There are more than a couple of the Christmas films covered by The Legionnaire that were done by the Hallmark Channel.  I cannot remember them all because, frankly, they blend together.  Hallmark has arguably become the number one source for seasonal entertainment in the United States.  I wonder how many people who watch nothing but productions from this company realize that it began making greeting cards over 100 years ago, and still do today.  If you only watched these movies, I can see where this might get lost on some.  Regardless of what Hallmark is most known for, you would think their desire to instill traditional values this time of year would be appealing to a practicing Catholic like myself.  I have two thoughts on that subject.  First, why is it that it is only around Yuletide that such values are suddenly important to people?  God is not God just for the months of November, December, and part of January, if that is what people mean by tradition.  This leads neatly into my second point: that few of these films have anything to do with Christianity, despite the root word also being in Christmas.  Our case study for this today shall be Haul Out the Holly(2022)

As Emily (Lacey Chabert) returns to the apartment she cohabitates with her boyfriend, Dan (Jake Stormoen), it is not to Haul Out the Holly.  She has a “haul” of a different kind, that being a bunch of presents she hopes to surprise him with, but he is too much of a dolt to let her have her fun.  Instead, his inability to notice these most recent signals of his need to be a better partner lead to her breaking up with him.  Unfortunately, not only is she bereft of any gifts from him, but he had inadvertently contrived to be the only one on their lease, meaning she has to move out.  In telling her parents, Albert (Peter Jacobson) and Gail (Carrie Morgan), about this turn of events, they immediately suggest that Emily come stay with them.  She might be inclined to do so if not for the fact that Christmas is fast approaching, and she is not keen on being sucked into their seasonal obsession.  Part of this stems from when she was a child (Abby Villasmil), which we see in a pre-credits sequence, with her being roped into picture taking duties instead of opening presents.  Albert and Gail are insistent on fulfilling their duties as the heads of the Evergreen Lane Home Owners Association (HOA), and a great deal of emphasis is placed on making the neighborhood as decked out for the holidays as possible.  Still, the adult Emily is convinced to come, thinking she will lay low and let them go about their responsibilities.  As such, she is shocked to learn upon her arrival that her parents intend to move to Florida, and are leaving that day to fly south and look for a place to live.  Further, her desire for a quiet week is thwarted by Jared (Wes Brown) knocking on the door.  His presence is not entirely unwelcome since they had been childhood friends, but he has inherited her parent’s HOA presidency and their Christmas spirit.  Wielding a clipboard and a pad on which to write citations for not keeping up with the decorations mandate, he cheerfully needles her about her lack of participation.  When she responds by saying she does not own the house and is therefore exempt from the rules, he quotes bylaws stating that upkeep falls to the person occupying the premises.  What should also be made clear is that everyone on the block is clearly in on trying to reignite the Christmas spirit in Emily.  Albert and Gail also would like to see their daughter get together with Jared, but that is their own personal goal.  At any rate, using semi-legal badgering to get her to attend meetings, she gradually gets voluntold to take ownership of different neighborhood activities leading up to Christmas.  Inevitably, this results in her spending more time with Jared, who is quirky but in a way she comes to find attractive.  I would like to say there are some twists in the plot, potential obstacles that might threaten them eventually being together, but that does not happen, you know, like in most movies.  There is one moment when she slightly errs.  When the Santa Claus they are supposed to have for one of their celebrations has to cancel at the last minute, the budding Santa helper Emily finds a replacement.  She believes she has taken a burden away from the stressed Jared, but he is not as thrilled as she expects.  In discussing this with her mother, Gail points out the obvious: that Jared had wanted to be Santa.  This is solved with practically no fuss because this is a Hallmark movie.  And while Jared sits upon the Kris Kringle throne, Helen (Charlotte Witt), the daughter of another old friend, Jessica (Eliza Hayes Maher), asks Jared out for Emily.  Inevitably, it all comes together on Christmas Day with Albert and Gail coming back from Florida, offering their house to their daughter who had already been leaning towards staying in town, and closing with a kiss from Jared written as yet another HOA citation.

Jared gets a smooch from Emily without having to Haul Out the Holly, though I guess that should be mistletoe.  I realize they are different plants.  Unlike mistletoe, which does not appear to have any Christian undertones, holly’s red berries are meant to represent the blood of Christ.  Does anyone in this movie (or, indeed, at home) stop to think about this when they are decking the neighborhood with boughs of the stuff?  Nope!  Admit it, though, you probably thought the term I am referring to from the eponymous carol is “balls.”  In fairness, the concepts are not too far off from one another.  What is a foreign concept in this film is any sense of the true meaning of Christmas.  As usual, I will have to extrapolate.  The closest we get to having Christ in the season is when they talk about the “spirit of Christmas.”  Without its Christian roots, I find this term to be nebulous, but let us take it as referring to something deeper than the mere desire for material gain.  In this film specifically, it seems to refer to a communal endeavor to force, er, I mean get everyone excited about December 25^th.  I guess there are worse forms of peer pressure.  All the same, the importance of community is the main thing, and this has its parallels in Catholicism.  Those of us who adhere to Church teaching are called to live in some form of community.  For laypeople, this is the parish, though our families can fill this function, too.  Priests have their groups as well, being a brotherhood formed amongst their dioceses or their specific orders.  Of course, there are monks and nuns that live in what can rightly be referred to as communes.  The only way any of these work is that their members accept certain rules, written and unwritten.  In a sense, this is not too different from the HOA regulations the denizens of Evergreen Lane live by around Christmas.  It may seem creepy at times, but, like Faith, they are free to choose that lifestyle.

I am also free to stop talking about Haul Out the Holly because blah, blah, blah. . . .