The pool is closed; the leaves will soon wither, and the cold wind will blow. Do you hear it? Faintly, in the distance—the sound of tinny holiday music. Basic cable Christmas movie season is racing toward us, and Hallmark has released its full “Countdown to Christmas” schedule.
E! has the full lineup, which is particularly star-studded this year. Adrian Grenier will be featured in Christmas at Graceland: Home for the Holidays, and Patti LaBelle will appear in A Family Christmas Gift with Holly Robinson Peete. Lacey Chabert gets to do Christmas in Rome, which apparently was indeed filmed partially in Rome, which is a disappointment to me, a woman who wanted to see Vancouver stand in for Rome. Also, they have moved on from Pride and Prejudice: This year, we have Sense, Sensibility, & Snowmen, the night before Thanksgiving.
E! also spoke to Candace Cameron Bure, who somebody seems to have dubbed the “Queen of Christmas.”
“I’m just giddy that fans have dubbed me the Queen of Christmas!” she said. “I can’t wait for you to see my new Christmas movie for 2019, Christmas Town with Tim Rozon. It highlights foster children, adoption and community. Being a part of the Hallmark family during the holiday season is one of the biggest joys of my career.”
Aunt Becky is somewhere throwing her hat across the room.
This is, of course, the 10th anniversary of the “Countdown to Christmas”—even as competitors including Lifetime are coming hard for their territory—so we can expect a particularly enthusiastic year of promotion by Hallmark. There may even be a peppermint hot chocolate truck idling outside your house this very minute. Why don’t you go check?