Christmas

A hip-hop celebrity family agrees to do a Christmas special to improve their image. Ne-Yo is in it! (VH1, 12/7)

Christmas Movie Magic

A woman journalist is assigned to write about the anniversary of a beloved Christmas movie, so she goes to the small town where it was filmed. (So far so good; this could be my life.) She meets up with the theater owner, and they explore the history of the movie’s big song. (Lifetime, 12/7)

A Sisterly Christmas

Two sisters who just couldn’t be more different (one loves Christmas! one hates Christmas!) are brought together on a vacation, but they encounter an old rival. (OWN, 12/7)

Christmas with a Crown

A woman goes back to her hometown to look after her family’s Christmas festival. There, she meets a man whom she does not realize is royal-ish: a prince in disguise! That never happens to me when I’m planning my family’s Christmas festival! (Lifetime, 12/8)

Merry Switchmas

Twin sisters decide to switch places at the family Christmas party! Identities are scrambled! (BET+, 12/9)

A Fiance for Christmas

A woman invents a fiance, and then she has to get a guy to pretend to be her fiance, and that sounds like a recipe for disaster! (Hey, it’s beloved famous Marie Osmond!) (Lifetime, 12/9)

A Dickens of a Holiday!

So … a woman lives in a small town that has a “Victorian festival.” And the best way to make its 100th anniversary a smash is to invite back a local celebrity: the guy she went to high school with, who’s now a movie star, and who she wants to play Scrooge in A Christmas Carol. (Hallmark, 12/10)

Holiday in Santa Fe

Mario Lopez plays a guy whose family business makes holiday decor. When a Suit Woman shows up who might want to buy the company, they have to get to know each other. (Lifetime, 12/10)

A Royal Queens Christmas

I think you will agree this title sounds like it could be about a lot of things, but here’s what it’s actually about, per the Hallmark description: “A prince finds his way to Queens during Christmas when a local woman enlists his help with a children’s Christmas show.” I have a lot of questions. (Hallmark, 12/11)

The Holiday Fix-Up

A TV star who does a home renovation show gets assigned to fix up a hotel in her hometown for Christmas. But who’s the contractor she’ll be working with? HER OLD FLAME! (Lifetime, 12/11)

A Godwink Christmas: Miracle of Love

So this is a continuation of this Godwink franchise in which the idea is that coincidences are God winking. Like, they are literally winks of God. “Godwinks.” Apparently, this movie about a woman who wants to be a nurse and a man who also is “at a crossroads” (…?) involves a sort of Habitat For Humanity-like setup as well as a “medical miracle.” (Hallmark Movies & Mysteries, 12/11)

Hot Mess Holiday

Again, I know everyone wants to get into this business, but Comedy Central, guys? COMEDY CENTRAL? Anyway, a woman gets dumped during Diwali (okay, I do appreciate an expansion of what “holiday movie” means!), and she and her best friend go on a wild partying tear through Chicago, and they end up with a diamond. (Comedy Central, 12/11)

Sister Swap: Christmas in the City

I originally thought they had listed a movie twice, but no! See, while the one sister goes back home to save the theater, her sister goes and takes her place at her restaurant to help prepare for a contest. And she meets a man! So these movies are paired, you see: it’s a sister swap, and each one gets a movie. It’s like The Holiday, if it had been two movies. (Hallmark, 12/12)

People Presents: Blending Christmas

I am candidly irate that this is not a movie about someone who owns a Santa-themed smoothie company, but WHATEVER. It’s actually about a couple who comes together with their wacky families for what’s supposed to be a proposal, but then things get crazy and the families have to cooperate to get them back together. Note that this movie features not one but four members of the original Brady Bunch cast plus Cousin Oliver playing, I believe, various family members! What a time to be alive. (Lifetime, 12/12)

Fixing Up Christmas

A woman who does event planning for “difficult clients” has to put together a party for a Suit Man. (UPtv, 12/12)

Maps & Mistletoe

A “cartographer of school maps” (um, cool job alert) has to get together with an actual North Pole explorer to work on a special Christmas project for work. (Lifetime, 12/13)

Let’s Get Merried

A woman (who hates Christmas) is on a bachelorette weekend right around Christmas when she meets and marries some dude. Will it remain a fake relationship? (VH1, 12/13)

Ghosts Of Christmas Past

A woman who ghosts people on dating apps (PUN TITLE!) gets into a whole thing with a fortune teller who says she has to close the loop with some of her dates or she’ll never fall in love. (Wow, okay, worst fortune teller ever.) (Lifetime, 12/14)

A Christmas Stray

I mean, it is what it says it is! A man is not at all into Christmas, but then a stray dog finds him. (OWN, 12/14)

The Enchanted Christmas Cake

(Don’t eat cursed food, guys.) Anyhoo, a woman running the family bakery after her grandmother’s death is trying to figure out the Enchanted Christmas Cake recipe, and when a baking TV show wants to film in her town, she agrees to help. And that producer is looking pretty good! (Lifetime, 12/15)

A California Christmas: City Lights

In a sequel to last year’s classic (?) A California Christmas, hard times come upon the owners of the … dairy-farm-slash-winery. (Netflix, 12/16)

Christmas By Chance

The woman’s name is Chance, and her small business is By Chance Gifts, and the rich guy who comes in to get her to put together a proposal to his girlfriend probably never suspects that she’s going to be his big … chance. (Lifetime, 12/16)

Mistletoe in Montana

Melissa Joan Hart owns a ranch that entertains city people, including a hot single dad and his kids. What a … ride! (Lifetime, 12/17)

The Christmas House 2: Deck Those Halls

The Christmas House was famous last year for being the Pigs Flying movie for people who believed Hallmark might never include a gay couple, even in a supporting position in a family ensemble. This year, the whole wacky family is back to decorate houses in a brutal competition. Including the gay brother! (Hallmark, 12/18)

Toying With The Holidays

A “workaholic” woman and her moppet son go back to her hometown, only to find that the model train she loves isn’t running anymore this Christmas! She better fix that, because tradition is the true meaning of Christmas, and she better hope there’s an old friend and model-train guy in town to help. (Lifetime, 12/18)

Christmas For Keeps

Some friends get together over the holidays to celebrate their high school teacher back in their hometown. (Hallmark Movies & Mysteries, 12/18)

‘Tis the Season to be Merry

A writer wants to work on her relationship book, so she goes off to Vermont (the most Christmas-y of destinations) and meets a guy. (Hallmark, 12/19)

Under The Christmas Tree

A “marketing whiz” and a “Christmas tree whisperer” (!) (cool job alert) clash over the latter’s discovery of a perfect tree for a special project in the former’s backyard. Will they get over themselves and stop being hot enemies? WILL THEY? Take note and note well: They’re both women! (Lifetime, 12/19)

Christmas Together

A woman rents a young father’s guest house and falls in love. (UPtv, 12/19)

Candy Cane Candidate

A woman smarting from a city council loss retreats to her hometown, but what’s this? She meets up with her old high school rival who beat her in student government elections? And the mayor just resigned, meaning they have to run against each other again in an emergency election? That sounds like she’s going to have a terrible Christmas full of nothing but stress! (Lifetime, 12/20)

Miracles Across 125th Street

Nick Cannon stars as a rapper who goes to church on Christmas Eve to deal with some pretty heavy personal business. (VH1, 12/20)

The Christmas Ball

A fired ballerina goes home to find that her family’s ostentatious house is at risk, and the only way to save it is to work with a local historian to put on a grand ball that will recall the place of the “family manor” in history. (Lifetime, 12/21)

It Takes A Christmas Village

The town has a “Christmas market,” but the beautiful mayor can only make it work by convincing a local mean recluse to let the city use his mill! I bet it won’t work and Christmas will be canceled. (Lifetime, 12/22)

Rebuilding A Dream Christmas

(Not, by the way, Requiem for a Dream Christmas, which would be a whole different thing.) A woman returns to her hometown to fix up a property she inherited. Whom will she hire to work on the place? Not this hot single dad! (Lifetime, 12/23)

Hot Chocolate Holiday

A woman whose coffee shop (the coziest possible small business) is famous for its hot chocolate decides that a rival shop has ripped off her hot cocoa “recipe,” which she can tell from its distinct taste. (Let me guess: Chocolate and milk?) But of course, as they are literally fighting over hot cocoa as hot enemies, they can’t help falling in love. (Lifetime, 12/24)

Writing Around The Christmas Tree

A romance novelist goes on a writing retreat and meets a dude who is also a writer, who tells her she shouldn’t write romance unless she gets herself some, and I am here to tell you this man should be escorted out the nearest window, but apparently he has some serious charm, because she gets to know him instead. (Lifetime, 12/25)

Christmas For Sale

A real estate agent impersonates the yoga instructor to a billionaire (yes, with a B) in order to pursue a real estate listing (?), but even though identities are scrambled, she kinda likes him. (BET+, date TBD)

The Jenkins Family Christmas

The first Christmas in a big family after the death of a parent is a big deal, but it’s safe to say it’s a bigger deal when, as here, a previously unknown additional sibling shows up for the holidays. (BET+, available now)

Soul Santa

A man who owes money to the mob goes into hiding as a mall Santa. (This is a pretty good setup. Easy moppet story!) (BET+, available now)

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