Home for Christmas Day (2017)  

Deployed for Christmas

When Jane (Catherine Bell - Christmas in the Air), a realtor, gave birth to her daughter, Betsy (Matreya Fedor - My One Christmas Wish), her whole world changed especially as Betsy's father was in the military but was killed in action. Now having grown up and with college on the horizon Betsy has to deal with her mum being extremely protective and expecting her to go to a college not far from home when in truth she really wants to leave the small town and has applied to a couple of colleges out of state. On top of that, whilst working at the local diner run by Jackson (Victor Webster - The Magic Stocking), who is sweet on Jane, Betsy meets Tyler (Anthony Konechny - The Christmas Train), a soldier stationed at the local barracks and knows that if she was to tell her mum she would not be overly happy.

As Hallmark movies go "Home for Christmas Day" brings some thing more to the game than they usually do with a storyline which isn't solely a cutesy romantic drama set at Christmas but some thing which is grounded in reality. That reality is an army widow who has become more and more protective towards her precious daughter with each year which has past and as such when her daughter meets a soldier her protective instinct is to talk her out of becoming involved so she won't feel the same pain that she did when she lost her true love. It is refreshing to have this depth to "Home for Christmas Day", and I am sure there will be both parents and children who will be able to relate to the situation.

But alongside this slice of reality there is also another connected storyline in "Home for Christmas Day" and in many ways a more typical one for a Hallmark movie because we have Jackson who has long held feelings for Jane but her devotion to her daughter and also the memory of her late husband has constantly stopped things from ever happening. But we have an extra angle to this as Jackson has been offered a great deal to sell up his diner and he is looking for a reason not to take it and leave town, although part of him doesn't want to bring closure to what might be between him and Jane some day when she is ready.

Now there are some nice performances in "Home for Christmas Day" with Catherine Bell bringing to life that motive for being over protective and the fear that her daughter might have to go through the same hurt she did. Victor Webster also does a nice job of playing the handsome love interest but without all the cheese which you tend to get in these movies and puts across more of his character's supportive and protective side when it comes to Jane and Betsy. But in a strange way it wasn't the acting which grabbed me but the scenery as here we have a drama set at Christmas where houses are decorated with bows and the curbs are covered in snow but it doesn't have that overly produced look to it despite still delivering that look of a Christmas which those who love Hallmark Christmas movies long for.

What this all boils down to is that "Home for Christmas Day" is kind of a grown up Hallmark Christmas movie with a greater emphasis on this drama than on the usual stuff you find in a Hallmark Christmas movie. But as such whilst we have the snow and the decorations this isn't a typically bubbly, sugar soaked Hallmark Christmas movie.

Tags: TV Christmas Movies, Christmas Movies