L'invité de Noël

A great movie to sit down with your family during the holiday season. We love to share family time with this kind of movie. It was great to see Randy Travis in this part. We hope to see it on VHS or DVD real soon!

My Grandfather was in this production. For those interested.. some back story....

Somewhere between 1994/95, a film crew came to my Grandparent's small town of Box Grove - Markham, Ontario, Canada.

Box Grove is a picturesque setting (at least until the sub-divisions came in about 6+ years ago) with big trees, large lush properties, friendly smiles and an old-fashioned sense of community.

My Grandparents have lived in Box Grove for over 50 years. For many years, they attended a 5-minute-walk-away quaint little church simply entitled "Box Grove Church". At this Church my Grandfather faithfully, and with much love and affection for others, entertained the congregation with his organ playing. With his wonderful smile and impeccable dress, the movie production decided to cast him as the organist within the film -- also using the same Church he used to perform in.

It's not without a sense of irony that the film is entitled "A Christmas to Remember", for 2 reasons. First, my grandfather suffers from memory loss and remembers nothing of meeting "Randy," as he called him... and little from anything from day to day now. For me though, when I watch this one movie he was in in the future, it will always remind me of him... his wonderful smile, his kindness to others... certainly a Christmas to remember.

Carolyn (Connie Selleca) has just gone through an extremely painful divorce. A therapist who has been residing in Los Angeles, with her pre-teen daughter Jordy, Carolyn is anxious to move on. Therefore, she tells her only child that they will be leaving SoCal and moving back to Mayville, North Carolina, her hometown. Jordy is less than thrilled. When the two females arrive, their house, once Carolyn's grandma's abode, is in need of many repairs. Not only that, Carolyn soon runs into a former flame, Clay (Randy Travis) whom she left at the alter years ago. He's still mad as a hornet. But, his loving aunt (Rue McClanahan) is delighted to see Carolyn and meet Jordy. One night, hearing noises, Carolyn discovers that a young, homeless boy is living in her basement! He won't tell anyone where he is from or who his parents are. Soon, Carolyn is befriending the little lad, much to the chagrin of the town's social worker, who also happens to have her eye on Clay. With a possible romantic triangle brewing, two energetic kids, a Christmas pageant, and more, what will happen next in Mayville? This is a darling holiday winner that fans of romantic comedy will take to like a duck to water. It has comedy, sparring flames, old biddies and cute kids, as well as good sets, costumes, a clever script and a zesty direction. Looking for a mood setter to re-capture the holiday spirit? Remember to look for this one!

I wish I could respond to other reviewers individually, especially when they have confused the location of where the story takes place. SOUTH Carolina NOT North Carolina is where "A HOLIDAY to Remember" takes place. I emphasize "Holiday," because at least one review erroneously referred to the movie as "A Christmas to Remember."

I also wish that I could tell each reviewer who complains about the formulaic and overtly-sentimental plot of the film that they should avoid all Holiday-themed movies made by Hallmark, Lifetime, Great American Family, and other similar production companies; because this is what they all churn out! Why are these reviewers watching Holiday-themed or Family-friendly Rom-Coms in the first place?

"Accidentally watching" such a film and assuming it will get darker or have an unforeseen twist cannot be the reason why they would watch it. One need only to glance at the marketing pictures (or VHS/DVD tape covers) for these films to spot them easily, and "A Holiday to Remember" is no exception. Pictures for it show:

• Randy Travis and Connie Sellecca head-to-head with a gentle smile on what looks like an ornament on a Christmas tree,
• Connie's character looks to have fallen down and is being helped up by Randy's and they're dangerously close to kissing,
• vignette-style photos in corners show both children in the film very happy in the snow.

These are typical of nearly ALL Hallmark-style films! Attractive couples surrounded by Holiday decor, colorful lights, a greenery & holly berry strewn hearth with a warm fire burning, a snowy mountain range in the background, matching cable-knit sweaters, families in their cozy flannel PJs holding perfectly wrapped gifts; sometimes two people are standing back-to-back as a hint of some sort of tension, but since we know it is a happy movie, we're certain it will be resolved in a positive manner.

So now that my bullet points of geography, ridiculous complaints about obvious plot lines, themes, etc. Is finished, I will agree that it's not a perfect movie. (Is there such a thing?)

One reviewer mentioned that the character Connie plays is much too glamorous and cosmopolitan to be in such a tiny North Carolina town. She just moved back from Los Angeles, so obviously her wardrobe from decades before when she lived in the small town is completely gone and has been replaced with a California set a clothing. Early on, her profession as a therapist in Los Angeles is established, so obviously, she is going to have nice things as is her daughter. However, I do agree that both should have been better armed with what to expect at Grandma's house and what the weather would be like so that they would have better winter clothing and bedding. I always find it a little silly at the way the characters in these movies appear even when they're fixing up an old farmhouse: evening shades of makeup and clothes that could go from cocktails to dinner. The daughter's style of dressing is completely forgettable.

Surprisingly, the daughter adjusts to life in "the sticks" and wants to stay when her mom suggests they will be returning. After all, it was the daughter, who was complaining as they left California that her mother was taking her to a place with "no beach." That particular comment annoyed me greatly because: A.) the mother, who was from North Carolina, did not immediately mention the fact that the state has a rather long coastline, B.) this would have been an opportunity for the writers to "convince" the daughter of how NC has nearly everything California has (including a healthy film industry), C.) if their town of "Mayville" is a stand-in for the actual MAYSVILLE, NC the mother definitely should have told her the beach was half an hour away.

D.) Other areas of NC, such as in the mountains, where I assume this movie is supposed to have taken place, are a few hours to a day's drive from the beach.

The "ocean location" question makes me wonder did they make the daughter stupid on purpose, or did they assume the audience watching is?

The only other thing that bothered me, is that the Southern accents were all over the place. Connie's often sounded Texan. All love and respect to the late Ms. McClanahan, but her Southern accent has not always been the most honed, either. Neither her native Oklahoma tongue nor her invention of her "Golden Girl English-Southern Lady" hybrid doesn't quite translate to the Carolinas. Linguistically, accents aren't exactly uniform anywhere in the South, especially in North Carolina, where there are so many transplants.

In conclusion, this is a very cute movie, and it's everything that you should expect from a Hallmark film and a holiday type of classic plot (in fact, it's pretty much exactly what "Ted Lasso" described to one of the other characters in the show when he had referenced a Hallmark movie in one of his inspirational coach speeches 😄).

I have just read All of the reviews. I am already hooked on seeing this Christmas movie. I have a fair collection of Christmas movies that I just could not live without (or thought I couldn't). Many, (if not most) of my collection are out of print and some are just down right RARE.

Unfortunately, one of the reviewers has stated they are looking forward to its release on DVD. That means that the movie is not available at my local video store or BB's large box electronic store.O.K... so here I go again, hunting for a copy, as waiting for a studio to release it can take decades, maybe forever.Anyone out there that has made a copy off the small screen that they are willing to trade or whatever ?