"There's always magic at Christmas."
Hello everyone!
December is finally, officially, here, and that means that most of the regular TV shows are airing their midseason finales and taking a break over the upcoming holidays.
This also means that the air turns freezingly cold and I need to make sure I start my car every once in a while if I'm not planning big drives anywhere, but equally it means some really cool bed linen is coming into our stores.
Okay I'm totally rambling.
What it MEANS is Christmas is just around the corner and I can now officially break out all those Christmas stories I've been hoarding up on. And the movies! I've decided my December blogs will be ALL about Christmas so if there are any Grinches or Scrooges out there you might as well come back in January.
So to start us off in style, I dug up Hallmark channel's movie list and watched Magical Christmas Ornaments.
Well let's be real, I actually watched The Spirit of Christmas first and foremost with one of my best friends, but that's beside the point as I've already reviewed that one (links to any previous Christmas-movie-related things will be found down below!).
But I digress.
I can't help it if I start getting into the spirit this early. In my defense, St. Nick's is tomorrow, so I GUESS it's ok.
I wouldn't have actually watched Magical Christmas Ornaments (MCO from now on) if I hadn't liked who I saw, though. Brendan Penny stars as Nate, and I LOVE his work on Chesapeake Shores, so naturally when his handsome face popped up I sat up straighter, like 'Oh, this is going to be GOOD'.
Of course knowing this was in a Hallmark movie, I was a bit worried about the cheese level, but was actually pleasantly surprised at the end of it all. The cheese was quite tame and mild-flavoured.
The story goes as follows: Marie, employed by a publishing company, wants nothing more than to go back to the fiction side of things as opposed to the non-fiction shelf her boss has stuck her on and where she HAS actually made a difference. Sales are thriving and it's not like she can complain, but her life is kind of lackluster.
Also, she doesn't like Christmas.
See, her last boyfriend managed to dump her on Christmas Eve because he'd met someone else or because they both wanted other things (in his words), like exploring the world (also his words). In any event, Marie was just heartbroken and Chrismas always leaves a bad flavour in her mouth now.
Her friend is trying to cheer her up, not that it works much, but Marie's parents also have an idea this year, anyway.
They're going to send her one ornament per day with memories attached to said ornaments so that they get her out of her Christmas slump.
Also, have I mentioned Brendan yet? His character, Nate, is Marie's next-door neighbour and a nurse who works at the pediatric ward, and he's Christmas-go-lucky because his music annoys Marie to no end. But hey, at least they start speaking and it's obvious he likes her, but she's reluctant.
Then the ornaments start arriving and each one holds a memory for her parents or her - but equally it seems that each time she hangs one up, something almost magical happens.
The first of these is Aurora, but then there's a pair of skates, a lighthouse, a treasure chest, an open book, an open heart ...
You get the idea.
Strangely enough, each time something connected seems to happen - and of course first she needs a tree to hang everything up on it, which Marie refuses to do, but Nate gets her the tree anyway. Sort of an apology, and then he helps her decorate it, as well. It helps that they're beginning to bond because Marie and her friend are organising a toy run for the kids staying at the hospital over Christmas, and Marie gets so into it that she says she knows Santa and will take down notes for the kids' wishes.
Clearly this is the way to Nate's heart, and they start spending more time together, including going ice skating (where he rather amazingly manages to smack against the boards without any outside help, unless Santa was having a shits-and-giggles kind of thing and did it on purpose), eat pancakes stacked like a Christmas tree, take a gingerbread house baking class ...
And never actually doing anything about the attraction between them, either, though everyone sees it, especially when Marie takes Nate along to her friend's traditional Christmas party.
Where's mistletoe when you need some?
Anyway, things at the work front aren't going as well as in her private life, however, because while Marie is trying to pitch a children's book by an author already signed with the agency, her boss wants her to work with an up-and-coming writer, who just so happens to be her ex.
Yep, the one who broke her heart.
Also, the story she's supposed to be editing and helping him finish? Their story.
Me, I would've shoved those papers somewhere I won't even write. My sister (whom I just had to share this news with because, what else are sisters for), she would have had fun picking his career apart in retaliation. Marie though? Marie rolls with the punches. For a while.
That is until Clark (the ex) sells the children's books idea with all her lines and her planning to her boss, who is THRILLED, at which point Marie draws a line.
I honestly thought she was being pretty damn professional not screaming her head off at the douche, but both he and her boss acted like SHE was the one who was completely out of line, which was a rather sad representation of what may still happen in the business world to women today.
Luckily, even though she manages to run Nate off afterwards (sigh), Marie does what women do best: she puts on a smile, says thank you for all the lessons, and resigns.
Then goes on to launch her own publishing company, starting with the children's book.
Also, with a heartfelt apology to Nate for running scared, but at the time she'd just been so down about everything and Clark had really done a number on her.
Colour me (not) surprised when, instad of heading to Florida like he said, he finds her note, puts on a suit, and pops up at the hospital where she's distributing the toys to the kids, all handsome and charming and blue-eyed.
Marie finally has her act together - she knows what she wants for Christmas.
The little 'oooooohs' by the kids as they kiss at the end were adorable. Afer all, there has to be a chorus, or it wouldn't be a Hallmark Christmas movie!
xx
*images and video not mine
No comments:
Post a Comment