THE CHRISTMAS ORNAMENT: Leaving the Porchlight On

Newly widowed Kathy Howard (Kellie Martin from Life Goes On, Christy and ER) has a very structured daily routine. She spends her early mornings at the local ice skating rink, enjoying time on the ice by herself before she rides her bike to the small business – Dream Cycles, a specialized bike store – for which she and her late husband opened just a little over a year ago.

Sadly, her husband only lived long enough to run the store alongside with his beloved wife for a little over a month before he expectedly passed away, leaving Kathy to run the store on her own with the help of one sales clerk.

Because of her husband’s deep affection for Christmas, Kathy has decided that this year she is going to skip out on getting or decorating a tree, avoiding anything that brings back memories of him. The only holiday tradition she sticks with, however, is baking cookies; a passion she has had since she was a child.

Enter her best friend Jenna (Jewel Staite from Firefly and Stargate Atlantis), who tricks Kathy into going to the local Christmas tree lot to pick out a tree. Kathy, of course, doesn’t fall for her friend’s ruse, ending up inside the new gift shop opened by lot owner Tim Pierce (Cameron Mathison from All My Children and Dancing with the Stars).

She falls into a comfortable conversation with Tim; and after Jenna arranges for Tim to bring Kathy a Christmas tree with the hope that Kathy wouldn’t turn him down at her own front door, Kathy and Tim quickly become friends. They soon learn they share a love for early mornings at the local ice skating rink and a fondness for Christmas even if, for Kathy it’s only making cookies.

But, as their friendship begins to blossom into something more, Kathy begins to see more than despair over her husband’s death and the possibility of perhaps opening a cookie shop that she had dreamed about ever since she was a little girl. But will her doubts about moving on and the expected return of Tim’s former fiancé Rebecca (Laura Mennell from Alphas) turn the tide, making Kathy retreat back into the dark – she used to leave the porchlight on all the time after marrying her husband because he “would trip over a blade of grass” because he was so accident prone, but stopped after his passing.

The Christmas Ornament is a touching and tender movie that provides just the right level of humor (and I must say it was very sweet to hear Kellie Martin’s 8-year-old daughter giggle in the audience at the humorous moments in the film), romance and heartfelt emotions. The film is just another great Hallmark movie that will assuredly become a holiday classic in years to come.

The film is a Front Street Pictures Production in association with Ornamental Productions Ltd and was directed by Mark Jean from a story by Bill Wells and a teleplay written by Wells and J.B. White.

NOTE: I had the great pleasure to meet Bill Wells (and his very sweet sister Martha) before the screening and it was an enjoyable evening shared with them as we watched the movie together; all of us for the first time.

The Christmas Ornament premieres Saturday, November 16 at 8/7c on the Hallmark Channel.