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What You Should Watch During Hallmark’s Christmas in July

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*Image credit: IMDb, letterboxd

It may be sweltering out there this time of year, but Hallmark brings the chill with their Christmas in July event every year. I am a self-proclaimed Hallmarkie and Hallmark expert, especially when it comes to their line-up of Christmas movies. There are two times of year that Hallmark airs Christmas movies, the Countdown to Christmas and Christmas in July events. Each year, they release never-before-seen movies (debuting each Saturday of the month), but they also play all the classics. Here is what I suggest watching.

Anything with Tyler Hynes

This man can do no wrong in my eyes, and he is in a lot of great Hallmark Christmas movies. Some of my favorites are:

Movie poster for On the 12th Date of Christmas. It has a picture of the two main actors/characters and city skyline. The writing is in red.

On the 12th Date of Christmas

Two game designers, and very different personalities, team up to develop a scavenger hunt around Chicago for a high-profile client. In the process, they discover that they do work well together in more ways than one.

This was the first movie I had ever seen Tyler in, and now it is must must-watch for me every year. I love that two very different people come together and work so well with each other once they look past their differences. Plus, the love story is cute.

Movie poster for Three Wise Men and a Baby. It has the three main actors/characters standing in front of a white background. The middle on is holding the baby. There is a wreath behind the actor on left. There are twinkle lights above the actor on the right. The writing is in red.

Three Wise Men and a Baby

The Brenner Brothers, Luke, Taylor, and Stephan, are thrust into becoming surrogate dads (a la Three Men and a Baby) when an overwhelmed mother leaves her infant son at Luke’s firehouse during the holidays. In the process, they are forced to repair their relationship with each other and rediscover their love of Christmas.

When you combine the comedic stylings of Tyler Hynes, Andrew Walker, and Paul Campbell, you experience a fun good time. I laughed the whole time watching this. Watching these three men bumble about trying to take care of this baby was so much fun.

Movie poster for Three Wiser Men and a Boy. It has the three main actors/characters standing next to each other. The one in the middle is holding the boy. The one on the right is standing next to a Christmas tree. The one on the left is holding a present. The writing is in white.

Three Wiser Men and a Boy

The sequel to Three Wise Men and a Baby and just as funny and heartwarming as the first. The Brenner brothers unite again to help their son/nephew put on the school holiday pageant. All while dealing with the curveballs of life.

The minute I heard that one of my favorite movies from the Hallmark Christmas movie line-up was getting a sequel, I did a little happy dance. And boy, this one didn’t disappoint! I was worried about the time jump, but in the end it didn’t really hinder my watching experience. It was fun seeing where everyone ended up after the events of the first one.

Movie poster for Holiday Touchdown: A Chief's Love Story. It has the main actor and actress standing next to each other with their heads touching. The actor is holding a football that has the title of the movie written across it in white. They are both wearing Kansas City Chiefs jackets. The stadium seats are in the background behind them.

Holiday Touchdown: A Chief’s Love Story

Die-hard Kansas City Chief’s fan, Alana, and her family compete in a Fan of the Year contest. The prize being a tickets to the big Christmas game and a chance to go on the field. The director of fan engagement for the team, Derrick, is a judge for the contest. 

This one was cute. Was it my favorite I’ve seen? No, but I enjoyed it nonetheless.

And now here is a list of other movies I suggest watching:

Movie poster for The Christmas House. It has the main actors and actresses pictures on ornaments on a Christmas tree. They are all in pairs. The writing is in white.

The Christmas House

The parents of two sons, Bill and Phylis, are faced with some big decisions regarding their house. They are known as the Christmas House in the neighborhood. In order to make this decision, they ask their two sons Mike and Brandon to come home and help them decide. In the process, they realize how much bigger this event every year is and how much it means to Mike and Brandon.

I try to watch this one every year. It’s so much fun to see how they do up the house for the holidays and how they come together to accomplish it every year.

Movie poster for The Christmas House 2. The main actors' and actresses' pictures are in ornaments. Two of them are holding snowballs. The ornaments are red and green on a blue background. The writing is in white.

The Christmas House 2: Deck Those Halls

The sequel to The Christmas House. This time though, Mike and Brandon enter into competition to see who can better decorate and create The Christmas House. 

It was fun to see where everyone is after the first movie. And see that the family is just as dedicated to the tradition as ever. This one is funnier than the first.

Movie poster for Christmas Under the Lights. It has the main actor and actress; the actor's head is resting on the side of the actress's head. Her face is looking at the camera while her body is nestled next to his and she has her hand placed on his chest. He is sitting on a hay bale. There is a wreath and farm stuff in the background.

Christmas Under the Lights

Emily reluctantly returns to help her brother breathe life back into the family Christmas carnival that they used to put on every year for the town. While there, she also unexpectedly finds a connection with a local artist who is staying at their farm.

I mainly watched this because one of my favorite actresses from the show Roswell, New Mexico is in it, Heather Hemmens. I was pleasantly surprised when I actually enjoyed it. Sometimes a movie is a hit or miss for me on Hallmark. This one was a hit. It was heartwarming and maybe it hit a little too close to home (her mother passed away and that is why she hasn’t returned home in awhile), but I still really liked it.

Movie poster for Double Holiday. It has the actor and actress standing back to back. She is wearing a blue dress and he is wearing a grey suit jacket with a light blue shirt underneath and either black or navy blue pants. On her side is Hanukkah decorations and on his side is Christmas decorations. The writing is in white.

Double Holiday

Rebecca and Chris, colleagues/rivals who reluctantly have to work together to plan the office Christmas party. The kicker…they are both competing for a promotion at the company they work for. 

This is a rewatch for me every year. I love that they combine both Christmas and Hanukkah in the story and how they plan the holiday party.

Movie poster for Confession of a Christmas Letter. It has three of the characters standing next to each other. Two on either side of a mail box and one behind it. There are pine trees in the background. Everything is on a bright red background. The writing is in white and gold.

Confessions of a Christmas Letter

Settie, the matriarch of the family, is struggling to write her family’s holiday letter. Every year, the neighborhood puts on a holiday letter writing contest and every year Settie’s rival wins. Settie is determined to win this year so she hires a struggling novelist, Juan, to write it for her. A rumor starts to circulate that Settie’s daughter, Lily, is engaged to Juan and they have to keep up the ruse.

Again, I watched this one because one of my favorite actresses is in it (Angela Kinsey). This is just a fun, silly, good time. The way the family has to keep up the ruse is hilarious. And in the end, it’s great to see that everything turns out okay in the end.

Movie poster for Jingle Bell Run. The two actors are in a running position in the middle. They are pictured running through the word 'run'. They are both wearing blue jeans and red jackets. The background is yellow and the writing is red and green.

Jingle Bell Run

Avery and Wes, total opposite personalities, have to team up for a Christmas race a la The Amazing Race. Along the way, they learn about each other and how similar they might actually be. And it goes without saying that they find love in the process.

This one was so funny. One thing about me is that I will watch anything Andrew Walker is in (he is actually the first Hallmark hunk I ever watched a movie from). I really love the banter these two have and in the end they realize that opposites do really attract.

Movie Poster for The Royal Nanny. The actors are pictured popping out from a wreath with decorations all over it. One of the actresses is wearing a red top with a white shirt. The other is wearing a school uniform. One of the actors is in a tux and the other is wearing a school uniform. The background is a deep red and the writing is white.

The Royal Nanny

Claire, and MI5 agent, becomes the royal nanny. Her job is to keep on mission and keep the family safe for Christmas. Prince Colin, the childrens’ uncle, is making this job very hard for Claire. In the process, Claire finds that being too rigid doesn’t always get results and too much resistance to fun doesn’t always end in heartbreak.

I enjoyed this one. Again, is it my favorite movie in the Hallmark oeuvre? No. But I will watch anything that has Rachel Skarsten and/or Dan Jeannotte in it.

Movie poster for A Biltmore Christmas. The two actors are on the right side facing each other. The actress is looking at "us" and wearing a navy blue gown with gold accents and a fur wrap around her shoulders. The actor is looking at her and we only see his side profile. He is wearing a black suit. The Biltmore House is in the background with a light display in front. The background is a twilight sky. The writing is in gold.

A Biltmore Christmas

Lucy, a script writer, is hired to write the script for a holiday movie remake. In order to get some inspiration, she joins a tour of the grounds of the Biltmore Estate. While on the tour, she accidentally knocks over a magical hourglass and it transports her back in time to the original filming of the movie she is rewriting. There she meets Jack Huston, one of the original actors in the movie. They spend some time together and become very close.

This was just a beautiful movie. One of my favorites. It gives those old, classic movie vibes while being set in modern times. Both Bethany Joy Lenz and Kristopher Polaha do an amazing job bringing the characters to life. And the chemistry between them is great. I get the warm fuzzy feelings every time I watch this.

Movie poster for The Holiday Sitter. It has four of the actors standing. Two of them are standing next to each other in the middle. One has his hands out in kind of a shrug position and he is wearing blue jeans and a green sweater. The other has his arm on the other's shoulder and he is wearing blue jeans, a red over shirt with a white shirt underneath. The other two look like they're running in the behind the other two. On is on the left and is wearing a blue sweater with a winter design and blue jeans. The other is on the right and she is wearing a dress that is black on top and white on the bottom. There are Christmas decorations in the background. The writing is in green and red.

The Holiday Sitter

Sam’s sister asks him to come and babysit his niece and nephew before the holidays while she and her husband go pick up the baby they are going to adopt. He is out of his depth, so he enlists the help of the handsome neighbor Jason. 

I love this movie! Seeing Jonathan Bennett play a character who has no idea how to take care of children is hilarious. This movie is not only funny, but it’s heartwarming too. Seeing Sam find his own way to take care of his niece and nephew is just beautiful.

Movie poster for Catch Me if You Clause. It shows the two actors running. The actress is in front and she is holding a present. She is wearing a red checkered coat, white shirt, blue jeans and white snow boots. The actor is wearing a Santa coat that is red with white fur collar. He's also wearing red pants. He is holding a stack of presents. The background is a bright red and there are multi-colored string lights. The writing is white.

Catch Me if You Clause

Avery has been working very hard towards her goal of becoming an on air news anchor. She finally gets her chance when she catches an intruder in her home, Chris, who is the son of Santa. Avery wants this job and Chris wants to prove to his dad that he can take over the family business. They help each other achieve these goals.

This movie gives Home Alone, classic 90s/early 00s Christmas movie vibes. I love the dynamic between Avery and Chris. I also love that Avery just does not believe Chris is who he says he is the whole time. It’s a very funny movie.

Movie poster of Christmas on Call. There is a red background with the two main characters sitting on Christmas trees in the shape of a heartbeat monitor line. The male main character is in a blue EMT outfit. The female main character is in green scrubs with a white long sleeve shirt underneath. The title is in white.

Christmas On Call

When an ER doctor and an EMT fall in love. Two first responders develop a friendship, and eventually a relationship, over the holidays.

This one was okay. I did find myself getting a little giddy over the budding relationship happening between the two main characters. Sometimes you can just tell that they want to get together, but neither is reading the signs 😏. Also, Donna Kelce makes little cameo in in it.

Movie poster of Hallmark's Snowbound for the Holidays. There is an image of the two main characters facing each other. The woman is looking up at the man and smiling. She has her hand on the back of his neck. She is wearing a red puffer coat with a fur lined hood. She is wearing a white turtleneck underneath. She has brown shoulder length hair that is curled. He is looking down at her and smiling. He's wearing a denim jacker with a red and black flannel underneath. He has a beard and short brown hair. The writing of the title is in white cursive font.

Snowbound for the Holidays

Cassidy Evergreen, hotel manager extraordinaire, is asked to go evaluate a struggling cozy ski lodge. Trey Sanderson, owner of said lodge, is hesitant to except her help.

I loved this one! I really do enjoy the city mouse/country mouse storylines and this one is chock full of it.

Movie poster for Hallmark's We Met in December. It has the two main characters looking straight on to the audience. There is a silhouette of the MMC at the piano and the FMC sitting on the piano underneath the title. The woman is smiling. She has shoulder length brown hair that's curled. She is wearing red lipstick. The man is smiling. He has short brown hair with a beard. The writing of the title is white.

We Met in December

Two strangers met and spent a whole night together during a layover. During this, they end up falling for each other, but the next day they experience a missed connection. When they both return to Chicago, they both go on separate missions to find each other again.

I swear that all my favorite Hallmark movies are set in Chicago 😂 This one was the kind of movie that has you kicking and giggling your feet at how sweet it is. One of my favorite parts was the past/present timeline.

 

Come back often. I will be updating this list regularly.

Let me know if you’re a Hallmark fan too and what one of your favorite movies is in the comments (It doesn’t have to be a Christmas one).

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