Hallmark couldn’t possibly be happy with only one channel showing Christmas movies way too early. They had to have their second channel, Hallmark Movies & Mysteries, get in the game. Everyone else probably already knew this but, man, how many movies can Hallmark really put out in one year? Well, the first movie of the year that I have watched from Hallmark Movies & Mysteries is The Christmas Doctor. Why can’t anyone give these movies good titles?

The Christmas Doctor focuses on Dr. Zoey Garner (Holly Robinson Peete), a traveling doctor who doesn’t stay in the same place long. She gets an assignment for Willow Brook, NY. The local doctor is having shoulder surgery and will be out for two weeks. But Dr. Zoey isn’t used to sticking around for that long.

Sadly, I don’t have a lot to say about The Christmas Doctor. It was a little boring but otherwise perfectly fine. There was this weird little backstory about Dr. Zoey being a former military doctor that didn’t really have a lot to do with the plot besides being the reason Dr. Ray chose her to substitute for him.

I think maybe the movie was so boring because there wasn’t any conflict. Zoey’s sister, Debra (Nicole Anthony) is upset that Zoey never spends Christmas with her. Luke (Adrian Holmes), the love interest, is upset when Zoey tells Dr. Ray (Fred Henderson) that she is leaving town when her gig is up. All of the conflicts are literally things that people knew about beforehand. Debra knows that her sister is a traveling doctor who fills in at various hospitals when needed. How can you really be upset about a doctor having to work on Christmas? And Luke? He knew that Zoey was only in town for 14 days. Why is he upset that she’s not ditching her career to stay in a tiny little town with someone she barely knows? All of this gets resolved, of course. That doesn’t make the fact that they are stupid conflicts any better.

So, I guess watch it if you have nothing else to do? Turn it on for some background noise? I’m not saying don’t watch it but I’m sure you have a better way to spend two hours.

It’s only the seventh day of this Christmas movie advent challenge and we have actually found a network movie that is not only decent but is actually charming! What?!

Real estate agent Emma (Kim Fields) comes back to her hometown to sell her childhood home. The town, which happens to be built around her family’s Christmas light factory, seems to have lost its Christmas spirit. Emma decides to bring the old holiday traditions back, resulting in her falling in love with the town all over again.

I think the main reason I found You Light Up My Christmas charming is that it didn’t center around a romantic relationship. It almost completely focused on Emma revisiting places she used to hang out as a child/teenager and realizing how much the town needed her family. Since the town was built around her family’s factory and she is the last living member of that family, it’s up to her to bring celebrations back. Sure, she reconnects with her ex-boyfriend, Ben (Adrian Holmes), but that relationship is really an afterthought in the plot.

On a nostalgic note, this movie also gathered together a bunch of the actresses from the 80s television show, The Facts of Life. Besides Kim Fields, we got to see Lisa Welchel and Mindy Cohn in minor roles. Oh, and a very small cameo from Nancy McKeon. It was a cute nod to the generation that currently watches these cheesy movies.

Should you watch it? Absolutely. I hope that Lifetime adds this to their annual Christmas movie lineup. I would definitely watch this every year.