Anne Garrison’s (D’Orsay) annual holiday visit to the small town in Maine where she grew up is somewhat bittersweet this year. With her dad set to sell his toy store and retire from his wood-carving career, and the town’s lumber mill up for sale, this will probably be her last Christmas there. But when Anne is drafted and paired with handsome local widower Keith McClain (Donovan) to co-chair the town’s Christmas celebration, she begins to question what she really wants in life. Soon, Anne becomes torn between returning to her fast-paced career in New York and remaining in the small town to take over her dad’s hand-carved wooden toy business and seeing where a burgeoning romance with Keith might lead. Starring: Brooke D’Orsay and Trevor Donovan.
Joy Holbrook is an intuitive market researcher in DC who has captured the attention of the account’s CEO and is about to get a sweet promotion, just in time for the holidays. She receives an urgent phone call from home and she rushes back to Crystal Falls, NC to help her Aunt recover from surgery and is reunited with her former crush, Ben. To keep her Aunt focused on healing, Joy volunteers to take Ruby’s place with the town’s legendary baking competition, the “Cookie Crawl,” much to the amusement of Ben who knows Joy has absolutely no idea of the Herculean task before her. Though Joy initially refuses Ben’s attempts to “co-captain,” she begins to soften and let him in, all the while remembering that there truly is no place like home. Starring Danielle Panabaker and Matt Long.
When Matt Kell, husband and father to two young boys, succumbs to terminal cancer on Christmas day 2005, his widow, Gina (Lacey Chabert) is left to cope with the pain of his loss. Wanting to be close to her kids, Gina starts to volunteer at their elementary school and meets the Spehn children, Jack, Danny and Charlotte. In a tragic coincidence, just weeks after Matt’s death, the Spehns' mom, Cathy, was also suddenly taken by cancer, leaving her distraught husband, Michael (Warren Christie), to care for their three kids on his own. Sensing the hopelessness in Michael that she so recently saw in herself, Gina reaches out to him and his kids and the two families begin to forge an unlikely friendship.
Still only in her mid-twenties, Lacey Quinn has already given up on love. Her heart’s been broken too many times, and now she concentrates on her career as an interior designer in Raleigh, North Carolina. When BFF Ava Callahan asks Lacey to be her maid of honor, she must take on a few responsibilities, including making sure the Callahan family cottage is perfect for the honeymoon. Legend has it that if newlyweds spend their first night there, everlasting love and happiness follow. Lacey isn’t sure she buys into that notion. Still, when she finds herself snowed in there with Charlie, Ava’s brother, Lacey has to reconsider if the little house may hold some romantic magic after all — especially at Christmas. Starring Merritt Patterson and Steve Lund.
Military working dogs first entered the service in 1942 to serve in the Army’s K-9 Corps. Today, these dogs, who have an actual military service record book assigned to them, are still playing an active role in searching for explosives and seizing enemies. Military working dogs have been used by the U.S. armed forces since World War I. In World War II, 436 scout dogs walked combat patrols overseas, often detecting the enemy at a 1,000 yards, long before the enemy became aware of them. Dogs continued to serve with distinction in other conflicts, such as Korea, where the Army used about 1,500 dogs, primarily for guard duty. During the Vietnam War, nearly 4,000 dogs were employed and, officially, 281 were killed in action. Today’s conflicts include dogs at every level, still serving our country, helping to protect our troops.
Meredith Rossman is the uptight heiress of Rossman's Department store. She has made the business her entire life, not leaving any time for Christmas or romance, much to the chagrin of her parents. But when she is roped into donning the store's antique Mrs. Claus outfit to play Mrs. Claus at Rossman's famous Santaville, her life takes some unexpected turns. Through the help of the suit and the charming store Santa, Nick, Meredith rekindles her love of Christmas, the store, their employees and possibly even begins a new love with Nick. He is mysterious, great with children and always there when you need him. Just like the real Santa....wait...could he be? One thing is certain: from the moment Meredith put on the magical Mrs. Claus dress, her life would never be the same!
