Tastes great, less filling.

Unless you are a total Grinch, you probably have a soft spot for holiday movies. Some of my favorites include White Christmas, Home Alone, Love Actually, Muppet Christmas Carol...I could still list about 5 more, but that's not the point of this post. No, this post is actually more of a confession. One of my favorite holiday movies is basically a lame bit of Hallmark Channel fluff, but I can't help it. I love this movie. What is it?

A Boyfriend for Christmas.

I can feel you cringing from here. In fact, you've probably never heard of it. It aired on the Hallmark Channel back in 2004, and has become a perennial cable channel favorite. So when I noticed it was airing last night on the Lifetime Movie Channel I got really really excited.

Here's a little taste of the plot:

As a 12 year old, Holly Grant meets Santa and as she thinks she is too old for traditional gifts, she tells Santa she wants a boyfriend for Christmas. He leaves a gift under her tree with a message: she will receive her requested gift in the 20th year "when two hearts are ready". 20 years later when Holly is working for a non-profit and has given up on love. Santa hasn't forgotten his promise and arranges for Ryan Hughes, to be Holly's gift for Christmas. For reasons that are too involved to go into here, Ryan initially hides his true identity from Holly, and agrees to "pretend" to play the role of her boyfriend at her family holiday gathering. But of course they start to like each other blah blah blah then hijinks and misunderstandings occur, etc, but everything works out in the end.

I know. Sounds kind of lame, right? It's full of B stars, and nothing about it is really that great, but for some reason, I just love it. It's got just the right amount of Christmas magic with Santa, a happy ending (spoiler alert!), and Holly wears this really great blue coat throughout the movie that I've always really liked. When it aired, the TV Guide reviewer said it was, "sweet but full of empty calories." Fair enough. But sometimes I want empty calories. And wouldn't it be nice if Santa could be your match-maker?

Santa, Holly, and her pretty blue coat.

So judge away, I can take it. I'm not ashamed of my love for this movie, and I bet if you did a little soul-searching, you can find some really embarrassing holiday movie that you love. Also, it's airing again on Christmas Eve on the Lifetime Movie Channel, so I suggest you set your DVR. Trust me, it's like the twinkie of Christmas movies.