The Best Hallmark Christmas Movies to Watch Now

It’s the most wonderful time of the year: Hallmark Channel’s Countdown to Christmas!

For two whole months, Hallmark Channel and Hallmark Movies & Mysteries will premiere 40 brand-new holiday classics, the lineup for which was announced in September. However, you don’t have to wait for them to debut to get your fill of holiday cheer — some of the best Hallmark Christmas movies are available to watch right now. Starring top talent (multiple Oscar winners have been known to dabble in Hallmark) and Hollywood stars (ahem, Mariah Carey), we’ve rounded up some of the best flicks the network has released over the years.

While you’ll have to catch most of the network’s newer films live on Hallmark Channel, which requires a cable or live streaming subscription, its older classics (2018 and prior) have begun making their way to alternate streaming services, including Peacock, Amazon Prime Video and, of course, Hallmark Movies Now ($6 per month/$60 per year).

Below, we gathered a selection of our top picks from the network that you’ll want to watch again and again, year after year.

Three Wise Men and a Baby

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For 2022’s Three Wise Men and a Baby, three of the channel’s most popular leads (Andrew Walker, Tyler Hynes and Paul Campbell) star as three brothers who — you guessed it — team up to care for a baby during the holiday season. The Three Men and a Baby-inspired comedy (Hallmark’s first film to feature three male leads) follows the trio as they rebuild their brotherly bond and rediscover their love of Christmas.

Watch Three Wise Men and a Baby on Hallmark Channel

The Christmas Lodge

Hallmark

Guaranteed to put you in the Christmas spirit, The Christmas Lodge sees Mary (Erin Karpluk) revisiting the grand old property she and her family spent the holidays at in her youth — only to find it’s not so grand and not so Christmas-y anymore. Determined to save it, she sets out on a restoration, but she’s running out of time, and she might need more help than she bargained for.

Watch The Christmas Lodge on Amazon Prime

November Christmas

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Be warned: This one’s an absolute tearjerker. Centered on a little girl with cancer living in a small town, it serves as a reminder of the many lives one person can touch and how far a little kindness at Christmastime can go. The all-star cast — including Sam Elliott, John Corbett, Sarah Paulson and Scrooge‘s Karen Allen — certainly doesn’t hurt.

Watch November Christmas on Hallmark Movies Now

Holly & Ivy

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Starring Janel Parrish, Jeremy Jordan and Marisol Nichols, Holly & Ivy follows Melody (Parrish) on her journey to find a job and renovate her new house after moving to the small town of Chippewa Falls, Wis. After befriending her neighbor Nina (Nichols) and her two daughters, Holly and Ivy, Melody learns Nina’s illness has returned. To keep her promise to ensure Nina’s girls stay together, Melody must turn her fixer-upper into a suitable home. Luckily, she has the help of a local contractor — and potential love interest — Adam (Jordan).

Watch Holly & Ivy on Hallmark Movies Now

A Nutcracker Christmas

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Lead actors Amy Acker and Sascha Radetsky aren’t phoning in the dancing on this one: Radetsky is a former soloist with the American Ballet Theatre (you might also recognize him from 2000’s Center Stage), and Acker studied ballet and modern dance for 14 years before undergoing knee surgery in high school. Together, they make magic on the screen as a former ballerina named Lily (Acker), who swears off dancing after her sister is killed in a car crash, and Mark (Radetsky), a ballet director and Lily’s former love interest, who just might change her mind.

Watch A Nutcracker Christmas on Peacock

A Gift to Remember

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It’s a tale as old as time: a bookstore employee (Ali Liebert) runs into a man on a bike (Peter Porte), causing him a temporary bout with amnesia. While she helps him to remember his life — which may or may not include a mystery fiancée — she falls in love with him herself. But what will happen when his memory starts to return?

Watch A Gift to Remember on Hallmark Movies Now

The Christmas House

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The Christmas House has been billed as one of the network’s best holiday films of all time — and is also the first Hallmark film to prominently feature a same-sex couple. It follows older couple Bill (Treat Williams) and Phylis (Sharon Lawrence), who seek to reunite with their older sons, Mike (Robert Buckley) and Brandon (Mean Girls‘ Jonathan Bennett), to revive their old Christmas traditions. Each character is dealing with a problem that they don’t want to burden the others with, but they just may find they all need each other more than they thought.

Watch The Christmas House on Hallmark Movies Now

Heart of the Holidays

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The plot of this 2020 addition to the Hallmark lineup will likely be familiar. A big-city career girl named Sam Wallace (Vanessa Lengies) visits her small town, only to fall in love with its charms, including one she left behind in the form of an old flame (Corey Sevier). As she discovers all her past life has to offer her in the present, she also rediscovers herself.

Watch Heart of the Holidays on Hallmark Channel

Switched for Christmas

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Candace Cameron Bure gets the Parent Trap treatment in 2017’s Switched for Christmas, which sees her playing twin sisters, Chris and Kate Lockhart. Polar opposites, Kate is a sophisticated real estate mogul with a killer wardrobe, while Chris is a single mom who works as an art instructor and lives for cozy comfort. When they switch places for Christmas, however, their lives are turned upside down — in the best way possible.

Watch Switched for Christmas on Hallmark Channel

A Christmas Wish

Hallmark

A down-on-her-luck mother of three (Buffy the Vampire Slayer‘s Kristy Swanson) finds herself with no money, no job and no home — right before the holidays. However, she’s about to find out that a little kindness from a stranger (or two, or three) can go a long way toward making things seem far merrier and brighter — as long as her past doesn’t get in the way.

Watch A Christmas Wish on Hallmark Movies Now

Naughty or Nice

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One Tree Hill fans will delight in Hilarie Burton’s 2012 Hallmark hit Naughty or Nice. Her character, Krissy Kringle, a disgruntled former ad executive, finds herself in an unexpected position of power to expose the naughty deeds of others around her when she comes into possession of Santa’s checklist. But as Krissy will soon discover, the list has its nice side too…

Watch Naughty or Nice on Peacock

The Perfect Christmas Present

MarVista Entertainment

Tom Jacobs (Sam Page) has made a career out of finding the perfect gift for strangers. However, when he’s hired to find a present for his frat brother’s girlfriend, Jenny (Tara Holt), what he finds instead is an unexpected romance that could complicate all of their lives — big time.

Watch The Perfect Christmas Present on Hallmark Movies & Mysteries

A Christmas to Remember

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Oscar winner Mira Sorvino stars in this heartfelt 2016 flick about a TV star named Jennifer Wade, who heads to a mountain retreat for an escape from her own reality. Her trip is derailed, though, when she gets into a crash and develops amnesia. It’s only through the help of a stranger and an unfamiliar place that she will remember who she really is.

Watch A Christmas to Remember on Hallmark Movies & Mysteries

The Christmas Ring

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An antique ring brings together Kendra (Nazneen Contractor) and David (Michael Jones), two strangers with a shared love of old architecture and decor, as they try to solve the mystery behind the ring’s backstory for an article Kendra is reporting on. Inevitably, they start falling for each other, but not before Kendra’s boss decides to change the focus of her piece… to David.

Watch The Christmas Ring on Hallmark Movies & Mysteries

Christmas in Toyland

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Christmas in Toyland was one of Hallmark’s Christmas in July premieres for 2022. In it, Charlie Sawyer (Vanessa Lengies) is a data analyst assigned to check out a brick-and-mortar store called Big Teddy Toy Company to determine if it’s worth keeping the doors open. Grant (Jesse Hutch) is the store’s bull-headed but kind-hearted manager who doesn’t think he needs her help. Together, they find they make a pretty good team when it comes to making dreams come true — including ones they hadn’t dared to hope for.

Watch Christmas in Toyland on Hallmark Channel

A Royal Christmas

Crown Media

All is going well for Prince Leopold (Stephen Hagan), who has just revealed his royal identity to his new fiancée (Lacey Chabert), a seamstress from Philadelphia, until their plans to marry hit a snag in the form of his disgruntled mother, Queen Isadora (Jane Seymour). Putting the couple’s love to the test, Isadora invites Leopold’s ex-girlfriend Natasha (Katherine Flynn) to join the group for Christmas and stir up a little holiday trouble.

Watch A Royal Christmas on Hallmark Channel

A Blue Ridge Mountain Christmas

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Willow (Rachael Leigh Cook) attempts to pull off a Christmas miracle by securing her sister’s dream wedding venue, an old inn their family used to own, and restoring it to its former cheery glory in time for the big day — and to prove to its current (and handsome!) owner, David (Benjamin Ayers), who intends to sell it, that it just might be worth keeping around.

Watch A Blue Ridge Mountain Christmas on Hallmark Movies & Mysteries

My Christmas Family Tree

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Family means everything when it comes to Christmas — unless, of course, you’re not sure who they are. Vanessa (Aimee Teegarden) thinks she might have just found hers thanks to DNA test results in this 2021 flick, but her quest to get to know her new relatives — and their dashing family friend (Andrew Walker) — is quickly derailed by the unthinkable.

Watch My Christmas Family Tree on Hallmark Channel

A Christmas Love Story

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Kristin Chenoweth and Scott Wolf star in the aptly titled A Christmas Love Story. One plays a former Broadway star–turned–choir director who placed her child for adoption as a young mother. The other is a widowed dad whose son has a real talent as a vocalist. And when they meet by chance via a ride-share app, both of their worlds will be forever changed.

Watch A Christmas Love Story on Hallmark Channel

Merry & Bright

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Starring Stephanie Tanner (Jodie Sweetin) as a candy cane company CEO and Andrew Walker as a corporate analyst looking to make her operation more profitable, Merry & Bright gives us a crash course on what happens when two people who got off on the wrong foot are brought together by the magic of Christmas.

Watch Merry & Bright on Hallmark Movies Now

Christmas List

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Christmas is best shared with the one you love — unless the one you love is determined to spend the holiday somewhere else. So what do you do if you’re a quirky yet lovable woman (Alicia Witt) who unexpectedly finds yourself alone? You make the most of all your best-laid holiday plans with those you’re with — including that incredibly charming local man (Gabriel Hogan) who has taken a keen interest in you.

Watch Christmas List on Hallmark Channel

The Christmas Train

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The stellar casting of this 2017 hit — which includes everyone from Dermot Mulroney and Kimberly Williams-Paisley to Joan Cusack and Danny Glover — makes this quirky romance a must-watch. It follows a group of strangers who become enmeshed in each other’s lives after they travel together just before Christmas. While there are certainly some twists and turns along the way, Tom Langdon (Mulroney) and Eleanor (Williams-Paisley) will come to find it’s the journey that truly matters.

Watch The Christmas Train on Peacock

Broadcasting Christmas

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Everyone’s favorite teenage witch Melissa Joan Hart switches gears in this holiday rom-com about two exes, Emily and Charlie (Dean Cain), who are up for the same co-hosting spot for a popular television show. In addition to competing for the chair, however, they’ll have to contend with the fact that they’re not quite over each other just yet.

Watch Broadcasting Christmas on Peacock

Christmas at Dollywood

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Dolly Parton can do no wrong, including her 2019 Hallmark film Christmas at Dollywood. Costarring Danica McKellar as an N.Y.C. event planner hired to help with Parton’s Dollywood Christmas celebrations in Tennessee and Niall Matter as the obstinate park director who opposes her presence, it’s the classic dilemma of two people who just don’t see eye to eye — until they do.

Watch Christmas at Dollywood on Hallmark Movies Now

Finding Christmas

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Think The Holiday, but from a guy’s perspective. Finding Christmas (2013) follows advertising exec Sean (Mark Lutz) and musician Owen (J.T. Hodges) as they swap residences, only to find that their newfound surroundings just may have something that each of them was missing before — like romance.

Watch Finding Christmas on Hallmark Movies & Mysteries

A Christmas Melody

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Yep! Even the Queen of Christmas herself, Mariah Carey, has starred in a Hallmark movie. In fact, her 2015 flick about a single mother (Lacey Chabert) who moves back to her hometown with her growing daughter marked the songstress’ directorial debut. As the story goes, the move isn’t easy for the little girl, who turns to her music teacher, Danny (Brennan Elliot), for help adjusting. Kathy Najimi also stars.

Watch A Christmas Melody on Hallmark Movies Now

A Kiss Before Christmas

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Desperate Housewives stars James Denton and Teri Hatcher reunite in this 2021 rom-com about a guy who wishes for his life to have turned out differently, only to have it come true. Now he’s realizing he might have had it right all along — but will he be able to set it right before it’s too late?

Watch A Kiss Before Christmas on Hallmark Channel

Crown for Christmas

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Everyone loves a good commoner-turned-royal flick, and this one delivers in spades. Allie (Danica McKellar) comes to the country of Winshire after unwittingly taking a job as a governess for King Maximillian’s (Rupert Penry-Jones) daughter, Theodora. Though the young girl is a tough nut to crack, Allie bonds with her quickly, leaving Theodora to believe she might make for a better stepmother than Lady Celia (Alexandra Evans), the woman her father is being pressured to wed.

Watch Crown for Christmas on Hallmark Channel

Christmas Comes Twice

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Tamera Mowry-Housley plays Cheryl, a senator’s aide who attends her hometown’s winter carnival. However, instead of meeting the handsome mayor, as she’d hoped, she runs into an old flame (Michael Xavier) and takes a ride on a magic carousel that takes her back in time. It seems Cheryl is being presented with the option to make different choices about her life, but it’s up to her to take it.

Watch Christmas Comes Twice on Hallmark Movies Now

Christmas at the Plaza

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Nearly 30 years after New York’s Plaza Hotel made its mark on cinematic history with Home Alone 2, Hallmark viewers were treated to its festive splendor once more with 2019’s Christmas at the Plaza. In it, an archival historian (Elizabeth Henstridge) is hired to create its holiday display with the help of a handsome decorator (Nick Perrelli) — whom, of course, she’s destined to fall for.

Watch Christmas at the Plaza on Hallmark Channel

Write Before Christmas

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What’s worse than getting dumped? Getting dumped right before the holidays. Yet that’s Jessica’s (Torrey DeVitto) reality in this 2019 flick. Instead of wallowing in her misery, the musician decides to spread some cheer by sending five Christmas cards to people who have positively influenced her life to some pretty magical results. Chad Michael Murray also stars in this one.

Watch Write Before Christmas on Hallmark Channel

The Christmas Card

Crown Media

Sending a Christmas card may seem like a small gesture, but for a more solid Sgt. Cody Cullen (John Newton), it’s a lifeline. Upon his discharge, he tracks down the woman (Alice Evans) who sent it to him with her parish, and their lives become much more complex, as there’s a romantic spark between them. The only problem? She’s just gotten engaged.

Watch The Christmas Card on Hallmark Movies & Mysteries

Baby, It’s Cold Inside

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There are two types of people in this world: those who hate winter, what with all its snow and ice, and those who embrace it wholeheartedly. This 2021 film caters to the latter type, as its heroine, travel agent Hannah (Jocelyn Hudon), is sent to check out Canada’s Ice Hotel. Set in the Hôtel de Glace (North America’s only real ice hotel), it’s the perfect setting for her to embark upon a Christmas romance with the hotel’s hunky co-owner, Ben (Steve Lund), who opens her eyes to all of its delights.

Watch Baby, It’s Cold Inside on Hallmark Movies Now

The Christmas Secret

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Burton and Murry aren’t the only One Tree Hill alums to star in a Hallmark Christmas flick. Bethany Joy Lenz, who played Haley James Scott on the show, also had a stint on the network with 2014’s The Christmas Secret. While it starts out on a downtrodden note, as Joy Lenz’s character, Christine, takes blow after blow — from losing her home to getting hit with a custody lawsuit from her ex — her luck is about to change with the discovery of an old family secret.

Watch The Christmas Secret on Hallmark Movies Now

A Gingerbread Romance

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Home is where the heart is — a lesson architect Taylor Scott (Tia Mowry) is about to learn. On a mission to create a life-sized gingerbread house as part of a contest she won, she enlists the help of a local chef (Duane Henry), who shows her that the best ingredient in a winning confection is always love.

Watch A Gingerbread Romance on Hallmark Movies Now

Debbie Macomber’s Dashing Through the Snow

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A modern take on 1987’s Planes, Trains and Automobiles, this one sees two strangers (Meghan Ory and Andrew Walker) falling for each other after they decide to share a rental car to their shared destination of Seattle to make it there by Christmas. Of course, they won’t arrive without experiencing a few bumps along the way…

Watch Debbie Macomber’s Dashing Through the Snow on Hallmark Movies Now

The Christmas Promise

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For those who like their Hallmark movies with a little more substance, this 2021 drama just might do the trick. It follows a woman (Torrey DeVitto) who lost her fiancé around the holidays and sends a text to his old phone expressing her grief, only to receive an unexpected reply.

Watch The Christmas Promise on Hallmark Movies & Mysteries

Once Upon a Christmas Miracle

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Heather Krueger (Aimee Teegarden) wishes for more than a shiny bauble under the tree — she needs a transplant for her stage-4 liver disease. Not only does she wind up with a generous donor, but she also finds a new love interest in Chris Dempsey (Brett Dalton) — all based on true events.

Watch Once Upon a Christmas Miracle on Hallmark Movies Now

‘Tis the Season for Love

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Yes, this is another Hallmark film about a down-and-out actress (Beth Baker) who returns to her hometown, only to find it more fulfilling than when she left it. She also predictably finds romance along the way. But it will still give you the same warm fuzzies you come to Hallmark for in the first place, securing its spot on our list.

Watch ‘Tis the Season for Love on Hallmark Movies Now

Silver Bells

Hallmark

Late actress Anne Heche stars as a Manhattan woman who gave up on Christmas after her husband died. She’s not completely lonely, though, having made friends with a young runaway (Michael Mitchell) whom she pays for his photography. What she doesn’t know is the boy’s father (Tate Donovan), who is actively looking for him, is the same Christmas tree salesman who shows up on her doorstep every year.

Watch Silver Bells on Peacock

Christmas in Conway

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Part of the Hallmark Hall of Fame, this 2013 hit follows Duncan Mayor (Andy Garcia) in his race against time to build a Ferris wheel in his backyard like the one he proposed to his sick wife (Emmy winner Mary-Louise Parker) on many moons ago. However, not everyone is thrilled with his plans, making his job even more difficult than it already is.

Watch Christmas in Conway on Hallmark Drama

Christmas in Rome

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Travelers will appreciate Lacey Chabert and Sam Page’s stint as tour guide Angela and executive Oliver, who are exploring Rome together to better help Oliver understand the core of the ceramics company he seeks to buy. With Rome and Bucharest, Romania, serving as its backdrop, there are plenty of cultures to take in.

Watch Christmas in Rome on Hallmark Channel

Boyfriends of Christmas Past

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Hallmark Channel flips the script on Matthew McConaughey’s 2009 hit Ghosts of Girlfriends Past with 2021’s Boyfriends of Christmas Past. Instead of a playboy, though, it’s marketing executive Lauren Kim (Catherine Haena Kim) who needs to change her noncommittal ways — something she won’t come to truly see until she gets a little help from her past boyfriends.

Watch Boyfriends of Christmas Past on Hallmark Channel

The Santa Summit

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Romance is in the air at the annual Santa Summit, where revelers from all over come together to dress as Kris Kringle and party it up at different venues and events around town. But when three single best friends — the newly dumped Jordin (Hunter King), coy yet infatuated Ava (Amy Groening) and Christmas skeptic Stella (Stephanie Sy) — decide to go together, the summit sparks more than just Christmas spirit. From hijinks to potential romances, 2023’s The Santa Summit is a heartfelt Hallmark movie best enjoyed with friends.

Watch The Santa Summit on Hallmark Channel

The Holiday Sitter

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When single workaholic Sam’s (Jonathan Bennett) Hawaiian Christmas getaway is thwarted by his sister Kathleen (Chelsea Hobbs), who blackmails him into looking after her and her husband’s two young children due to an emergency, he thinks it’ll be yet another uneventful winter holiday. That is until Sam meets Jason (George Krissa), his sister’s handsome next-door neighbor, whom he employs as an “uncle consultant” to assist with his niece and nephew. But as Sam and Jason grow closer, the two develop a mutual attraction that might lead to something more.

Watch The Holiday Sitter on Hallmark Channel

Lights, Camera, Christmas!

Hallmark Channel

When local shop owner Kerry (Kimberley Sustad) answers the call for a costume designer needed for a holiday rom-com filming in her town, the opportunity rekindles her once-dashed dreams of becoming a fashion designer. But this chance of a lifetime does more than help Kerry realize her potential as she starts to fall head over heels for the movie’s famous heartthrob, Brad Baxter (John Brotherton), fondly known as the King of Christmas rom-coms by his admirers.

Watch Lights, Camera, Christmas! on Hallmark Channel

An Unexpected Christmas

Hallmark Channel

What do you get when you forget to tell your family you and your ex are no longer an item? The perfect rom-com, of course! This is exactly the jam Jamie’s (Tyler Hynes) got himself into — and just in time for Christmas with his folks. That is, until he convinces his ex, Emily (Bethany Joy Lenz), to pretend they’re still a couple after accidentally running into each other in their hometown. Even more unexpected? A potential second shot at love.

Watch An Unexpected Christmas on Hallmark Channel

A Biltmore Christmas

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After failing to produce a satisfactory script for a remake of the beloved holiday film His Merry Wife, screenwriter Lucy Hardgrove (Bethany Joy Lenz) is sent to tour the historic Biltmore House, where the original movie was shot. But she gets more inspiration than anticipated after an hourglass sends her back through time to the 1947 set, where she sparks a potential romance with the film’s leading man, Jack Huston (Kristoffer Polaha).

Watch A Biltmore Christmas on Hallmark Channel

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Source: HIS Education