Everything Christmas made it to my watch list this year solely because of Cindy Busby. I first saw her as Ashley Stanton on Heartland, then followed her to Hallmark the year they started making a slew of Pride & Prejudice-themed movies, even though they clearly didn’t read the book. She starred in 2016’s Unleashing Mr. Darcy and its sequel Marrying Mr. Darcy. But my favorite made-for-TV Cindy is in UP TV’s 2016 movie, A Puppy for Christmas. She plays a woman who always wanted a puppy for Christmas, goes out and gets one, only to get dumped by her shitty boyfriend, and accompany her co-worker to his backwoods family Christmas. It’s cute and also co-stars Greyston Holt when he’s not putting on a terrible fake ‘country’ accent for the A Very Country Christmas series (although we do get to see his guitar skills for a hot minute.)
ANYWAY. Let’s dive into the short version of Everything Christmas so you can save yourself two hours.
Lori Jo, or LJ for short (Busby), is a Christmas fanatic who made an ornament with her grandma years ago and was told about some place called Yuletide Springs where Christmas is celebrated all year long. They made a promise to go together someday, but her grandma died four years ago and she’s finally planning the trip, she took the time off from work and everything. Except at work her (boss? micro-manager?) is says they just got this big account and she needs to do the marketing analysis for it over Christmas break. LJ is like, ‘Can’t do that, I marked my days’. (Way to re-establish those boundaries, LJ), but he doesn’t care. So, she quits. LJ ain’t playin’. She’s going to Yuletide Springs and she ain’t takin’ no work with her.
She then encourages her best friend and roommate, Tori (Katherine Barrell), who also works at her now-previous job to come with her to Yuletide Springs. Tori is work-obsessed and privileged LJ is just like ‘You should quit too, this job sucks.’ But Tori, reasonably, has bills to pay, especially since she won’t be getting LJ’s rent this month… (No shade, Tori, someone has to be responsible here.)
They proceed to go on the road trip and of course, their car breaks down and they meet a handsome stranger, Carl (Cory Sevier) with a tow truck who would give them a ride, but his cab is full. He says he’ll be back in 15 minutes but takes longer. An old, white-haired, jolly guy who says his name is Kris Kringle helps them instead and for the rest of the movie, he seems to always know everyone’s name and background without them telling him. And rather than get suspicious, call the police, or run a search on his license plate, they find this endearing and let this man in their car, let him give them off-the-map directions, and follow him all over the damn place.
Carl and LJ keep “magically” bumping into each other, and Tori and Jason (Matt Wells), a guy she randomly meets due to “Kris Kringle” magic, keep running into each other. And everywhere they end up, some clue tied to “Kris Kringle” appears. Eventually, they all go on a random, unplanned adventure because “Kris Kringle” left them a flyer with directions on it. The confidence of well-meaning Hallmark characters to just follow a map into the woods at night because someone who looks like Santa Claus left them a map. If this was an off-season Lifetime movie someone would definitely end up locked in “Kris Kringle’s” secret bunker in the woods.
They finally wind up at Yuletide Springs (minus Carl because he has a job), and LJ loses her mind with excitement. She fan-girls all over the town and finally reaches the tree she’s been waiting decades to put her ornament on. But she falls off the ladder, breaks it, and instead of going to the hospital because damn girl, you ain’t no spring chicken and should get checked out for sure, she runs off and cries. Tori convinces her to just get over it and get another ornament, and like magic “Kris Kringle” shows up and everything starts coming together for the big finish. Carl randomly ends up in town and LJ finds the exact ornament she made with her grandma in a store. They later find “Kris Kringle’s” truck and his wallet and ID (not weird), and find out his real name. And the big reveal is that they are disappointed he’s not actually Santa.
The End.
My Thoughts
This movie was just so “Hallmark magic” that it was too predictable, too naive, and didn’t cut it for me. It felt silly and I was just waiting for the conflict, which ended up being a major lightweight. I can’t say I would watch it again or recommend anyone watch it. One-star.
Details, Hallmark…
The biggest detail question I have in this movie is when LJ meets the mayor of Yuletide. If this man is the man her grandma told her about when she was a kid… HOW IS HE POSSIBLY THAT YOUNG? Hallmark, get an appropriately aged actor, please.
Additionally, if a strange man knows your full name, your car and its decorations, and details about your childhood without you telling him, RUN AWAY AND CONTACT THE WITNESS PROTECTION PROGRAM. This person is NOT SAFE.
Hallmarking Time 