Christmas on Cherry Lane

I was a huge Good Witch fan (I wish more of those were being made) and I love Catherine Bell and James Denton, which is why I was excited to see them together in a Hallmark holiday film. So, I came for the two of them...but found myself enjoying quite another storyline instead, that of John Brotherton (John Hamilton) and Erin Cahill (Lizzie). John and Lizzie play a couple who have just moved into their first home, expecting a new baby, money is tight, they haven't unpacked, and Lizzie's big family descends on them for Christmas when they expect to have a quiet Christmas Eve just themselves. Funny and real with each other, this was definitely the story at the heart of this film.

Cleverly the writers tied three stories in three different time periods together in the same house...and with some of the same people, like their neighbor on Cherry Lane played exceptionally by the same actress in all three time periods.

There were some inaccuracies with their time frames, but they did try to throw in some time period specific notes...like the oil crisis and a hallmark keepsake Christmas ornament. I appreciated having a foster child pay it forward and make another foster kid's Christmas special. That was a really nice touch.

This wasn't really a romance, but it was a family drama. If you like holiday family dramas then this might be for you.

I really enjoyed this movie and appreciate how Hallmark upped its game in terms of telling the stories of different families who share something special in common. Basically, things center around 7 Cherry Lane, a house called home to three different families spanning over five decades. Though each family's storyline is separate from the others, there are people and details of each storyline that are interwoven with the others, creating a vibe that's similar to This Is Us.

The families are young marrieds Lizzie and John, who are awaiting the birth of their first child; this takes place in the '70s. Then there's Regina, a forties-ish widow with two young-adult children, who's ready to move on with her life in the 90s era. Lastly, there's Mike and Zain, ready and hoping to welcome a child into their family in the present day. I don't want to give any more details because this movie is best enjoyed by discovering who's tied to who, how and when by the viewer. Wonderful cast of actors who had excellent chemistry with each other! Highly recommended watch.

This is another great movie and Hallmark is really hitting home with some of their recent releases.

The only thing is you really have to be paying attention or re-watch the movie.

There are three families across three different time periods (the 70's the late 90's and current time 2023). The time periods and families are not shown sequentially (since their connection is more than sequential).

The connections to the other families and time periods is more than just the home, it's in the people themselves and their connection to each other, but that's not the focus of the story. Even though these people's lives have some connection or overlap, they each independently have life changing events occurring and the struggles that go with dealing with these events. As they overcome or accept these life changes they find strength in the people around them and the viewer sees connections that are hinted at but slowly revealed as the story progresses.

I wish the changes between the time/families had been a little more clear, but do like the way it was showing the families and the overlapping storyline.

There's so much in here about families and how Christmas brings out the best and worst in them, that it almost feels like the writer is presenting a theory and philosophy of family Christmas.

It's one of the most interesting and innovative of the "family Christmas" sub-genre of Christmas movies that I've seen.

That said, there is an awful lot going on here and I got a little lost as I wasn't paying full attention. Not least because the description I read didn't make it clear that events are happening at different times in the same location. So I was struggling, at times, to work out precisely how the various characters spanned the 3 time periods.

I admitt, I saw it for actors. Unfair to ignore Catherine Bell and James Denton - a lovely couple on screen- or to not be just provocate by the performance of Jonathan Benett , so good in homosexual characters skin.

But the gift remains the story, story of family, exploring three ones and the fair Christmas final.