You will get into the holiday spirit, darn it! You will.
It’s a Wonderful Lifetime continues with another delightful holiday movie that had you curling up with a cup of hot cocoa and escaping into a world where love and Christmas abounded.
There’s no reservation about the pure cuteness of Christmas Reservations.
Gabrielle Solis’ husband (Ricardo Chavira from Desperate Housewives) and Sabrina the Teenage Witch (Melissa Joan Hart) were in love.
As if the movie didn’t have instant bonus points for all the references to Western and Upstate New York, it had a fun, quirky cast of characters and multiple love stories with happy endings.
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Love came in many different forms too. Who says you can’t fall in love in a week? You can with the magic of Christmas!
In a surprise move, the movie didn’t waste any time throwing our two lovebirds into the deep end. We didn’t have to watch those stolen glances and awkward moments as they came to grips with their feelings.
Holly: Why did we ever break up?
Kevin: That’s not a Christmas question.
We didn’t have to wait for everyone in their lives to push them toward one another. They weren’t in denial of the feelings they had for one another.
Nope, it was instantaneous, and it was refreshing that we could jump into their love story and wonder what obstacle would nearly thwart them from being together in the end.
Do you know what was another surprise? It wasn’t a misunderstanding or a lack of communication. Both are common contrivances, so it was as jarring as a snowball to the face when neither happened.
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Holly and Kevin were college sweethearts, and both considered the other “the one who got away.” They hadn’t seen or spoken to each other in nearly 20 years.
Their chemistry was hotter than hot chocolate during a blizzard, and you never would’ve guessed they only dated for a week during their senior year in college.
One week in college, and they never got over each other. It’s love, people.
Both of them were total nerds, and even they couldn’t figure out why they didn’t last. It sounded like they were good at falling in love, but they weren’t when it came to sustaining it.
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But life has a way of making it work out, or maybe Santa was at work. Twenty years later, Kevin walked into the Treeline Lodge, and one week later, he left it with a fiancee/wife.
Peak Lifetime romance.
The whole lodge was invested in their love story, and who could blame them?
The two of them clearly loved each other, but the anticipation lay in what would happen to them when their week was over.
Kevin: No me dejes, ni siquiera por una hora, porque entonces las pequeñas Gotas de angustia correrán juntas. (Don’t leave me not even for an hour because then the little drops of anguish will all run together)
The adorably absentminded Kevin had a business in Buffalo, and eternally loyal Holly didn’t want to leave her father alone to run their family business.
The only thing standing in the way of their future was distance. We can fix that, though.
Holly was so preoccupied going on dates with Kevin and having a mutual pining competition that she didn’t notice her father Tom already fell in love with Tay.
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Kevin and Holly were cute as can be, but Tom and Tay stole some of their thunder.
They made a girl squeal and coo in delight. Sometimes the cuteness is too much; it’s overwhelming.
You knew from the second Tom saw Tay, he fell in love with her. He was tongue-tied and babbling like a schoolboy. Nothing was more relatable than Tom’s awkward rambling and spewing of facts and trivia.
Awkward squad, represent! For the record, it’s a comfort knowing senior-aged awkwardness is a thing.
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Tom and Tay were the perfect pair. They were both obsessed with Christmas, and Tom went out of his way to accommodate her and make the Treeline Lodge experience enjoyable for her.
Her more adventurous sister was excited about skiing. Tay wanted quieter things. Tom was attuned to her as if he had known her for years.
He didn’t know if he would ever find love again after the death of his wife, but he recognized the feeling while spending time with Tay.
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They almost had us with Tay’s fear for her health. What kind of doctor drags his or her ass on telling someone they aren’t gravely ill?
How do you wait until Christmas Eve to put someone at ease? How is the patient supposed to enjoy their holiday? What kind of madness is that?
The only villain of the movie was the doctor who couldn’t call Tay in a timely fashion. Can you imagine how open to love she would’ve been if she had known she was OK?
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Tom and Tay would’ve been married in front of the fireplace by a washed-up skier dressed as Santa and planning their honeymoon in the Poconos by now.
Little did Tay realize, Tom had already fallen for her and would’ve taken care of her if she was sick. Tom rocked.
Tom: You can’t go through life with all these reservations. You have to cancel them.
He was more aware of his daughter than Kevin was with his children, but no worries, we still love Kevin anyway.
Besides, you cannot have one of these movies without mischievous children, right?
Miles and Aviana were two and a half handfuls (if you include the dog they co-opted).
Their maturity level and how it coincided with their age was dubious at best, and it seemed they were four years younger than they were.
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Their dog antics were bordering on a nuisance, but they were adorable children who wanted their father to be happy, and they ‘shipped Kevin and Holly like the rest of us, so you can’t dislike them.
They now have a grandpa who will spoil them and be stern and gives sound dad advice, so they’ll turn out OK.
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Again, the quirky and diverse bunch of inhabitants at the lodge made the movie more refreshing than your usual fare.
How often do you see so many different types of people from different walks of life come together in one of these movies?
Preena and Dadi bringing some Bollywood dancing and sharing their culture with the group on Christmas were some of the sweetest scenes.
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Dadi had her reservations about America and American holidays, but as vocal as she was about how strange things were to her, she never hesitated to try new things.
It was a nice spin on a traditional older Indian woman. She wasn’t inflexible and was openminded without forgoing her culture.
She took monitoring Preena seriously, but she also allowed her granddaughter to drag her into activities, and they had fun.
She behaved as expected over Preena’s forwardness with young Leo, but she embraced the teens’ friendship and potential college romance by the end.
Preena and Leo were another adorable couple. They gave off Harry Potter couple vibes, and despite Preena coming across a bit boy crazy, her decision to go to Dartmouth was about her and not Leo.
She didn’t pull a Felicity and chose a school across the pond because of a boy.
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But for Dadi, her love story came in the form of seeing her granddaughter grow up and accepting she would have to let her go.
Preena didn’t treat her grandmother like an imposition, nor did she disrespect her in any way. Their gift exchange was a beautiful moment.
Preena reassured her grandmother that she would miss her like crazy; they’d speak every weekend while she was away.
The weakest love story out of the bunch was that between Kay and Duffy.
He was obsessed with her, and she seemed to indulge him when she was in the mood.
He chased her around like a puppy dog, and Kay was there to live her life and have a hell of a good time.
Kay was vibrant and full of life, and it’s always rewarding to see such a confident, fearless, impulsive and fun woman who isn’t a teenager.
You don’t have to lose that when you get older; if anything, it’s the time to embrace it the most. She told Duffy as much, and if he thought he was in a rut, he’s out of now.
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He was caught up in being older and washed up. He put too much stake in trying to hang onto his glory days as a skier in the 80’s, but Kay reminded him of how there’s more life to live.
It was a common theme for all of them.
Kevin and Holly learned it too.
Holly: We’re really good at falling in love, aren’t we?
Kevin: We’re kinda great at it.
He didn’t have to hold onto his company; his business partner wanted to buy him out, but he wasn’t happy with it anyway.
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He was more passionate about coming up with snow-power and solar-power ideas for the lodge. He was the absolute cutest when an idea would pop into his head, and he had to scribble it down.
But then again, Ricardo Chavira is what the internet would call a Zaddy, or a snack, or hell, a full-course meal. His eyes were incredibly distracting and dazzling, weren’t they?
Holly was jolly for a good reason.
Holly: Hey, what did you forget?
Kevin: You. I came back for you.
In addition to reigniting her love life, he also reignited Holly’s passion for photography again.
With the help of her father firing her from working at the lodge she got stuck working at for eight years, and the encouragement of all the lodgers, Holly could pursue her passion.
Love with the one who got away and the hobby she stopped partaking in. Now, someone needs to tell me where exactly they plan on setting up a solar power photography studio in Buffalo.
It sounds like a fun time.
Holly and Kevin’s second chance love story was cute. In the end, that’s all one looks for with these stories.
OK, Lifetime, what else you got? Over to you, Lifetime movie Fanatics. Did you love this one? Hit those comments.
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Jasmine Blu is a staff writer for TV Fanatic. Follow her on Twitter.