My Netflix account is available to me on my cell phone, though I rarely use the app.  Speaking of apps, I do not know about you, but I am a stickler for getting rid of notifications whenever they appear.  Of course, the logical move would be to mute notifications, yet I never think of doing so.  I normally clear the little number that pops up on the screen and move on with my life without a second thought.  Recently, when repeating this act for the mobile version of the streaming service, it reminded me of the existence of Christmas Inheritance (2017).  With over two weeks’ worth of seasonally appropriate films to get through, lately I have been digging a little deeper through the selections (scouring, more like) looking for a forgotten title or hidden gem.  I assumed today’s title would be neither of these options.  I am happy to report that it fits more into the latter of those categories, with some obvious warts.

It is Ellen Langford (Eliza Taylor) who is in line for a Christmas Inheritance.  She is aware of this outcome, for a long time being her father’s, Jim Langford (Neil Crone), presumptive successor as chief executive officer (CEO) of his home gift company, Hearth & Home.  They never show what they sell exactly, but I imagine it is something like a combination of Yankee Candle and Bath & Body Works.  Anyway, she has behaved as a spoiled heiress, including skipping out on emceeing a Toys for Tots Christmas Charity Function in favor of tabloid headline grabbing, drunken antics.  The next day she is not proud of her shenanigans, and is in the office planning some ideas for the future of the company.  Jim is not pleased with his daughter, either, and he feels he needs to do something to get her to understand what it means to be in a position of responsibility.  Luckily for Ellen, she is receptive, wanting to prove her value as somebody worthy to take over the enterprise.  His idea is to have her travel to where it all began, Snow Falls (upstate New York, I guess), to renew a holiday tradition of his: to hand deliver a set of Christmas letters he has exchanged with his business partner, Zeke (Martin Roach).  Again, Ellen is eager to comply, but Jim adds a few more caveats.  She must go incognito so that she is not treated as somebody of her station in life; she is to go with only $100, leaving all her credit cards at home; finally, her conveyance to the rural town is by bus.  Her fiancé, Gray Pittman (Michael Xavier), believes Ellen has gone crazy, suggesting that she ignore the errand.  In the face of his objections, she goes anyway because she takes her work seriously.  While she is clearly out of her element, she manages to complete the trip in one piece, until shortly after her arrival.  It is at this point that one of her too many suitcases gets away from her, rolls into the middle of street, and is hit by the taxi.  I used the definitive article because it is the only one in the area, and it is driven by Jake Collins (Jake Lacy).  As such, Ellen is left with no choice but to use his services to get to her accommodations, which looks like the most perfect Christmas postcard you can imagine.  As it turns out, Jake had been filling in for the regular cabbie as he is the manager of the quaint inn, and comes in with her to check her into her room.  Upon getting to the establishment, she asks for Zeke, who owns the place, but is told that he is out of town.  To her horror, no one knows when he will return, meaning she must wait there until he appears.  Jake, seeing that she is the fish out of water that she is, decides to take her around town to help her get acclimated.  One of their first stops is to his aunt Debbie Collins’ (Andie MacDowell) café.  She assumes they are on a date, though they are both quick to correct Debbie that this is not what is happening, with Ellen emphasizing that she plans on leaving as soon as possible.  This gets stretched into a few days as Zeke has yet to show up.  As time passes, Ellen soon runs out of money, but she remains determined to keep the promise she made to her father.  Once more, Jake offers his assistance, allowing her to help out around the inn as a way of paying for her stay.  She is put to work cleaning rooms and lending her non-existence baking abilities to Debbie to make cookies.  It is while spending time with Debbie that Ellen’s true identity is revealed, the restaurant owner being a former high school classmate of Jim’s.  Ellen swears Debbie to secrecy.  This is only one of many bonds Ellen begins to form with those in the town.  During a severe snow storm, she personally brings Baxter (John Tench), a homeless man, to the inn.  She also gives up her room to Cara Chandler (Joanna Douglas) and her two little children.  This all endears Ellen to Jake.  Though he finds out that she is engaged, they share a snowy walk that almost ends in them kissing.  He remains a gentleman about it despite the fact she is the one who stops him.  The next day, to show there are no hard feelings, she goes around main street exchanging cookies for items to put up to bid on for a silent auction at an upcoming charity function.  As always seems to occur in these things, Gray chooses this moment to make an unannounced entrance.  He is dismissive of her commitment to finishing the job, and of her desire to keep her identity hidden.  Thus, before they are to leave without delivering the letters, he “accidentally” tells Jake Ellen’s real last name.  It is Gray’s mocking as they drive away that convinces her that she should go back to Jake, despite the lies she tells.  She gets to Snow Falls just as the auction is in full swing, and her actions heal any pain she caused by lying.  It also does not hurt that Zeke reveals himself finally as Santa Claus at the function, adding that he and Jim had been watching her the entire time.  And everyone lives happily ever after.

There were many Biblical parallels floating around in my brain as a I watched Christmas Inheritance.  It also helped that Baxter looked like Jesus.  Last Sunday’s (as of this writing) Gospel was from Matthew 25:31-46.  The passage talks of the kinds of things to which we are called to do in order to enter into God’s Kingdom.  Much of what is said here involves being charitable.  While the first time we see Ellen, she is at a charity event, she treats it like any other party, doing shots and generally embarrassing herself and her father’s company.  Elsewhere in the Bible, Matthew 6:3-4 to be exact, it says that “when you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right is doing,” (verse three).  The point here is that when you, to borrow an old cliché, “toot your own horn” about these actions, you are missing the point of the charitable act.  For Ellen, at first, being seen at the event is all that matters.  Again, there is a reference to this kind of behavior in the Bible.  Matthew 6:2 talks of certain people in society in Jesus’ day who would literally sound trumpets whenever they donated their treasure to the needy.  The people of Snow Falls, of course, do not countenance such ostentation.  They are common people, just as Jesus was a common person (please note: this is an expression and not an invitation to theological debate).  If there is any question as to His lot in life, Christmas is a good time to take stock of it.  Though the Three Kings (or Magi, whichever you prefer) found the location of the birth of Christ the King, they needed divine assistance to do so.  A common person in this day would likely have not looked for their Messiah lying in a manger.  This matches with the movie, too, as Jake would not have expected a woman of Ellen’s wealth to be cleaning rooms.

As I mentioned in the introduction, there are some warts to Christmas Inheritance.  There are some instances of cheesy, slapstick humor.  Also, I cannot imagine anyone dancing in any fashion to “Silent Night.”  Outside of these minor complaints, it is a decent enough Christmas movie to take it over many other movies like it.