Christmas Joy

Posted November 30, 2018 by karenbaron in #HolidayMovie, Hallmark T.V. Movie, Movie Review, Romance / 1 Comment

CHRISTMAS JOY

Network: Hallmark

Stars: Danielle Panabaker and Matt Long

Joy Holbrook (Panabaker) is a keenly intelligent market researcher with an eye on her company’s top account and garnering a sweet promotion just in time for the holidays. Just as Joy is capturing the attention of the account’s CEO, she receives a call from her Aunt Ruby’s best friend back home in Crystal Falls, NC. Ruby has broken her ankle and needs surgery.

Though the timing couldn’t be worse, Joy immediately comes to her Aunt’s bedside only to be reunited with a former crush, now hospital administrator, Ben Andrews (Long), son of Ruby’s best friend, Shirley.

Joy also must navigate Ruby’s stubborn determination to be in control of everything, including the town’s legendary annual Cookie Crawl, a walking home tour where owners display holiday decorations and treat each other to Christmas cookies all while vying to win the prized Golden Wreath Award.

To keep Ruby focused on healing, Joy volunteers to take her aunt’s place as chair of the Cookie Crawl much to the amusement of Ben who knows Joy has no idea of the Herculean task before her. Though Joy initially refuses Ben’s attempts to “co-captain,” she begins to soften and let him in, all the while remembering that there truly is no place like home for the holidays.

Based on the best-selling novel by Nancy Naigle.

My rating: My thoughts:

I completely loved this holiday movie. The characters were well thought out, and the story was divine. There was so much going on in Joy’s life. She was all work until her Aunt broke her ankle. Then she takes that vacation time that she usually doesn’t use and goes home to help her Aunt in Crystal Falls, North Carolina.

I loved the idea of the Cookie Crawl and the Gingerbread Competition. Oh, and the way the whole town came to help Joy out.

Then there is Ben; he is extremely busy too. He is just doing town functions along with his job at the hospital. Although, Ben did seem a bit afraid to open his heart. What a great thing that Joy wasn’t.

I thought actors did an excellent job. Their chemistry is good, and they played well off each other.

The only thing that I was disappointed in was the amount of snow in North Carolina. I guess it could have just been a freak snowstorm.

No matter. My rating is five stars. Yep, I really enjoyed the movie, snow and all.

Other Christmas Movies

There are so many new Christmas Movies out on the small screen, from streaming on Netflix to watching on one of the networks like Hallmark’s Countdown to Christmas, Hallmark Movies and Mysteries’ Miracles of Christmas, Lifetime’s It’s a Wonderful Lifetime, and ION Televisions’ Holiday Movies.

If you want to see other Christmas Movies I am reviewing: My Christmas Movie Review List

To see a list of Christmas Movies playing on your television or another device:

Premiering in Nov Premiering in Dec