In case you are wondering what Dave Coulier, who played Joey Gladstone in Full House (1987-1995), has been up to since that stalwart of the Thank God It’s Friday (TGIF) lineup went off the air, then I can tell that The Family Holiday (2007) is one project in which he appeared.  When I saw that he was in it, I figured it could have at least a little more production value.  I was wrong, but it is not without merit.  It does have a romance component, but by this point, I suspect that is like saying the sky is blue since that could be said for nearly every Christmas movie.  While it does contain some of those components you expect from a Yuletide flick, it does feature children praying and some mention of God.  There is also the fact that Donald “Doc” Holiday (Dave Coulier) uses those same kids to con his way into $20 million, but hey, who is perfect?

That Doc is less than perfect is apparent right away in The Family Holiday as we first meet him running away from Alton Pike (Kevin Connell).  Doc owes money to Alton’s employer, and once the former is caught, he vows to come up with the cash as soon as possible.  Being the conman that Doc is, he proceeds to go around the neighborhood swindling anyone who buys his lines.  Prior to embarking on his latest streak of petty crimes, he receives some help attempting to hide from Alton from Amanda (Abigail Schornick) and Tim (Brant Schultz).  They are seven-year-old fraternal twins who have run away from their foster home when they overhear the representative of family services saying that they are going to be taken away and separated.  Not wanting this to happen, Tim forces Amanda to escape with him and they take to living on the streets.  Getting back to Doc, once he returns home from robbing people, he gets a call from a lawyer informing him that his rich uncle has passed away and made him the heir.  To inherit his riches, he travels to Boston to meet Helen Pendergast (Christina Pickles), the executor of the will.  In order for Doc to get the money, there are some stipulations.  Mainly, he must demonstrate that he has a stable job and family.  To ensure that this is the case, since he agreed to this being true, she will be visiting to check on him.  With the need to come up with a family, he returns to wherever it is he lives and wanders about wondering how to make his lie a reality.  Faking a home and job are the easy part.  He locates a fully furnished house available for temporary rent.  As for employment, he calls in a favor and talks his way into an office at the local novelty factory.  They make rubber chickens, by the way.  It is that kind of movie.  While taking a break from his “job,” he is greeted in the park by Amanda and Tim.  Doc remembers them from earlier, but their status as runaway orphans quickly becomes obvious.  Instead of taking them to the proper authorities, he cuts them into his scheme.  By “cuts them in,” I mean that he offers them money to be his children.  Tim sees it as purely an economic arrangement, but Amanda is happy to have some semblance of a real family.  Still, once they have settled into the house, it is her that points out what is missing: a mother.  To solve this situation, Doc puts an ad in the newspaper for a live-in nanny, saying that he will sort out the trickiness of his particular circumstances at the right time.  After a supposedly comedic sequence of “hilariously” unqualified candidates, their last interviewee is Elizabeth Rogers (Alexa Fischer).  We had met her briefly as she has just been laid off as an English teacher.  Her employment status means that she is desperate enough to take a fishy looking position like the one he is offering.  Meanwhile, the department of family services has a new person looking for Amanda and Tim: Agent Miller (Michael T. Weiss).  Agent Miller seems to be stalking the children, leading to a couple of public run-ins from which Amanda and Tim must extract themselves in a Home Alone (1990)-esque fashion.  Turning up the tension is Helen’s first drop-in.  It is painfully clear that Doc is covering something up, but Elizabeth and Helen continue on as if nothing is wrong.  Yet, that night Elizabeth overhears Tim telling Doc that this is not going to work.  As such, Elizabeth confronts Doc in the morning, having obtained the rest of the story from the kids.  She leaves, but it is the attachment she had grown with Amanda and Tim that brings her back.  She gets there just as Doc is about to admit his canard to Helen, and they proceed to do a bunch of the usual Christmas activities.  The next day, Helen is about to depart, complimenting Doc on his progress.  Believing that he has done it, he announces to everyone else that the deal is done.  It is the wrong thing to say because Elizabeth is upset that it had been about nothing more than money and once again leaves.  Shortly thereafter, Agent Miller finds them and takes the children.  Doc attempts to instantly adopt them, but is rebuffed, citing his lack of stability.  Upon getting home, he is accosted by Alton, but Doc avoids a beating by signing over his paycheck from the rubber chicken factory.  As Alton is going out, Helen is coming in to say goodbye and give Doc’s inheritance.  However, Doc is clearly upset, finally divulging his con, and refusing the millions.  At this point, Agent Miller returns with the children, the whole thing having been a test by Helen.  With that, Doc tracks down Elizabeth and they presumably live happily ever after.

You can call endings like The Family Holiday’s as overly sweet.  I would not argue this point.  What I will take every day of the week and twice on Sunday (and never was there a more appropriate euphemism) is seeing Amanda pray for Santa to bring her a family.  Of course, this Catholic could do without the reference to that supposedly magical gift giver in red, but she is seven and can be excused.  What makes her supplication more Christ-like is that she offers it up for Doc, who she can see the goodness in despite his conman ways.  I suppose the fact that she includes Jolly Ol’ St. Nick is meant to fix the film firmly in the seasonal spirit.  However, outside of Christmas trees, putting up lights, and snowball fights, the holiday material is a little thin.  Instead, what intrigued me was the presence of Buster the dog.  That might not seem like the most Catholic of takes, but bear with me.  The dog seems to be omnipresent, bringing people together and nudging them in the direction they need to go.  This has precedent in Catholic history.  St. John Bosco was known to have been saved from danger by a gray wolfhound that would appear when needed.  There are also stories that the same animal would play with children in his charge.  You may think that hokey, but God can use whatever form He thinks best in order to reveal Himself.  There are those that would rather He come from clouds on high with trumpet blasts and clashes of thunder.  Though there are certainly instances of the mighty works of God in the Bible, more often He comes in the simplest of ways.  After all, what could be humbler than the King of the Universe being born in a stable?

Ultimately, Doc takes the humble route at the end of The Family Holiday by refusing the millions of dollars.  I had thought that Helen would give it to him anyway, but it looks as if that did not happen.  It is as good a conclusion one can ask for from these films, even if it is cheesy.