Wow! I actually loved this Hallmark holiday film. Every time I see Barbara Niven, I forget how much I love her...this film was her show and she was fantastic. She plays the lead Gale, aka Ms. Christmas the famous and wildly popular holiday host of the HSC (Home Shopping Channel). Unfortunately, she receives the bad news that she has a glioblastoma (a terminal brain cancer) with at the most 2 years to live. She tells her friend and studio executive boss, Elizabeth about her diagnosis and her wishes to do one more Christmas road show without anyone being the wiser to her condition. Her compassionate friend and boss agrees, but on one condition...she travel with a personal nurse in tow. The cover story for nurse Travis (Brennan Elliott), becomes that he is Elizabeth's godson and going on tour with Ms. Christmas to learn the ropes.
Ms. Christmas' contract allows her to pick her successor, for which she has wanted her longtime friend and assistant (the daughter of her deceased best friend) Amanda (Erica Durance). The plan is to bring Amanda on to set for this Christmas' road-trip as Ms. Holiday, Ms. Christmas' apprentice as she spreads cheer across small towns in Washington state (only as a Washington state native, born and raised...I can tell you it wasn't, I wish it was). A slight wrinkle ends up being that Amanda has already met Travis...sort of, when she mistakes him for her blind date. The two really have chemistry and Ms. Christmas brings Travis on camera to join them after a Christmas makeover as Mr. Winter.
I loved all of the Christmas details in this holiday film...like the addition of new animated Christmas sun-catchers to their tour bus dash in each new town by their cheery tour bus driver, Murray and the Christmas cookie decorations, and the great Christmas wardrobe.
But the big story is Ms. Christmas' last tour and making it the best ever as her staff and colleagues have become her family over the years since she prioritized her career, sacrificing her own family. When out of the blue a blast from her past shows up...and as much as she pushes him away, he doesn't take no for an answer.
Brennen Elliot and Erica Durance are fantastic independently and together and paired with Barbara Niven...the three of them are fire. They really complement one another. And the story line was great. I loved the handling of a terminal condition, with compassion and kindness. I loved how important it was to Gale to not just pass her role off to Amanda...but to really help her succeed, not just with encouraging words...but by also being with her, in her ear piece for her first solo on screen performance. It was nice to see how people should be treating each other. There were no villains in this story and there was no miracle cure...making this more true to life than a lot of stories I have seen brought to the holiday screen. I highly recommend this film to Hallmark fans, fans of Barbara Niven and fans of Christmas.
(I did have a slight issue with the commercial aspect of the film, and am not a proponent of the home shopping network...but I am aware it exists and has a huge following. I also think that they handled the story in a way to not emphasize the gross commercialism and focus more on the beauty of Christmas and the Christmas spirit.)
