On the Twelfth Day of Christmas

Brooke Nevin & Robin Dunne star as Maggie and Mitch, who once upon a time were in college together and find themselves back in their hometown and begin to reacquaint their friendship. Maggie has only fond memories of Mitch, who helped her get home for Christmas when she was a freshman. Maggie always wondered what happened and why Mitch never came back to college... He also has no Christmas spirit whatsoever, so Maggie sets out to rekindle his spirit and hopefully some romance as well. She begins sending him anonymous packages full of Christmas cheer. To complicate matters the packages become a media frenzy and she is assigned to write a story on them for the local paper. Will Maggie tell Mitch before someone else takes credit for the cheer? Cute romantic Christmas flick.

Of all the general plots of the Hallmark movies, Christmas and otherwise, my favorite is the quiet, reserved, crushing female lead doing battle with the aggressive, flashy, or sometimes even a little bit evil, hussy for the heart of a tenderhearted prince. This movie has that plot and a Christmas theme as well.

The three key factors that make a movie like this one are, is there a real romantic story, are the supporting characters or story lines funny and/or interesting, and is the plot relatively believable and the Christmas theme well done.

This movie has all three. While not laugh out loud funny the supporting characters do provide laughs and a base for the movie. The story is told in a subtle way allowing the characters to have a little dimension. It has a nice believable backstory that adds to its charm. It ties Christmas into its plot very well.

Needless to say the result is predictable but if you were looking for suspense you will not be watching the last ten minutes of this kind of movie. However, for a nice two hours of Christmas diversion while you are wrapping some presents, this will work.

We've liked Robin Dunne since we first saw him on Sanctuary ... SO long ago now it seems. Since that series was canceled, he's been in several Hallmark movies.

In this one he's a DJ who lost his love for Christmas when his mother died in the season. Years later, "Maggie", who knew him briefly but was intrigued, comes across "Mitch" when he takes a job as a DJ in her town.

She decided to rekindle his spirit by sending anonymous Secret Santa Christmas gifts. Unfortunately, her job as a human interest reporter for the local paper complicates life when the gifts get publicity and her paper assigns her to cover the story.

The conflict on interest and the accidental secret of course make for the trouble spot all the movies need for their climax, and this is a good one. It makes much more sense than many of the forced crises in these film.

This one is definitely worth watching, and even an occasional rewatch when you're in the mood.

My first....yes first Hallmark Christmas movie I finished to completion. Gasp! In my 41 years of life. Just never really cared for them. I tried watching a couple but always just got bored. This was very good. I love the main girl character. She's quirky and cute and very believable. I am looking forward to watching more Hallmark bc of this. You will enjoy this so if given the chance watch it for sure!

Hallmark hit it out of the park with this one. Dunne is a college DJ who is full of Christmas spirit and who does a fellow student (Nevin) a good turn at Christmastime, and then inexplicably disappears. 10 years later, they end up in the same town, but now he has turned his back on Christmas. She can't understand how he became so sour on the holidays and is determined to help him get his Christmas spirit back.

It's a wonderfully done story from so many angles, and the chemistry between Dunne and Nevin feels very real. I've seen Dunne in several movies now. I would guess that he is probably not considered one of the Hallmark hunks, but he has an everyman quality about him and always seems to put forth solid performances. He and Nevin are very well matched in this one. The way she goes about helping him makes a lot of sense and is very heartfelt. And unlike some Hallmark movies where the romantic feelings seem to spring out of nowhere, the two actually spend a good amount of time together and the growing bond between them feels very legitimate.

I highly recommend this. With all the newer movies that Hallmark shows, it only seems to appear now a few times during the holidays so keep your eyes peeled and set your DVR. You'll be happy you did!