We spend our entire lives thinking about our futures – about falling in love, finding our path, and learning how to communicate. As we grow older, we get lost in the figuring out how we’re supposed to be, how we’re supposed to adapt, and how we’re supposed to trust.
And when we fall in love, when we find our path – it’s work. Everything is work. And I am not talking the kind of work you get paid in cash for. I am talking the kind of work that you get paid in feelings for.
Marisol Nichols (Riverdale) and Kristoffer Polaha (Jurassic World Dominion) star in We Wish You A Married Christmas, the latest movie in Hallmarks Countdown to Christmas.
In the movie, “Becca (Nichols) and Robby (Polaha) are a married couple having a hard time connecting with each other as the holidays approach. At the advice of their marriage coach, they head to a cozy Vermont inn just before Christmas with their dog Jerry. Their weekend away gets unexpectedly extended when a mishap puts their car out of commission and delays their departure. As Becca and Robby participate in the festive holiday activities in town, they slowly start to get caught up in the spirit of the season. The two begin to remember what drew them together in the first place and just may find themselves on the road he road to a very happily married Christmas.”
Now, you know I have a lot to say about Hallmark movies, because I watch so many of them. Even though we’re only on the second movie of the season, I am sitting here thinking just how much Countdown to Christmas is changing and evolving. It’s a good thing. It’s a great thing. I love it.
When the trailer for We Wish You A Married Christmas dropped, I guess I thought it was about marriage troubles, but I also thought that the movie would have them competing against other couples. I am not really sure why, but I guess it’s just that I always thought that things were predictable.
I was wrong.
Suddenly, here I am, watching a movie that is about a couple finding their way back to each other, after getting lost along the way. Here I am watching a movie about a couple that stopped putting in the work and needed to find out the things that they both needed for their relationship.
And I am not mad at it.
Becca and Robby have been spending all of their time dedicated to their jobs and living their fast paced lives, that they stopped connecting. Their therapist can’t even get them on the same page – as they both avoid talking about the big things in life. Instead, they talk about the things that keep them separate.
They’ve started renovating their kitchen. The two of them started it a a way to connect, but Becca has not given any input. Their therapist gives the idea to go to a town called Gracious. She claims that some of her other clients have raved about it, but we can see that’s an obvious lie.
It’s a small town of 53 people (yes, I paid attention to the sign), though it seems as though there are a lot more people. The town is two whole blocks. There are a lot of alpacas. There seems to be a lot of Christmas spirit, which in my life I have found that small towns are that way.
The two start the movie barely able to communicate, but crazy in love. They may not see it, but everyone else does. Robby seems to be looking for a way to tell his wife that he sees her, even though he’s been missing all of the things that she’s been doing and changing about herself.
Becca seems to want him to notice her, but she seems afraid that the hurt that she’s been feeling. She’s afraid that the pain will keep coming back. She’s afraid that the feeling of missing someone who is right there in front of her will always stay.
So even going away, she’s afraid that returning home will make them return to the way things were. She doesn’t seem to realize that there’s a difference in the way that they are. They’re noticing each other. They’re seeing what each other needs.
Instead, she’s ready to call it quits. She’s ready to be done and move on, even though you see that it’s breaking her. You see that it’s breaking him.
But it’s when they are getting ready to leave that he realizes what he needs to do. He realizes, because he sees a card she wrote and the picture of their dog that she had painted for him, that what they need is to realize that things have changed is because they’ve made time for each other here. They’ve seen the importance of making time. They’ve seen what believing in each other means.
And they’ve realized that as long as they are together, they are home.
And that’s a beautiful lesson to learn.
OTHER THOUGHTS
- Love that Robby and Becca remember the reasons that they fell in love in the first place.
- Love the innkeepers
- Can’t stop laughing at the big ornament falling through the window
- The closeups at the end when they’re confessing their love to each other – it’s okay to not be so close
- Seriously, there are a lot of alpacas
- The lady who paints – loved her – but wished that she would have had more of a story, cause she felt like she was supposed to be important and then overlooked
- Love Jerry
Countdown to Christmas movies debut now through Christmas on Hallmark.
