Most movie watching we do around the holidays is Hallmark. I’ve been rather burned out plus Hallmark seems to be turning out quite a few busts. I felt a lot of films were blah if not worse this year, many we (even my mom who’s usually willing to finish more) didn’t finish. This year the younger girls didn’t join in as much either. Anyway, I think the ones below are worth watching. I watched the first three more than once. And of course we watched most of our old favorites that we own or had taped (ha, recorded) as well.

Road to Christmas. Adorable and funny with little drama, my idea of a perfect Hallmark recipe. Also Chad Michael Murray (thinking this out I wanted to say Chad Dylan Cooper, probably NOT a coincidence Disney).

It’s Christmas, Eve. Sweet and no drama, gorgeous singing. A bit of humor

A Shoe Addict’s Christmas. Hilarious guardian angel, looking at past choices.

Christmas Joy. Sweet (and Matt Long is really cute).

Someone told us almost all Hallmark movies are filmed in Canada. I know all the actors aren’t from Canada, but lately we’ve sort of been playing “spot the Canadian” noticing all the Canadians via the vowels.

As far as the other movies, we watched The Grinch (original animated) before Christmas, White Christmas on Christmas Day (I was a little distracted what with trying to get ready) and A Charlie Brown Christmas (and another extra Charlie Brown Christmas on the DVD) after Christmas. I don’t love It’s a Wonderful Life or Christmas in Connecticut, but I might try some from this list of old Christmas movies next year.

Edited and re-posted.

These are a few of my favorite things, somewhat in order of favoriteness.

1. Christmas Card and Thanksgiving Day Parade. I think the latter kind of counts as a Christmas movie because of the parade. These are a cut above the average Hallmark film because of the acting, humor, characters, sweetness, etc. We own these on D.V.D.s. We watch Christmas Card several times each Christmas season.

2. Hitched for the Holidays and Let it Snow. The first is so funny and features better acting but does have considerable angst. I actually re-watched it after writing most of this post, and I think it might be closer to my top favs. The second is super cute and the romance occurs before the end and the angst is familial not romantic; the story is a bit more complex than your average Hallmark. Also, awesome headband and Christmas traditions.

3. The Most Wonderful Time of the Year, Fir Crazy, Window Wonderland, A Season for Miracles. These are more regular Hallmark quality, and the first and last are super funny. The second one is on this particular favorite tier because two cute guys and the line “get a clue cuz.” I think I could put the last one between 2 and 3. This film is super sweet but has considerable angst and is an older one, one of the Hallmark Hall of Fame movies.

4. Snow Bride, Call Me Mrs. Miracle, and Naughty or Nice, pretty cheesy but fun.

As to new movies for this year, I do not think any really made higher than than 4. The Nine Lives of Christmas is cute (or rather he is cute) but more average Hallmark on the scale of sweetness, angst, acting, plot, and humor. A Royal Christmas is about the same on ranking, though again the guy was super cute plus British. At least the film was better than A Princess for Christmas which was painfully embarrassing to watch. I thought Angels and Ornaments was awkward and embarrassing, except for the Angel and his story which were sweet. I saw a tiny part of North Pole and this film and the other previews do not look overly interesting.

Here is our “baby” cat Mumford “watching” with us.