God Works in Many Ways
Despite having her doubts Paula (Kimberley Sustad - The Nine Lives of Christmas), an antique appraiser, accepts a marriage proposal from her career-focused boyfriend, Daniel (Giles Panton - Tulips in Spring). Aware that Paula isn't fully sure she has made the right decision her Aunt Jane (Kathie Lee Gifford) invites her to her home in Nantucket and it is whilst there that Paula takes a trip to the nearby island of Martha's Vineyard which is where she meets Gery (Paul Campbell - Once Upon a Holiday), a charming inn owner. When bad weather forces Paula to stay at the inn she gets to experience some of the local holiday festivities whilst also becoming close to Gery. When Paula finally gets back to Nantucket her aunt believes that Paula's meeting Gery was a "Godwink" to help her make a decision about her life. But when Daniel shows up out of the blue Paula finds herself heading back to St. Louis with him.
Let me start with a little observation; in America this Hallmark Christmas movie is called "A Godwink Christmas" which as a Christian makes me smile, but here in the UK the title got changed to "Christmas Coincidence", I presume because the TV station showing the movie felt that having any mention of God in the title would be off putting. Aside from changing the title what you get in "A Godwink Christmas" is a play on the usual Hallmark Christmas movie where a woman, who has a boyfriend in the city, ends up in small town America, gets to experience some local traditions and ends up falling for a local. And from some pleasant decorations alongside the likeable pairing of Kimberley Sustad and Paul Campbell it is a pleasant romantic drama, slowly paced but not too slow.
But this is why I mentioned the different titles for "A Godwink Christmas" as whilst we have this romantic drama concerning a woman picking the right man what we have is a storyline designed around Godwinks, or coincidences for non believers. As such we have a faulty taxi which leads Paula to meet Gery, bad weather forces her to stay and through out the movie we get these Godwinks which not only keep on bringing Paula and Gery together but they cause Paula to consider what she wants from life. For me this Godwink driven story not only made me smile but reminded me of how much God guides our lives with out us noticing and maybe we just need to slow down and appreciate the little things we miss.
What this all boils down to is that "A Godwink Christmas" really worked for me, this familiar themed Hallmark Christmas movie had that little bit of extra depth which as a Christian I connected with.
Tags: TV Christmas Movies, Christmas Movies
