So far, I have not done too many of these Holiday films that have been set in the American South.  Seemingly every corner of the Western World has its own Christmas movie, and those parts of the United States below the Mason Dixon Line are no exception.  At the same time, the overwhelming majority of them suffer the same problem of being romantic comedies with the birth of Jesus providing a backdrop to some (usually lesser) degree.  A Hometown Christmas (2018) is the reverse, with the Nativity being at the forefront, and romance unfolding because of it.  This sounds like the perfect Christmas flick, but there is one major problem that had me wondering how it was going to be solved.  Ultimately, those behind the camera, I guess, merely shrugged and rolled the end credits.  I am not going to say what this issue is by name at this point.  Hopefully, you will spot it as I go through my synopsis.

Dr. Noelle Collins (Beverley Mitchell), henceforth Noelle, has the perfect name for A Hometown Christmas, even if she is leaving the perfect place, Chicago, for such a Holiday.  She has packed her bags and is returning to her native Louisiana in time for the titular event.  Being from a small town, she can hardly go anywhere without being recognized.  It starts immediately when she goes to the local grocery store for her brother, Will Collins (Donny Boaz), before getting to her dad’s house.  She makes this errand because Will has asked that she bring some hot chocolate mix and marshmallows for his fiancée, Jen (Erin Cahill), who is insistent on maintaining the tradition of consuming this concoction while decorating the tree.  While at the market, Noelle encounters Nick Russell (Stephen Colletti), her high school sweetheart and ex-boyfriend.  Though it has been years since they have seen one another, his decision to focus on his budding professional baseball career instead of their relationship ended with them having a painful breakup.  Their animosity quickly comes out as they vie for the last package of marshmallows, though he ultimately does the gentlemanly thing and lets her have them.  Once home, with the tree trimming is complete, Jen and Will convince Noelle to go out to a nearby watering hole.  Again, Nick is there, and this time it is because he owns the bar.  Surprises come the next day as well when Dr. Peter Collins (Brian McNamara), Noelle’s physician father, announces that he is interested in a new woman, Mary Russell (Melissa Gilbert).  In case it is not obvious, she is Nick’s mother, who is divorced.  By the way, Dr. Collins’ wife had passed away roughly a year previously.  Not only is dad talking about potentially moving on, but he has invited Mary to the annual Russell family outing to the town Christmas fair.  Guess who Mary decides to bring with her.  Throughout all this, Nick treats Noelle respectfully, which tells you all you need to know about where this is headed.  The same thing can be said about the interactions between Mary and Dr. Collins.  Dealing with her dad’s rekindled love life is one challenge for Noelle.  The other is filling in for her late mother’s running of the church’s living Nativity.  Once more, Nick proves invaluable to the production.  With his baseball career on hold since hurting his shoulder, he has been helping coach kids in the sport.  His volunteering has made him familiar to the youths, which Noelle uses to create some semblance of order among them.  As a former youth minister, I can tell you that such skills are worth a great deal.  There are a number of other potential pitfalls that occur during their preparations and rehearsals that all need to be dealt with separately.  First, the costumes need to be mended.  Next, the decorations, having suffered from some neglect following the death of Noelle’s mom, all need some repair.  Third, the church at which the play is to be hosted suffers water damage from a burst pipe, forcing them to find another venue.  Luckily, this happens to be a barn, an appropriate location for a Nativity scene, and conveniently where they are supposed to get their live animals to lend the proceedings an air of authenticity. However, the final problem comes when those same beasts of burden manage to escape when somebody accidentally forgets to latch the gate to their pen.  Through all these occurrences, Nick is there for Noelle.  Concurrently, the relationship between Mary and Dr. Collins deepens.  Nobody seems to bat an eye at these developments, so why should I. . . ?  Even without mentioning the awkwardness of this love, er, square (or hexagon if you count what we see of Jen and Will), Noelle is able to put on the live Nativity scene without a hitch.  Once it is all over, and the appropriate congratulations are given, Noelle seeks out Nick.  To this point, she has been hesitant to fully commit herself to him because she believes he will leave to continue his baseball career at the first available moment.  Yet, this night he tells her that he has taken a job as a baseball coach of the high school and is staying put.  With that, all our couples gather for a massive tree lighting.

I have never understood the appeal of a communal tree lighting as we see at the end of A Hometown Christmas.  The lights are undeniably pretty, but it has always seemed to me like saying, “Hey, everyone, come watch electricity work!” What I am much more appreciative of is when people put on live Nativity scenes like you see in the movie.  Oddly enough, I cannot say that I have been at a Catholic church where this has been reproduced.  You see it all the time in movies, and that is why I am at all positive about this film, despite the awkward relationship dynamics.  This includes during my time as a youth minister, with stints at a few parishes.  The big time for similar productions was always Easter.  In two different places, the youth ministry was tasked with putting on a living Passion.  This was something that, as you see in movies like this one, many people turned out to see displayed inside the church.  Okay, this one is not put on in a place of worship, but it would have been had it not been for the script forcing a change of venue.  What is nice about this otherwise simplistic plot twist is that it fits with the Christmas story, something the movie purposely underscores.  Joseph and Mary did not intend to have Jesus come into the world in a stable, just like Noelle originally wanted to have the Nativity in the church.  Circumstances cause people to improvise then as now.  What is also important is that neither the Holy Family or our characters go to pieces in the face of challenges.  The focus is the birth of Christ, as it should be, and this is the message of the film.

If only other so-called Christmas movies can have a similar realization about the importance of emphasizing Jesus in the season as seen in A Hometown Christmas.  At the same time, if only this one could have done something different with the relationship dynamics contained therein.  Perhaps, at the end of the day, I must resign myself to the fact that there is no such thing as the perfect Christmas movie, outside of It’s a Wonderful Life (1946).