Just Another Girl and her Books: *31 Days of Christmas* Christmas in Evergreen: Letters to Santa

Thursday, December 13, 2018

31 Days of Christmas Christmas in Evergreen: Letters to Santa

Thanksgiving is over and the countdown to Christmas has officially begun (at least in my house). I don't limit myself to just reading cheesy Christmas romances during this time of year. Oh no. I also find myself binge watching Christmas movies on Netflix and the Hallmark Channel. And I thought, why not incorporate that into my blog as well. So I give you the 31 Days of Christmas (which will be much easier to accomplish with movies than books like I've tried to do in past years).

Next up is Christmas in Evergreen: Letters to Santa.

Watched on: Hallmark

Duration: 2 hours (with commercials)

Originally aired on: 18 November 2018

Directed by: Sean McNamara

Starring: Andrew Baker, Rukiya Bernard, and Michelle Choi-Lee

Please see IMDb for full cast and crew info.

Synopsis

When Lisa (Wagner) takes a last-minute Christmas trip to her hometown of Evergreen, she finds that the historic general store has been closed. Using her skills as a professional retail designer, Lisa decides to keep local tradition alive and help the good people of Evergreen bring the store back to life. As Lisa charms a local contractor named Kevin (Deklin) into working with her, the pair find themselves facing one surprise after another as they restore the store to its former glory. When the staff at the Kringle Kitchen temporarily accept the store's beloved 'Mailbox to Santa' for safekeeping, the townspeople find and rally around a mysterious 25-year-old letter that never made it to the North Pole. As old traditions are made new again, Lisa finds herself falling for Kevin, the traditions, and the town of Evergreen.

Review

This movie falls into the woman returns to her festive small town for Christmas trope. Unlike most movies in that trope, however, she doesn't dislike or avoid Christmas on principle. So the main plot of the story doesn't revolve around her finding the Christmas spirit again. In addition to that, her obvious love interest also doesn't dislike Christmas. So the bulk of the story revolves around saving the closed general store that Lisa loved as a child. And obviously the only person in town that can help her with that is Kevin.

One of the things that I really liked about this movie is that Lisa is not portrayed as in need of saving in some way. In fact, the very first thing she does upon arriving in Evergreen is helps Kevin get an old truck running so he can get back to town. And while she needs help fixing up the general store for show to entice a buyer, she knows what help she needs and how to get it. And she's persistent and won't take no for an answer.

This movie includes witty banter, an idyllic Christmas town, cookie decorating, and a town coming together to revive an old tradition.

I would definitely watch this movie again if I'm in the mood for a festive happy-cry movie (because this definitely tugged a few of those out of my eyes at the end).

My Rating