A Christmas for the Ages

I have to agree with a lot said by katykw-2. Too syrupy sweet and too much gushing.

I felt like instead of a real story, the movie was scenes of a family at Christmas without a lot of progress toward an end goal. There was an underlying message of Yay Family but that was there beginning to end. Also, a story needs some tension. This movie had less real tension than almost any Christmas movie I've seen, at least in a while and that's saying something with this network. GAF prides itself on family friendly and sometimes they dial down any real negativity, i.e. Tension.

The main romance was Savannah and Rudy. They were already together from the start. Savannah had about 2 seconds of doubt which wasn't based on any real complaints. There was never a chance of their relationship going south. If there was a real story here, there would have been some hiccup, some obstacle, either in their relationship or something else. Where were the bursting pipes?

There is lip service about God and it is repeated, maybe a little too much. If there was a message here, it was vague. This network also prides itself on being faith oriented. That's great and I am all for it, but they need to fill it out. What exactly is your definition of the true meaning of Christmas and why Jesus came?

I loved the musical number at the end.

Wow the other reviews are so negative! I really liked this movie. The 4 generations of women was heartwarming. The decorated beautiful homes is enough to draw me in! The great grandma had THE best house ever!! (My dream home!) I think it's adorable that Candace's daughter is following in her mom's footsteps and making Christmas movies. I mean she might not be as good as her mom yet-but give her time! The different themes for the 'Christmas Crawl' was an awesome idea and I'd like to do something similar. The decor was amazing and I liked looking at the food at the different themes-and the outfits!! Amazing!! All in all it was a fun new Christmas movie! Don't listen to the naysayers, grab a cup of hot cocoa and cuddle up on the couch with your woofie and enjoy a great movie!

I won't reiterate the negative comments in other reviews, many of which I agree with, but am commenting on the unbelievable casting. Natasha Bure is 25 years old, and the actors portraying her parents are 41. Do the math. Kate Craven especially looks too young to be her mom. Though Cheryl Ladd is old enough to be the grandmother, the amount of plastic surgery she's had makes her look to young for the role. I'm not criticizing her choice to have the surgery, only that it makes her look too young for the role, unless the 3 younger generations in this Christian family all had teenage pregnancies.

I love Hallmark and Great American Family Christmas movies. I look forward to them every year. It is a great escape from reality. However, this movie was just too much for me. In every scene they were always so happy and so perfect. Their home, their parties, singing in the choir together...it almost physically hurt to watch the movie. I couldn't finish the movie and I only had a few short minutes to go. I can't believe that I hung in there for as long as I did. I was writing Christmas cards so maybe my determination to get those done was my driving force to not stop and turn the stop button on my computer screen.

I love movies filled with light, happiness and hope, but this was just way over the top. It was too much that now I need to watch a horror movie to balance myself out.

It really is not as bad as everyone is saying. All the people in the reviews upset about the age difference really need to realize that actors usually do not play their own age. Natasha is playing a 21 year old and if her character's parents are 41 like the actors then they were 19 which is not unusual as I had 2 children by the age 19 with one baby born one year and one the next year.

This was a sweet movie. Was it perfect? No, was it the worst Christmas movie that I have watched? Definitely not. There were a few Christmas movies that I could not get past the first 10 minutes.

I like the casting. I like Natasha. I have seen her in a few movies now and she is only getting better.