It may seem silly, but one of my pet peeves about watching movies is finding out that it is a remake without first seeing the original.  This was what happened as the end credits rolled on The 12 Days of Christmas Eve (2022).  Having been viewed on Amazon Prime, the streaming service suggested The Twelve Days of Christmas Eve (2005).  Well, shoot, thinks I, why was I first shown the 2022 iteration instead of its predecessor?  I have no idea what difference it would make, outside of the modern one being incorrect grammar.  I picked the 2022 version because it was there and seemed to offer the best chance for me to say something substantive rather than having to wade through yet another romantic comedy with Jesus’ birthday as a backdrop.  It did not completely disappoint, though, as we shall see, it is a mixed reaction of negatives and positives.  Since this is Christmas, let us get the negatives out of the way first so as to focus on the positives: Santa Claus (Mitch Poulos).  I am tired of these Christmas movies imbuing Kris Kringle with god-like powers that are reserved for the Person whose day we are celebrating.  Bear this in mind as you read, but please know there is some good to say about the film overall.

When Brian Conway (Kelsey Grammer) was a young boy (Charlie Carroccio), there was only one day, not The 12 Days of Christmas Eve.  On this particular one, he is helping his father, Patrick Conway (Joe Cassidy), fix an appliance for a neighbor.  Little Brian does not understand why they have to be doing this on such a holiday, but Patrick tells his son that doing so, aside from the economic benefit of their hard work, will help a family make their day that much better. Unfortunately, the only lesson Brian took away from this moment was that he had to sacrifice everything in order to be successful.  As an aged adult approaching retirement, this attitude has turned him into a bit of a Scrooge.  He does not care about Christmas, telling off his neighbor, Jason (Stewart Scott), for having a festive spirit, and informing the employees of the corporation he built from his dad’s business that they will have to work through the Holidays until they find a solution to their flagging fortunes.  It is Brian’s eager to please assistant, Jet (Mark Jacobson), who offers a potential solution: up-and-coming investor Nina Nishii (Diana Toshiko) is in town and interested in the company.  Jet sets up a meeting for Brian and Nina, but on Brian’s way out of the office, he is surprised by his daughter, Michelle Conway (Spencer Grammer).  She is a single parent, and a surgeon, and Brian’s granddaughter, Harkin (Uschi Umscheid), is in need of a babysitter after the nanny called in sick.  Brian is always happy to see them, but his typical busy-ness has him refusing Michelle’s request, which has the air of being his usual response.  Instead, Brian meets Nina at one of his stores and she agrees to purchase his company, offering him enough money to save the enterprise and for him to never again have to work.  He greedily accepts, already feeling like Christmas Eve is not such a bad day after all.  At the annual fundraiser Brian puts on for the hospital at which Michelle works, she comes with obvious stress etched on her face.  He ignores it, only focused on showing off his brilliant daughter and his overall success.  On the way home from the soiree, as he is driving over a bridge, a reindeer that had escaped from a local zoo happens to be in the road in front of him.  Not seeing it in time, he swerves to miss it, but ends up careening into the water below.  When he wakes up, he is sitting next to a warm fire place with Santa Claus across from him.  Brian asks if he is dead and Santa replies, rather cryptically, that it is up to Brian.  Believing that he had more to accomplish, Brian begs that he be given another chance to learn the true meaning of Christmas.  Santa is hesitant, but finally offers twelve days in order to do better.  From here, it is a Groundhog Day (1993) style repetition of December 24^th, with Brian dying the eponymous number of times, each passing getting him closer to understanding the meaning of life.  I will not detail each of The 12 Days of Christmas Eve, but will give you an overview of the general tone of what takes place.  It all revolves around Michelle.  Brian believes that, in order to make it to December 25^th, he must make her love him.  His first strategy is to spend more time with Harkin.  Once he masters that, he thinks he must fix Michelle’s life for her.  To Michelle, it comes off as an attempt by Brian to buy his way into her heart instead of being genuine.  She lets it be known that there is a wound from her childhood about a music box clock he refused to fix, and she had eventually given away.  He has Jet find the same one, but when Brian gives it to Michelle, it once more feels like he did not have his heart in the right place.  It is also his last day, and Nina takes it upon herself to reveal that not only is she purchasing the company, but that she is likely firing everyone.  Brian has a heart attack and passes away knowing he has failed.  Still, he is able to bargain for one more opportunity.  This time, instead of trying to make everyone love him, he does his best to simply show others that they are loved.  It ends at Michelle’s house, having accomplished everything the right way and falling asleep secure in having led a good life.  Of course, he awakens the next morning, and is given a candle from Santa Claus with a note, saying, “Don’t blow it!”

What I do not what to get wrong is this review of The 12 Days of Christmas.  As such, I will only briefly complain about Santa.  In short, I do not appreciate the way in which he is taking the place of God.  At the same time, I cannot stay mad at it because of all the Christmas films I have seen during this year’s seasonal run, it most closely speaks to the true meaning of Christmas.  You might have noticed a certain word used a few times during the synopsis, that being love.  Pointedly, as Brian is addressing the revelers at the fundraiser on his very last night, he says everything you need to know about why Christmas is important.  He describes it as the day when there was a birth of a love so great.  Everything God does for us, including taking on human flesh and coming into the world in such a lowly state, is done because of love.  The way Brian behaves for most of the movie represents the broken way we look at love, and Christmas more specifically.  Children can be excused for their desire for presents because of their immaturity, but do adults act much different this time of year? When we give gifts to people, are we doing so because we genuinely care about their happiness, or are worried about being judged about getting them nothing?  Or, potentially worse yet, proffering unto them the wrong present?  In recent years, I switched from presenting my loved ones with material items to trying to purchase experiences with them.  Mostly, this involved going to theme parks.  Admittedly, this was done to show that I care.  This year, I have returned to physical items, but I cannot deny a similar flaw in my intentions.  Like Brian, I want people to like me because of what I give them.  A generous person might call this a love language, but whatever you label it, it is a transactional style of loving another that is out of phase with the true spirit of Christmas.  The Church uses the word “charity” interchangeably with love, and She defines it as seeking the better of another.  That is what Jesus did for us on Christmas, and where Brian lands by the end.

Because of the good ending to The 12 Days of Christmas Eve, I can overlook the poor grammar and all-powerful Santa Claus.  I was also not expecting this to be produced by Lifetime, so kudos to that cable channel.  It may be cheesy in a lot of ways, and unoriginal in others, but it will give you the best Christmas message of any of the others I have seen so far this year.