good back-story, and good acting

Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

My only complaint is the scene where the elementary school teacher teaches a chapter on Mexico. Her 'Mexican' costume is cultural appropriation at its worst and her facts are wrong. Cinco de Mayo is not Mexico's Independence Day and it's not a big holiday in Mexico. That almost ruins the entire movie. Technically this movie is a sequel to The Christmas Shoes, but all the relevant information from The Christmas Shoes is mentioned in this movie anyway. The Christmas Shoes is extremely depressing and boring, with terrible acting to boot, so skip it altogether. This movie, on the other hand, has great writing and great acting. There's a guest performance from Blake Shelton and NewSong, but it's not cheesy because the concert is a fundraiser that is relevant to the plot. The movie is about a transplant, so it's tragically realistic, but it's written in a touching 'everything happens for a reason' way.

This made for TV movie is a sequel to the 2002 film, "The Christmas Shoes." Both are based on novels by Donna Van Liere. Some of the characters and cast are the same in the two films. But "The Christmas Blessing," has new characters and several more families and people whose paths cross in interesting ways.So, this film has love and romance, healing from earlier losses and overcoming long-held periods of grieving. And, it offers some new tragedy with love, sacrifice and redemption. The plot in this film is very good, but considerably more complex than in the first film. It has many sub-plots, and for that reason, the script and direction have difficulty in places keeping the parts tightly together. As in the first film, the cast are all very good. Again, the scenery, settings and camera work are all excellent as well. This is another very good film for the whole family, including younger children. It's a nice movie for the holidays, with Christmas again forming the main setting for the film.

While the movie told a nice enough, and romantic enough, story about love, family and moving on, they could have done a lot better job with some of the details. For example, if Meghan were really that sick with liver disease, wouldn't she have shown signs of jaundice by the time she collapsed? And therefore wouldn't Nathan, as a doctor, have seen that easily? Especially since he was staring into her eyes all the time.And if Charlie was sick for that long with a heart issue, wouldn't his father have kept him out of strenuous sporting activity? I know he had issues about his wife leaving him and then dying, but he obviously cared deeply for his son. If, as Charlie said, he had seen "a thousand" doctors then this would have been well known. Just sloppy writing.

As we follow a certain pair of red shoes from the earlier TV movie "The Christmas Shoes" (2002), handsome lawyer Rob Lowe (as Robert Layton) appears briefly. He'll reappear later, but does not play a significant role in this sequel. This time, our hero is boyish doctor Neil Patrick Harris (as Nathan Andrews). He promises to see that a teenage patient is home for Christmas, but the young man unfortunately expires during surgery. Angrily throwing his doctor's smock down in the hospital hallway, Mr. Harris declares. "I can't do this anymore!" He goes home to live and work with auto mechanic father Hugh Thompson (as Jack Andrews). Playing "stick up" with Mr. Thompson further establishes Harris has some late-term growing up to do...While helping dad in the shop, Harris meets attractive single teacher Rebecca Gayheart (as Meghan Sullivan). Felled by a flat tire - a surefire way to find a date in TV movies - Ms. Gayheart thinks Harris is a "cute mechanic." She is learning to speak Spanish in order to be a better teacher, but tells her Vermont, USA class Cinco de Mayo is celebrated in Mexico as their Independence Day. The students are either too polite to correct her, or afraid to speak and be asked to leave the set. The main pupil is imaginatively bright, chubby and sad preteen Angus T. Jones (as Charlie Bennett). He is being raised by alcoholic single landscaper Shaun Johnston (as Tucker Bennett). All of the aforementioned characters have physical and/or emotional flaws...The holy spirit of Christmas, without being too heavy-handed, seems to bring the characters together. Some may live and some may die - but all will benefit from getting to know each other. God is a fan of tear-jerking melodramas, obviously, and Heaven isn't such a bad fate for believers. It is tempting to knock "The Christmas Blessing" for mediocrity and predictability, but each of the stories in the movie series accomplishes something that is becoming increasingly rare - character-driven drama without bombastic special effects. The plots and characters created by novelist Donna Van Liere are handled well by the production team and actors. Lord knows you could find less engaging ways to spend your viewing time, without even looking.****** The Christmas Blessing (12/18/05) Karen Arthur ~ Neil Patrick Harris, Rebecca Gayheart, Angus T. Jones, Hugh Thompson