Countdown To Christmas Preview Guide: A Danish Christmas

Christmas. It’s a time of tradition and togetherness. A time when hope feels a little easier to hold on to, and the possibility of a dream coming true doesn’t seem quite so far-fetched. It’s a time that feels like believing in something, and someone doesn’t feel like a pathway to being let down.

And yes, I know how sentimental and cynical that sounds. But I love Christmas movies. Sometimes I’m going to let them get to me.

A Danish Christmas did exactly that.

I couldn’t help but smile thinking about the traditions I grew up with, split between two households. They didn’t always look the same, but they didn’t have to. Each gave me memories that I still carry. At the time, I probably thought the important part was doing everything the way we always had. Looking back, what matters most is remembering who was there.

That’s what makes this movie work for me. The traditions give it its Christmas atmosphere, but the relationships give us a reason to care.

When Keeping a Tradition Alive Becomes Personal

Marie, played by Emilie Ullerup, returns home to Copenhagen for the holidays and immediately puts herself to work at her family’s inn. When she mistakes guest Ryan Miller, played by Corey Sevier, for a travel writer, she sees an opportunity to help the business—and possibly convince her mother not to sell it.

Her plan includes reviving the Christmas tour her father used to lead before he passed away.

That detail gives her determination an emotional weight. Marie wants Ryan to have a wonderful stay, but she’s also trying to preserve something that connects her to her father. The inn and its traditions hold memories she isn’t ready to let go of.

I understand that. Sometimes we put so much pressure on keeping a holiday tradition exactly right because changing it feels like losing another piece of someone.

But carrying a tradition forward is harder than remembering it fondly. Marie has to figure out how to create an experience she once got to simply enjoy. The mishaps matter because we can see how much she wants to get it right—and how much she’s asking one Christmas visit to accomplish.

She’s trying to impress a guest, help her family, and hold on to home. No wonder she struggles to relax.

Marie and Ryan Make the Romance Feel Easy

Emilie Ullerup and Corey Sevier are a big part of why I found myself settling into this movie. They invite you into Marie and Ryan’s relationship without making every interaction feel like an announcement that these two are falling in love.

There’s a natural flow between them. Marie may be focused on delivering the perfect Christmas experience, but the connection develops in the moments she can’t schedule.

That’s what I want from a romance like this. Give them reasons to spend time together, then let me see why they would want that time to continue after the itinerary ends.

Their relationship also makes Marie’s need to impress Ryan more complicated. What begins as an effort to secure a good story about the inn becomes something personal. His enjoyment matters to her beyond what he might write.

Of course, that also gives the mistaken identity consequences. Once the confusion comes to light, there’s a difference between what Marie knows she feels and what Ryan can be sure was genuine.

The Christmas setting can bring them together, but it can’t do the work of honesty for them. That part has to belong to the relationship and it is a journey that I definitely enjoy watching.

Give me a slow burn. And it’s even better when the characters don’t realize that they’re on that road.

The Perfect Christmas Isn’t Always the One You Planned

What I appreciate about A Danish Christmas is the tension between Marie’s carefully curated holiday and the warmth that develops despite her plans going wrong.

She wants to show Ryan something special. And she has every reason to care about the details. But the movie gives us room to enjoy the things she can’t quite control: the company, the unexpected moments, the growing comfort between two people.

For someone watching, that can be more inviting than a flawless tour.

It also brings me back to my own memories. I don’t love the Christmases of my childhood because everyone executed them perfectly. I love them because they were mine. The traditions meant something because of the people who shared them with me.

Marie’s challenge is allowing this Christmas to become its own memory, rather than measuring it against everything she hopes to preserve.

This Is Why I Love Countdown to Christmas

I want the festive setting. I want the romance. I want to spend a little time somewhere that makes me excited for the holiday.

But the Countdown to Christmas movies that stay with me give those things an emotional connection. Here, it’s a woman trying to care for her family, honor her father, and protect a place she loves—while slowly finding something she hadn’t planned for herself.

Ullerup and Sevier make that journey inviting. The traditions made me smile, but watching Marie and Ryan find their own connection gave me a reason to stay invested.

And somewhere along the way, my Grinch heart grew a little.

Because Christmas can mean honoring what came before while still leaving room for something new. Marie doesn’t have to stop loving the memories attached to the inn to make more of them.

Watching her begin to understand that felt like a lovely reason to spend the holidays in Copenhagen.

PLOT

Marie (Emilie Ullerup) is a hotel tech executive living in Chicago who returns home to Copenhagen to spend the holidays with her family and puts herself to work at their inn. When Ryan Miller (Corey Sevier) checks in a case of mistaken identity leads Marie to believe he’s a travel writer. She sets out to make sure his stay is perfect, which includes the Christmas tour Ryan’s expecting…but the Andersen Inn hasn’t offered it since her father passed so she scrambles to cobble together an itinerary meant to impress. When Marie’s mom tells her she plans to sell the inn after the New Year Marie becomes doubly determined to make Ryan’s visit a success – a positive story could boost business and convince her to keep the inn. Marie escorts Ryan on a carefully curated tour of Copenhagen and pulls out all the stops to create hygge at the inn, though both efforts end in some festive fiascos. Despite the mishaps the two forge a connection that may be more than just inn-keeper and tourist. When Ryan Miller the journalist arrives they realize their mistake, sending Marie into overdrive to ensure he experiences the perfect Danish Christmas. In the process, Marie learns that warmth, connection – and, possibly, romance – happen naturally and can’t be created.