Family is sometimes a strange thing. It’s a very complicated thing, especially as we get older and we all develop our personalities. For Lindsay and Brad, they’ve grown apart. Brother and sister who were once close and now, they just aren’t.
Their Mom has been keeping secrets from them their entire lives. But she wants to tell them the truth and brings them together for Christmas in Scotland at her families estate.
It doesn’t take long before we find out the truth, how their Mother had run away for love. She didn’t feel like she was a part of the world that she was born into – one of royal lineage. She has to explain to her children why she left.
No surprise that the kids are angry at her. Finding out all of her lies makes them feel as though they’ve missed a big part of their lives. Their Mom wants them all to heal, to shorten the distance between them. They feel cheated from the lives they could have lived, the people that they could have known.
Family is complicated. Family is a lot.
But figuring out who you are and figuring out family – well, that can be one of the biggest lessons that one can learn.
And sometimes one of the best. It’s all a matter of perspective. This time, it just happened to have to be a Scottish perspective for it all to make sense.
Or you know, as much sense as family can make.
WHAT IT’S ABOUT: Once-close siblings Dr. Lindsey Morgan (Chabert) and Brad Morgan (Wolf) have grown apart over the past few years, and it is with great reluctance that they agree to visit – for the first time ever – their mom’s girlhood home in Scotland for Christmas. Once there, they both fall in love with the idyllic Glencrave and its beautiful 15th century castle, unique and bountiful Christmas traditions steeped in history, and warm and friendly townspeople. The holiday visit becomes complicated for everyone, however, when the Morgan siblings discover a colossal family secret that their mom has been keeping from them until now. As the siblings work hard to restrengthen their relationship, and Lindsey becomes smitten with Glencrave’s handsome estate manager (James Robinson, “Babylon”), they must each decide what is important to them to determine their own futures.
IT’S GIVING: Royal titles and family chaos.
STANDOUT PERFORMANCE: Lacey Chabert and Scott Wolf back together again is something that I didn’t know I needed, but it’s something Hallmark knew we needed and for that let us all put respect on their name.
Seeing the two of them, I felt like it like coming home. I loved seeing them capture every scene and feeling like I was watching two old friends on the screen. It was a great thing to watch.
I want more of them together.
SCROOGEISH THOUGHTS: I am a sucker for anything royal. Give me a castle and possibilities and I am about it. I will embrace it, find joy in it and I WILL find a way to love it. Toss is a Scottish accent and it’s as if you’ve given me every cheesy dream I have ever had.
I grew up in a world of TGIF and lessons in everything. It was a matter of the lesson that you were willing to learn from the moment. It was a matter of what you saw in the chaos of life and find a way to learn from it. Maybe that’s why I always approach anything as a learning moment. A moment that can give us perspective.
A moment that can give us understanding.
For me, this movie was about more than secrets and lies and family. It was about the importance of time and the way that time get away from us and it changes things. We can make our choices in life and whereas we think – hey we’ll be mad for a second – seconds turn into minutes, minutes turn into hours, hours turn into days and before you know it, too many days have gone by and the silence, anger and distance are just normal.
There comes a point where you have to fix it through and for Lindsay and Brads Mom, she let time slip and before she knew it, time was gone. Her brother was gone. She was left with this pain and regret that was paralyzing her. So it was not surprising to me that she wanted to fix that for her kids.
I am not sure what Brad and Lindsay were even fighting about. I felt like it was a series of misunderstandings, but each one of them didn’t know how to come back from that. They only knew that time had gone on and what they were left with was this emptiness.
An emptiness that only they can fix for each other.
I loved that in this movie, the entire Morgan clan instantly seemed at home in Scotland. It was as if they’d found their way through time and for reasons unbeknownst to them (well everyone except Jo), it was home. The castle, the grounds, the life – they shifted into it. I think in a way that was one of the most heartwarming things to see, because it reminded me that sometimes who we are is in us, we just have to awaken it.
A Merry Scottish Christmas was about finding ones birthright, sure. It was about family secrets. I will give you that. But more than that – in my humble opinion – it was about remembering that time is precious. It was about allowing yourself grace and knowing that things can change with time. It was about remembering that at the end of the day – family is what you have.
Embrace it.
Now, was A Merry Scottish Christmas perfect? No. But was it filled with Christmas heart and Christmas spirit.
And more of all it was filled with the most important thing – family.
