My Grown-Up Christmas List
A Captain’s Christmas Romance
Sharing a title with a song of the same name (against the norm for Hallmark which tends to exploit classic carols 99.9% of the time); this is the story of a couple who connect and re-connect over Christmases in between his military deployments.
Originally shown during Hallmark’s Christmas in July series, this had great potential to be more of a mainstream romance but was felled by it being, well, a Hallmark movie. I’m not calling it a big budget challenger, but the bones are there.
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He’s dressed up as Santa and gives her a candy cane; hours later they see each other again and have a brief conversation.
One year later, they meet each other in her grandfather’s store and remember each other’s names. How fortunate.
Hallmark strays from the solid G-rating fare with a mid-movie makeout. If you’re new here, you’ll know that the protagonists typically don’t physically touch until the third act.
Luke and Taylor commit to a long distance relationship while he’s posted to an overseas training role with the US Army.
Thwarted by a snowstorm, he proposes a year later via video call.
Another year later, they’re still engaged and wedding planning. He comes home for their wedding, only to leave again hours later to return to work unexpectedly. Not wanting to wait for him to return, Taylor enlists her veteran future father-in-law to get her to Luke’s Eastern European training base in time to see him return (and drag him back to wintry Ottawa nondescript small-town America for an outdoor winter wedding).
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British character named Grantham - shout out to the Downtonites! Spinoff opportunity?
Second movie on the list this year that was filmed in Ottawa (Noel Next Door was the first), albeit in totally different locales as they might as well exist in a different universe.
SCORE: 6/10
Tell me more!
Taylor, a journalist, and Luke, in the military, share a special bond that grows between them over the course of several Christmases that they spend together and apart. Stars Kayla Wallace and Kevin McGarry..
https://www.hallmarkchannel.com/my-grown-up-christmas-list
