Holiday Movies and Chill: The 2021 Home Stretch Edition 

[Warning: General spoilers ahead.]

There’s been no shortage of falalalaing through the holiday romcoms this winter (all our coverage so far is here), so it’s entirely possible that you missed a few. Here are some options for films currently streaming, repeating, and premiering this weekend.

Hallmark Channel/Hallmark Movies & Mysteries

This is the last weekend for new premieres on both networks, and both will be doing marathons from their 2021 lineup all-day Christmas Day. Pro tip for your DVRing — Hallmark Channel’s movies will have limited commercials, so each film will run 90 minutes instead of two hours.

Christmas for Keeps

Hallmark staple Nikki DeLoach and her writing/producing partner Megan McNulty wrote this Millennial Big Chill-ish holiday reunion movie about a group of friends (Revenge‘s Christa B Allen, 90210‘s Ryan Rottman, frequent Hallmarkie Ashley Newbrough, The Crossword Mysteries‘ Cardi Wong, and Lady Bird‘s Marielle Scott) reuniting in their hometown after a decade to honor the life of of their high school mentor (Everick Golding). Along the way, they redsicover their long ago bond and a new appreciation for the wisdom their beloved teacher gave them. It airs Saturday at 10 pm/9c on Hallmark Movies & Mysteries.

‘Tis the Season to Be Merry

Rachael Leigh Cook is the titular Merry, a dating expert and social media star prone to making lists who’s on the cusp of publishing a bestseller that’s actually not 100% the truth. When her publisher, Sonia (Karen Malina White), finds out, she and her BFF and editor Darlene (Amy Groening) head to Darlene’s hometown to formulate a plan to salvage the book release.

That takes a backseat when she’s reunited with Darlene’s brother, the surprise holiday arrival Adam (Travis Van Winkle), with whom there was a he said/she said maybe, maybe not spark years earlier. Pretty soon, Merry realizes she’s been so busy making lists she wasn’t actually living. Now she has an opportunity to do that, and potentially save her book. And there’s a little romance in the mix for Darlene and an old flame and Sonia and a new friend, too. It premieres at 8 pm/7c Sunday on Hallmark Channel in the US and W Network in Canada.

Lifetime

Toying with the Holidays

Cindy Busby and Chad Michael Murray headline Toying with Christmas Saturday night at 8 pm/7c on Lifetime. It wasn’t available for previewing, but here’s what to expect: Workaholic designer Danielle (Busby) returns to her hometown of Holly Pines for the holidays with her young son, Paul, hoping to introduce him to some beloved holiday traditions, especially the town’s North Pole Express train, until she gets home and discovers that it’s been sidelined.

Determined to help, Danielle reconnects with her former high school classmate Kevin (Murray), now a hobbyist and model train enthusiast himself. Together, they try to pull off a Christmas miracle that would get the old North Pole Express running–and quite possibly give Danielle many reasons, one of them romantic, to consider staying in Holly Pines for good.

The Enchanted Christmas Cake

In 2018, Erica Durance and Robin Dunne co-starred in UP TV’s Christmas Chalet (streaming on UP Faith & Family), and this year, they’re back together in a new film that premiered this past week and is streaming now on Lifetime. Here’s the log line: After recently losing her grandmother, Gwen (Durance) is struggling to run their bakery, regain the Christmas spirit, and figure out her grandmother’s magical recipe for the town’s legendary Enchanted Christmas Cake.

When a high-end chef comes to town to film a Christmas special, Gwen reluctantly agrees to help the producer Gavin (Dunne) prepare for the shoot to help support the bakery, and finds a connection with him. Durance was also in Hallmark Channel’s Open By Christmas last month, and will be back on Hallmark Movies & Mysteries next month in North to Home.

Netflix

Netflix has a ton of Christmas content this year, including a few sequels to its original movies. You can find the full lineup here, and I previewed Nina Dobrev’s Love Hard here.

Single All the Way

I mentioned this one back in October when I chatted with Luke Macfarlane, It’s out now, and is a fun confection about a social media manager, Peter (Michael Urie), who bails out of LA and heads home to a small town hamlet in New Hampshire for Christmas after his newest relationship sours. He brings longtime BFF Nick (Philemon Chambers) with him, hoping to deter relationship talk from his well-meaning mom, Carole (Kathy Najimy).

It turns out she’s already thinking ahead, and sets him up with her trainer, James (Macfarlane). While they’re getting to know each other, the rest of Peter’s family is working against Carole to make him realize that his true love’s been right in front of him all along. It’s streaming now on Netflix.

A Castle for Christmas

Former Hallmarkie Brooke Shields is back in romcom territory with a Scotland-set-and-filmed holiday movie co-starring Cary Elwes (who has another time-bending Christmas movie in the UK right now with Last Train to Christmas) on SKY Television. The film takes a page from Summer Villa as Shields plays an author who escapes a scandalous divorce in New York by heading to Scotland.

Smitten by a castle and moved to buy it, she first has to deal with its duke (Elwes), who’s still in residence. Soon she recognizes that maybe that package deal isn’t such a bad thing. I’m always in on the romcoms with lead characters who’ve done some living and have full lives that they invite someone into. Having leads in their 50s and 60s is aces, too. It’s streaming now on Netflix.

VH1

Let’s Get Merried

We;re giving this one a nod because SurrealEstate‘s Savannah Basley co-stars alongside Xosha Roquemore, Mishel Prada, Nicole Power, and Nicolette Pearse as a quintet of friends in this holiday take on a Girls Trip-type adventure that finds holiday-hating Zoe suddenly determined to have a Christmas wedding to an as-yet-unmet groom. The TV-14 romcom for grownups is produced by Eva Longoria and streaming now on vh1.com.

Thanks for spending another holiday season with us! We wish you and yours the very best!

Photos and videos courtesy of Crown Media, Lifetime, Netflix, and VH1.