Every year around Christmas I search through my TV listings hoping this will be on because it is such a treat. I've seen it three times now.
A young couple played by Jeremy Ratchford and Jessica Steen, struggle through the Christmas season. They have very little money. They live in small-town, snowy Canada. They drink beer. She likes Christmas. Her mother is a trial to them both. He's a real guy, with a truck. A lot of us have been these people or know people like them.
For me this is the perfect Christmas story because there is so much love between this couple despite the obstacles they face. You can feel their affection for each other come through the screen. Yet married life here is never romanticized. How refreshing.
This is the first thing I ever saw Jeremy Ratchford in and I found him compelling. He inhabited this guy in such a confidant way. This character is a guy, who, though young, knows who he is, likes himself and his life.
It's also a funny movie; things go wrong with their Christmas plans. There is a scene in a church that made me laugh out loud, and another one on the top of a roof. Whenever I notice Small Gifts is on I recommend it to other people because I think this TV movie deserves a much bigger audience.
The script was done by David Adams Richards which is a selling point in itself. In Canada he is a well known novelist.
