This year is the first Christmas since we cancelled our subscription to that-streaming-service-with-all-the-cheesy-awful-wonderful-holiday-movies. So I thought I'd have a go at writing my own one instead. And maybe you'd like to join me. I've put together all the essential elements of a Hallmark Christmas movie below. Just select your options to see what feel-good, heart-warming movie you're going to be enjoying with a hot chocolate this year.
A busy career woman gets sent to _______
What day of the week is it?
Monday – a small town in rural America
Tuesday – a palace in an imaginary European country
Wednesday – a castle in the Highlands
Thursday – a resort in the mountains
Friday – a remote Scottish village
Saturday – a town that's permanently snowed-in
Sunday – her grandfather's hometown
...where she meets a man who _________
Choose your birth month
January – has a mysterious past
February – wears a lot of flannel shirts
March – is a single dad to a precocious child
April – is secretly heir to the throne
May – spends all his time chopping wood and brooding
June – teaches orphans to play the ukelele
July – bakes the best cupcakes
August – has a dog
September – has a tragic secret
October – lives to teach city women the true meaning of Christmas
November – was raised by reindeer
December – believes in magic
They work together to save the _______
Choose the first letter of your name
A – bakery
B – Christmas festival
C – family-run B&B
D – children's home
E – reindeer farm
F – mince pie contest
G – school
H – chocolate factory
I – sledging race
J – Christmas tree forest
K – turkey sanctuary
L – candy cane shop
M – Christmas parade
N – gingerbread house
O – carol-singing concert
P – Brussels sprout museum
Q – snowball fight World Cup
R – castle
S – knitting club
T – pub
U – pantomime theatre
V – penguin park
W – royal visit
X – Nativity play
Y – library
Z – bell-ringing competition
But trouble appears in the form of ___________
Choose your favourite season:
Spring – her (awful) fiance
Summer – a snow storm
Autumn – an easily avoidable misunderstanding
Winter – a Christmas pudding shortage
They need the help of a ___________
Choose your favourite colour
Red – magical advent calendar
Blue – mysterious stranger who's clearly Santa in disguise
Yellow – wish-granting Christmas decoration
Green – wise-cracking old grandma
Orange – reindeer
Purple – family photo album
Pink – stack of handwritten letters
Gold – choir of orphans
Black – Dickensian ghost
Silver – husky
And in they end, they ________
Choose the day of the week you were born
Monday – fall in love and discover the true meaning of Christmas. Tuesday – fall in love and discover the true meaning of Christmas.
Wednesday – fall in love and discover the true meaning of Christmas.
Thursday – fall in love and discover the true meaning of Christmas.
Friday – fall in love and discover the true meaning of Christmas.
Saturday – fall in love and discover the true meaning of Christmas.
Sunday – fall in love and discover the true meaning of Christmas.
There you have it! Add in a few familiar actors, some cosy knitwear and a few cups of hot chocolate, and you're ready to go. How did your Hallmark plot turn out? Let me know your version of the Christmas movie in the comments.