12 Dias de Presentes

12 Days of Giving is a syrupy gulp that could seriously escalate a diabetic attack.

Baxter Billings is a photographer who has recently become engaged and he wins $50,000. Instead of using that money for his wedding and squirrelling it away as a nest egg for the future. Baxter decides to act as a secret Santa and give the money away to those that are unfortunate or do not have enough money.

This includes people who cannot afford to buy presents from the department store so Baxter pays over $4000 so various families can have Christmas presents.

His generosity in his small town leads to other people acting kindly to strangers. Christmas shopping is less of a scrum and maybe people have discovered the true meaning generosity, giving and the festive season.

Baxter's fiancée is not too pleased when she finds about Baxter's spending spree. Do not worry she is presented as shallow and not so nice from the word go. Baxter does come across a nice widow and her young son and Baxter falls for her.

I watched this with my son who found it rather cheesy and creepy. What was the deal of Baxter taking pictures through the window of the widow and her son in their house?

This is really a simple story with a simple message, barely sketched out characters, I got bored by the end. I suspect so did the director who quickly tagged on a hard to buy romantic ending.

The only significant part - the idea. Each of us, in his good days, dreams to become a Secret Santa. The romance is the necessary ingredient in this genre of film, but in this case it works as a sort of syrup. Sure, David Blue does a decent job but his eyes are more important than the artistic skills. A story becoming, in few scenes, just creepy- too much photos. But, sure, a single mother, her boy and the charming generous stranger are good pieces of a nice Christmas film.

I keep finding these movies on my Roku- all with messages of kindness, gratitude etc... less slick than Hollywierd but each one with its own beauty.

Thank you to all makers of these films that cause the heart to open up and hope.

The main message of this movie is about giving selflessly. And it comes about so automatically that I think it's a wonderful thing to remember all year round, not just Christmas. However the script leaves much to be desired. I don't want to use details that would be spoilers, but a little boy blackmails, and he does so repeatedly without this seeming in anyway to be the wrong thing to do. A man takes secret pictures of people without them knowing it which is a bit creepy considering who he is. It never does say whether he's going to suddenly post them or if it's just for his own benefit, but either way it just felt off. And the pace could've been more uplifting in spirit rather than so low-key considering the positive all-around message. So I had definitely mixed feelings. I wish this was remade in a different way because I think it is a great idea, but it just needed to be handled differently.

The vibe and staging of this movie is not that very Christmasy. But the acting is quite good.