Hallmark started their yearly tradition of showing Christmas movies 24/7 the day after Halloween and they’ll continue the movies until after the new year. This means at any time whenever I can’t think of anything else to watch on TV, when I’m up in the middle of the night and can’t fall back to sleep, or if I just want to watch a sappy holiday love story I can turn on the channel and all will be right in the world. I’ve written about their movies on here a few times; when they made me want to be in a relationship, when one in particular made me think of “what if” and in a few other holiday posts but this one’s going to be different.
Hallmark tends to follow similar formulas for their romantic holiday movies:
- An overworked woman takes a chance on love with an unexpected man and between Thanksgiving and New Years they realize they’re meant to be together and get married.
- A woman’s in a relationship with a guy who doesn’t believe in her or her dreams and she meets Mr. Right who just so happens to be the exact opposite of her current beau. They meet in an unlikely place, fall in love and she ends things with her current beau to become Mrs. Right.
- Someone’s in need of a holiday boo and what starts off as a fake relationship turns real; feelings develop and over the course of a month the two realize they’re meant to be and make things real. But of course, all of this happens after everyone they know and love find out the arrangement was a charade.
- There’s the one who got away and it’s the alternate universe of what would happen if they’d stayed together.
- A woman meets a royal but doesn’t know he’s a royal (he’s in the states for holiday or school and doesn’t reveal his title), they fall in love, he takes her home and she eventually becomes his bride after being hated and hazed by his family.
If you’re like me you probably thought of a few movies that fit those plot lines; at least two for each one. But what strikes me as odd is that that’s where the story ends. As far as I know there’s only been one sequel/series, the “Santa” series with Steve Guttenberg playing the jolly old man. What about the other ones? I want to hear about their happily ever after. In fact, there are four movies in particular in which I’d love to see a sequel.
Mistletoe Promise – This movie debuted this weekend and I actually liked it. Jaime King played a divorcee who co-owned a travel agency with her ex-husband. That skeezeball flaunted his floozy girlfriend in Jaime’s face and made her life a living hell. It wasn’t until she linked up with Luke Macfarlane’s character in the food court of their local mall that things started looking up for her. This movie is the mix of a few plots, she meets her new fake beau in an unlikely place and they have a holiday arrangement. He needs a faux boo to help make partner at his firm and she needs someone to rub in her ex’s and her co-workers’ faces. Of course they fall in love and end up making things work, but things blow up in her face first when her ex-husband sends her “relationship contract” to everyone in the office. The movie ends with Jaime and Luke kissing on her porch after he tells her he’s made partner, but I want to know what happens next? Do they get married? Does her ex-husband leave his ditzy girlfriend? Was it Luke’s company that pitched in the money for Jaime’s philanthropic events? SO MANY QUESTIONS!
Family For Christmas – Lacey Chabert is in this “what if” movie in which she wakes up in an alternate reality where she’s married her college sweetheart, they have two kids and live in a suburb instead of her being single-ish and at the top of her game in her television career. It’s a huge adjustment at first, getting used to being a mom and living that small town domestic life instead of her fast-paced city one, but she gets it and even starts to thrive. Since it’s an alternate reality she eventually wakes up and is back to living her regular life, but she bumps into that college sweetheart and the movie ends with them going on a date. WHAT HAPPENS NEXT?! Do they get married? Move to the suburbs? Do they eventually have two kids, maybe even girls, and does it become kind of a self-fulfilling prophecy where she names the girls the same names as the kids in the alternate reality? Does she give up her gig in television to settle down and let his advertising career thrive?
Any Princess Movie – There are honestly so many to name so I won’t name any. You know how it goes, but it always ends up with his royal family accepting her even as a commoner and their wedding day. But what happens next? Does it become a Princess Di type situation where they didn’t really like her? Does she stay married to the prince or do things fizzle out? If by chance the prince does have kids prior to meeting her do they decide to send those kids to boarding school? You know that’s threatened at least once in the films. Give me a follow-up, Hallmark!
Let it Snow – Candace Cameron Bure plays the overworked business woman who meets her Mr. Right in an unexpected place while doing her job. She doesn’t really like Christmas like that, but the lodge and the guests win her over and she ends up falling for the youngest son of the owner, the one who’s in line to take over the lodge. Alan Thicke plays her grinch of a father, but even his heart softens and they decide to buy the lodge, but keep it as is. That’s how the movie ends, but I want to know if Alan kept his word. It ends with them all enjoying dinner together, but nothing’s written or agreed upon. I would love to see a follow-up to see if Jesse Hutch’s character ends up staying and working at the lodge (something he felt obligated to do, not something he really wanted to do) or if he and Candace left to do their own thing.
At times I feel like I’ve become too invested in these movies, but I blame Hallmark for this. I can never find myself able to change the channel even when the movie’s uber cheesy, and I get invested in these characters as if they’re regulars on my favorite shows. I need answers, Hallmark, help a girl out.