the audience applauded

Lack of good storyline.

Brilliant and touching

Tells a fascinating and unsettling true story, and does so well, without pretending to have all the answers.

Finally a movie where Candace Cameron Bure isn't completely annoying!Alan Thicke portrays CCB's father and tycoon of hip young hotels for the jet set.He sends CCB to take stock of his latest purchase and plan how to tear it all down and make it new and edgy for their clientele.Well what do you know but shortly after arriving and butting heads with the current owners son (Jesse Hutch) they soon begin to fall for one another!Can CCB convince her father to keep the family charm of their new purchase?!

The movie begins with a woman, young, head strong, beautiful, ambitious and alone, who gets placed in a situation where she meets up with/is forced to work with/gets introduced to a similarly characteristically endowed man and they immediately butt heads/disagree/have an instant dislike for and generally go out of their way to avoid and make each others' existence as unpleasant as possible while trying to do whatever it is they have to get done before Christmas. In this case, her family bought the lodge and she has arrived to take it over and re-make it into the image of her family's image. Invariably it involves some form of having to work together when they would obviously rather not. But you know what? They always seem to find some way of working it all out and fall in love in the process while the mom or the dad or the boss or the other protagonist involved sees the error of their ways and becomes the understanding mom, dad or boss they should have been. Plot sound familiar? It should. With minor variations, it's exactly the same plot the Hallmark Channel has used in all of these:12 Gifts of Christmas; A Boyfriend for Christmas; A Christmas Detour; A Cookie Cutter Christmas; A December Bride; A Holiday Engagement; A Novel Romance; A Rose For Christmas; A Royal Christmas; A Royal Winter; Annie Claus is Coming to Town; A Wish for Christmas; A Very Merry Mix-Up; Broadcasting Christmas; Christmas Cookies; Christmas Festival of Ice; Christmas Getaway; Marry Me at Christmas; Christmas in Homestead; Christmas Land; Christmas Under Wraps; Let It Snow; Miss Christmas. (The list is much longer, but 1, you get the idea, and 2, I got tired of typing.)Sometimes, it's the mother of the man or the father of the woman who resents the arrival of the other, and who cause the conflict, but it's pretty much the same plot with different faces. The couple always get together in the end, because, after all, it's Hallmark and this is what they do. The movies are sappy, feel-good, live-happily-ever-after pieces of fluff that warm you like hot chocolate on a cold winter night. They leave you, probably, teary-eyed and smiling and believing the world is full of magic, no matter how behind you are on your credit card bills or how obnoxious you ex behaves. It's a 2 hour blanket you can wrap around you and forget about whether your car will start in the morning. Of course, 2 minutes after it's over, the feeling is lost and reality invades, but you are comforted by the fact that you're watching The Movie Channel and there will be another, just like this one, coming your way right after this commercial break. God Bless You, Hallmark Channel.

This is a nice Christmas story about a resort executive who can't remember much about Christmas growing up because her father and she never did anything to celebrate it. She is sent to totally remake a newly purchased resort into a young person's happening resort.Stephanie meets Brady, the son of the previous owner, who leads her through a journey of remembering what Christmas is all about. This resort has everything you would want for Christmas including several old ethnic traditions and legends.It is not surprising what happens. It is a little incredible how quickly Stephanie loses her grinchness and just takes in everything with an open heart. This includes her performing the ritual required to dream about the man she will marry.The two leads make a fine couple falling in love, including the requisite hate each other scene when they meet. Alan Thicke plays the role of the true Scrooge of a father who basically wants to bulldoze the existing facilities and start over. ****SPOILER** He even fires her for failing to follow his instructions. His reformation at the end is totally abrupt, but possibly almost believable after he reads his daughter's Santa letter which was slipped into his coat pocket before he left the resort.

Alan Thicke's corporation has bought the Snow Valley resort from its third generation and sends his daughter, Candace Cameron Bure, to survey it. She arrives in the middle of its Christmas season and finds love with both Jesse Hutch and the idea of Christmas in this Hallmark Channel seasonal romantic comedy.It's a nicely written movie. Mr. Hutch is oppressed by four generations of tradition, including an elaborate series of events and recipes and even regular family guests which must be rigorously followed, with no room for the changes he wants to make. Ms. Bure feels rootless and enchanted by the order and beauty she sees about her. Add in some quite lovely camera-work of the snow-drenched landscape near Vancouver, and you have a fine holiday romcom.