Good concept, poorly executed.

Brilliant and touching

Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.

The story carries the day, on this romantic adventure - backed-up with solid performances by Edward Asner (Luke Spelman), John Newton (Sgt. Cody Cullen), and Alice Evans (Faith Spelman). The beginning of the movie lands you in Afghanistan, with the U.S. Military. Maybe because I am an Army Dad, I was not particularly impressed with the realism depicted (in the movie) of the Army Base operational environment, as portrayed in the initial scenes, at Nurestan (in the movie) - The only reason I did not rate this movie higher than an (8). The acting fell a little short there, but this is not crucial to the compilation of the story, which quickly evolves... stateside, at the beautiful and picturesque small California town of Nevada City (CA). Filmed on location. Sgt Cullen is drawn to the small town, because of fallen friend (KIA), and because of a Christmas Card sent for the troops, in support of their mission abroad (during the Holiday Season). This romantic story has the audience rooting for Sgt. Cody Cullen, and Faith Spelman.. with plenty of support coming from Luke (father - ex Vietnam Vet), who would rather see his daughter be envolved with a 'fellow grunt', rather than with her current boyfriend, who has delayed in 'tying the knot' with his long-time steady. Highly recommended as one of the best of the Hallmark Christmas Movies.

You never know what small act of kindness may mean to someone. A young soldier finds his way to a small town after receiving a Christmas card sent by a woman in the town.He ends up spending the holidays with the woman and her family and working at the family sawmill. Just when they are realizing their may be feelings growing the woman's mostly absent boyfriend comes to town.Ugh. Is he a wet blanket. In the end cute family story for the holiday season!

There are many heartwarming moments in this nice romantic film. But I thought that many of the plot lines were forced. For one thing, it made no sense to me that Cody didn't reveal the card to Faith at one moment early in the film where it seemed to be the obvious thing to do.Alice Evans, as Faith, had way to many scenes where she showed little emotion. John Newton, as Cody, was hardly any better in the emotion department, but at least for him, this made sense in his character and the situation. I wouldn't be jumping for joy if I were in love with another man's serious girlfriend. The path to love for these two was underplayed too much in the movie. We got far more evidence of it from the people around them than we did the couple themselves.And where did Paul even come from? How did they meet? How did she fall in love? At least one thing made sense. As Faith's dad realized, she would be far more content with the man who worked extra hard with his hands and was totally comfortable in the outdoors. Traveling the world would have little if no appeal to Faith, especially if it meant leaving her family.Edward Asner was excellent and so was Peter Jason who is probably responsible for most of the life and humor in the movie.

Lord knows I'm a sucker for Christmas time and Christmas movies. Each year, I cannot wait until after Thanksgiving so I can begin the ritual of watching Hallmark each night. This movie warms my heart like no other one has. From the scenery at the log cabin, to the Spellman mill, a sleigh ride on a winters night and the singing in the church...it just doesn't get much better than this. This movie made me remember all the happy memories I had when my dad was alive...he loved Christmas and the snow, he couldn't wait to light a fire and relax while listening to Johnny Mathis music. I've watched this movie a dozen times and it never ever gets old...I love it so much so that I ordered it from Walmart and just watched it again on a cold winters day while waiting for a few inches of snow to arrive later on! My only wish is that the producers would have allowed us to see the family together that day eating Christmas dinner, sitting in front of the fire sipping hot chocolate with the Christmas carols in the background...I think they ended the movie without really wrapping it up for US, the viewers. They could have even made a sequel as I'm sure so many people would have loved. I think the actors cast in this movie were spot on... I loved each and every one, especially Ed Asner:) It's not very often a movie this good comes along, I'm so thankful for this one!