I am going to call it now - unless something magical happens in the (approximately) 20 movies left to watch this season, Sugarplummed will, in fact, be my number one movie this year. When I heard the title, I thought it was dumb. When I heard the plot, I thought it was dumb. Man, I couldn’t be more wrong.

Emily (Maggie Lawson) wants to give her family the perfect Christmas. But, every year, something goes wrong. As she prepares for Christmas this year, she finds a star ornament that promises a Christmas wish. Exhausted and irritated, she wishes that she could fulfill her list that would make Christmas picture-perfect like the Sugarplum Christmas movies. Much to her surprise, Sugarplum (Janel Parrish), herself, appears to make all of Emily’s Christmas wishes come true.

Like I said, I really did think this movie was going to be stupid. I should know Hallmark better. Sometimes they don’t mind poking a little fun at themselves. And that is exactly what they do here. Instead of having a variety of movies that all seem the same, they fake Hallmark channel in the movie just uses the same character, Sugarplum, in the lead of all of their movies. So Sugarplum has saved small town businesses, dated secret princes, and even brought the Christmas spirit to the humbugs. And Parrish was perfectly cast as the princess of Christmas.

At the same time, Lawson has perfected playing the “imperfect woman.” You can’t help but believe that she is trying her very best even when the results are the absolute worst. Pairing Lawson with Parrish was probably the best decision a casting director ever made.

And, of course, there has to be a conflict, right? The movie can’t keep going up, up, up. There are actually two problems that need to be solved and neither of them felt forced. The writer/director of Sugarplummed, Ryan Landels, has written some stinkers (I’m looking at you, Jem & The Holograms movie) but his Christmas movies aren’t too bad. Maybe this is your lane, dude.

Rating: I want more movies with Sugarplum…like the Mrs. Miracle movies!

Hallmark is kinda considered the gold standard of Christmas movies. As such, they generally try to market their movies to a wide variety of people. We don’t usually see heavily religious tones in their movies. That all changed with The Gift Of Peace.

Traci (Nikki Deloach) lost her husband to a brain tumor. She also lost her faith. As she prepares for her first solo Christmas art exhibit, she finds herself having a tough time emotionally. She joins a church grief group to try to find both comfort and inspiration for her artwork. Not only does she find both, she also finds a community of friends.

I don’t usually do well with super religious movies. I don’t like to be preached at. Maybe it’s because this movie was almost completely about grief and how to get through it but it didn’t feel preachy, even though it is a VERY Catholic movie. Or maybe it’s because they didn’t try to solve their issues through religion. Yes, they prayed a lot. Yes, they talk about God a lot. But not in a “God has a plan” sort of way. More like a “Let’s go look at this gorgeous sunrise because it makes me feel closer to God.” To me, those are two very distinct statements. “God has a plan” means you have no agency in your life. “Sunrises make me feel closer to God” means your spirituality is heightened. Maybe it’s not God but the feeling that your departed loved one is close.

Surprisingly, I’m going to put this in the Watch column. I’m not saying it’s Must See TV or anything but it does have a nice calm feeling to it. Nothing is rushed, no one is forcing relationships, everyone is allowed to do what they want on their own terms. While I would personally prefer to take out the religious aspect, I can understand how important it is to other people. The Gift Of Peace is a bit of a nice in-between movie. Religious without beating you over the head with it.