A Heidelberg Holiday

It must be the mix of German and American actors that makes this film lovely. The acting is so natural (the children too) that it is a joy to watch.

The dialogues run smoothly and naturally -obviously it still is a Christmas film, so when the two leads are introduced to us, we know exactly how it's going to end.

But with all the extremely polished Christmas films around, where the production design seems to be the main character and every snowflake is personally checked and put in its place, this film is a breath of fresh air.

It's nice to hear a foreign language spoken too. The misunderstandings and miscommunications between Heidi and her German friends are very funny.

There were so many things to love about this film. I loved the sharing of both German and American Christmas traditions, I loved seeing a German Christmas market, loved the sights in and around Heidelberg, and I loved that things weren't all perfect...with creativity being born out of what was a tragedy. This is such a wonderful way to celebrate Hallmark's keepsake ornaments' 50th anniversary, by doing a holiday romance about an ornament maker!

Heidi Heidelberg is an ornament maker and her dream is to sell her ornaments in her family's home town Christmas market in Heidelberg, Germany. Her family has a wonderful story about how her family helped build the Heidelberg castle, traveling a long distance with supplies like the columns. Unfortunately, years of rejection letters paper her workroom wall...until this year someone drops out of the market one week in and she is invited to sell her ornaments. Heidi, with the help of her family, jumps at the chance to fulfill her dream.

Unfortunately, other than the sample ornaments she flew with...her ornaments are delayed in arriving. Thanks to her grandmother's hometown connections she is staying with a lovely German family with a legacy of woodworking, and how she meets the handsome wood artist Lukas. Lukas helps Heidi with the more laidback German sales approach, convincing her to do pre-sales until her ornaments arrive.

There are a series of encounters with the very efficient German Post, which lends a lot of the comedy to this film...and I can personally vouch for being more efficient than our local post office or UPS.

This was absolutely wonderful and I really enjoyed it. As a romantic, I like the slow build relationship and the romance of the gorgeous German Christmas backdrop. But what really made this special were the small family moments shared at home with the German family and their American guest...including the romantic ones like the chocolate given to someone you have a crush on.

This really may be my favorite of all the Hallmark Holiday films I have ever seen (and I have seen a lot!), but it is for certain my favorite of 2023. I highly recommend this to both romantics and fans of both Christmas and German Christmas traditions. (There were definitely some German Christmas traditions missed...but I am not complaining, the film was great!)

Heidi Heidelberg has the opportunity to sell her Christmas ornaments at a very popular festive market in Germany, the country from her ancestors. There she meets Lukas, whose family is providing her accommodations. While there, her Oma (grandmother) gave her a mission to go to places she used to go in her youth.

I really liked this movie. All movies placed in Europe have a charm to it, specially If they truly are based there. I felt like this movie had a lot going on. But I think it worked: the ornaments, the tour, and even the family moments.

There was a little nod to the Hallmark movies at the beginning. One of the characters said that his countdown to Christmas starts at the end of October. Blink and you miss it. The leads had good chemistry and so did the rest of the cast.

Worth the watch.

Once again, Hallmark dresses a rather unsubstantial romantic story, this time at Christmas, with the background of an appealing, historical destination. Heidi, an American artist of German heritage has the opportunity to exhibits her hand-made Christmas ornaments at the fabled Heidelberg Christmas Market, while discovering her family's roots. Hosted at the Oppermanns' guest house, she is welcomed to share their Holiday traditions and bonds with their son, Lukas, also an artist with a kin soul. With some twists and turns, that shall not be revealed, the story follows to a predictable outcome. How does it work?

LOCATION: the movie offers appreciable glimpses of the historical vestiges and the culture of this city, that I regret never been able to visit. This is a definite plus.

PLOT: some original elements are inserted in an otherwise fairly bland story.

PERFORMANCES: frankly, I am not overly impressed neither by the acting abilities of Ginna Claire Mason and Frederic Brossier or their chemistry in this production.

ATMOSPHERE: despite some charming sequences, Hallmark shows the usual superficiality in handling other cultures. Somehow, the feeling of a real German experience is missing in most of the scenes. A major omission, which could have been easy to provide, with a little attention and minimal cost, is real German Christmas music. Germany has an enormous wealth of beautiful traditional music, dating back to the Middle Age, that could have created a magical background for the action, Instead, other than a token rendition or "O Tannenbaum" and a short run of 'Es ist ein Ros einsprungen" melody, the soundtrack is quite generic and uninspired. In my book, this is a badly missed opportunity.

Overall, the film is "Christmas-y" and family-oriented, with some endearing moments and worth a look, though it could have been so much more.

7.6 stars.

...never ship your treasures through a questionable service.

The whole theme hinges on Heidi's ornaments and the fact that she chose to go cheap and ship her valuable Christmas ornaments through a lesser known shipping company is indicative of her character. Let's shove that whole incongruence and personality fiasco aside and this becomes a wonderful adventure.

This woman gets the opportunity of a lifetime to travel from USA to showcase her handcrafted ornaments in Heidelberg Germany, her ancestor's city of origin. Her artwork is exquisite and she will be staying in Heidelberg over the holidays with friends of her grandmother.

The older son is a woodworking genius and has many works of art as well. They are immediately friends, and she spends weeks with this family celebrating the holidays German style, growing very fond of them, and they of her. Soon she and their son become more than friends.

There are some ups and downs, and many of the conversations are somewhat predictable, but the human connections feel genuine and the scenery and authentic German nostalgia are not easy to match, making this film worth mentioning.