Some would argue that there is something romantic about the holidays and some would argue that the holidays bring nothing but immense amounts of pain. I would tell you that both could be right, it just depends on the person that you are the way that the holidays either grow and change you, or they defeat you.
For some, the holidays are a matter of secrets being told. They are the backdrop to the world feeling something or maybe wishing that they felt nothing at all. But this could be any moment of any day. For you see – feelings are complicated and secrets complicate things even more.
Our Holiday Story didn’t have to be a Christmas movie, but the magic of Christmas, the feelings that it brings, and everything that it changes for people is what was front and center in Hallmark’s latest Countdown to Christmas movie.
And it was all about the stories – the stories that make us who we are, bring us together, and the stories that we are afraid of creating. It was a story about a daughter who wanted to bring her boyfriend home for the holidays. Seems simple enough, right? But is it ever really that simple to be falling in love?
It would be simple enough, but he’s already on her front porch, with her parents staring out the window at him. Yes, he’s living a nightmare – he’s meeting the parents alone.
Joanna and Chris live in the city and come from two different worlds. Both are hard workers though and their jobs mean a lot to them. They are supposed to head to Joanna’s for the holidays and when he calls to see where she is – she hasn’t even left yet. There was something at work that came up and she was running to catch the next train.
How’d You Two Meet?
Now, there are a bunch of questions that arise here (at least for me). The most obvious: why didn’t they take the same train? It would be the logical choice for two people who are dating and going on vacation together. If they were in different places, why would they leave the train station without each other? Why are these two basic questions something that seems like common sense but lost on these two?
Chris is going to have to do this on his own. He’s going to have to meet the parents alone. He’s going to have to make small talk, meet her friends, help set up for a party, and get the answer to the question that I have learned that one should apparently not ask… how did you meet?
Meeting someone isn’t an easy question to answer (in my opinion). You’re going to be seeing things from two different sides and those sides are always going to be leaving a person wondering if a person’s first impression of them was a bad or a good thing.
Dave and Nell’s love story was a complicated story of mistaken identity, lies, harshness, and well two people who seemed to both want to be in the right. It was mistaken identities and the importance of being honest. It was about all of the moments that have brought them together and how Christmas and a festival were the defining moments in their lives.
LESSONS
Lately, I have been big on seeing the lessons or the idea of the lessons in things. It’s been something that has been important to me because I’ve been wondering – what are these movies for? What are any movies for? For Our Holiday Story, maybe the lesson was that there isn’t really any right time for love and no story is as simple as we think it is, but it’s a matter of what we do with the stories that we’re told.
And the stories of those who matter to us.
For Joanna and Chris, it was about finding the way that their love was meant to be shown and overcoming the fear of not knowing and then knowing and showing it. It was the same way that it had been for her father and stepmother – love, mistaken identities, and coming to terms with all that had happened and what was yet to be.
Our Holiday Story wasn’t a bad one at all. It just was a story. And sometimes that’s all you need.
OTHER THOUGHTS
- Ugly Christmas sweater conventions sound like my worst nightmare
- I love a good train ride
- People bonding over fruitcake sounds like a lie – do people do that?
- I can’t get over fruitcake and gingerbread – am I a Grinch, cause I don’t like either
- Dave finishing the chair. Ain’t it cute what love can do?
- I have grown to love and appreciate Nikki DeLoach more and more
This was such an adorable movie. 😛