Summer may just be cooling down, but Lifetime is already tossing a pile of Yule logs into the fireplace. And from the looks of it, you might need two fireplaces. Yes, the network will offer 28 new original Christmas movies this year, a new record for the channel as part of its “It’s a Wonderful Lifetime” campaign. Melissa Joan Hart, Kelly Rowland, Tia Mowry-Hardrict, Vanessa Lachey, Marie Osmond, George Stults, and Ted McGinely are just some of the familiar faces you will see discovering love, rediscovering love, or helping others find it this Christmas. Scroll through this gallery to learn details on all of the films and when they will premiere (all times ET/PT). And don’t dawdle: Sweet Mountain Christmas debuts before Halloween, on Oct. 25.
Stars: Megan Hilty, Marcus RosnerContains: Country-cooked homecoming, stranding by bad weather, romance with snowplow driverOfficial description: “Country music star Laney Blu (Hilty) hasn’t been back to her Tennessee hometown in years. It wasn’t the kindest place to grow up, so when her career skyrocketed at 17 she was happy to leave it behind. Though she’s set to headline a Christmas concert in NYC, Laney decides to make a quick pit stop to see her family. When a freak snowstorm hits, she finds herself stranded in the town, and is roped into taking part in a local Christmas concert. As Laney spends more time in her hometown, it becomes less and less like she remembered it. She begins to fall in the love with the people, place and just maybe, a handsome snowplow driver named Robbie (Rosner). When the storm lets up, will Laney head off to NYC or will home be where her heart is?”
Stars: Marla Sokoloff, Rob Mayes, Marie OsmondContains: Christmas Eve road trip, live music, inclement weatherOfficial description: “Two rival musicians, Lindsay (Sokoloff) and Wes (Mayes), who perform in a dueling piano show, suddenly find themselves without a gig on Christmas Eve and decide to road-trip to their neighboring hometowns together. During the drive, the mismatched pair find themselves surrounded by Santa conventioneers, saving a Christmas nativity play, performing on stage in Nashville with music royalty (Marie Osmond), and braving a massive snowstorm which just may lead them to making sweet music together.”
Stars: Kyla Pratt, Ed Ruttle, Rachel McLarenContains: Possibly important timepiece, Vermont, rekindling of old flamesOfficial description: “After Emma (Pratt) finds her college boyfriend’s engraved watch at a vintage jewelry shop, her sister Bronwyn (McLaren) believes it is a sign, and decides to secretly play Cupid by sending Emma to the same bed and breakfast in Vermont that Fletcher (Ruttle) is staying at one week before Christmas. However, upon arrival, Emma is not only shocked to bump into her first love after all these years, but also his vivacious daughter. Throughout the week, the two fight their feelings for one another as they plan a Christmas Eve show in hopes of saving the local theater.”
Stars: Melissa Joan Hart, Ricardo Chavira, Ted McGinley, Michael Gross, Markie PostContains: Event coordinator, dashing widow, rekindling of old flamesOfficial description: “It’s Christmas at the Treeline Ski Resort, where Holly (Hart) is the event coordinator at her family lodge. She plans every event and keeps all the guests happy. But when her college sweetheart (Chavira), now widowed with two children, checks in, Holly discovers she has her own reservations about life and love.”
Stars: Lexi Lawson, Mark Ghanime, Beth BroderickContains: Unexpected inheritance, magical stranger, VermontOfficial description: “When brand marketing professional Lucy Bowers (Lawson) learns that she’s inherited her grandfather’s year-round Christmas store, Forever Christmas, in the picturesque hamlet of Stowe, Vt., she makes a trip back home to support the store during its final Christmas season before she sells it to a hip athletic leisurewear company. But once she is back in Stowe, she begins to understand why her grandfather’s Christmas shop is so special with the help of local diner owner, Scott (Ghanime), and the magic of a Christmas stranger from the north (Broderick).”
Stars: Keshia Knight Pulliam, Michael Xavier, Tim Reid, Belinda MontgomeryContains: An all-Christmas-all-the-time radio station, a super-secret SantaOfficial description: “When her Philadelphia radio station is closed for repairs during the holidays, DJ Kara Porter (Pulliam) is forced to broadcast from the small town of Bethlehem. Desperate to increase her numbers and get promoted outside of Radio Christmas, a year-round Christmas station, Kara seeks to uncover the identity of the town’s Secret Santa, an anonymous benefactor that saved all of Bethlehem’s Christmas festivities. Along the way, she discovers the true meaning of family, community, love, and of course Christmas.”
Stars: Adelaide Kane, Greyston Holt, Loretta DevineContains: Food stylist, rivalry/romance with bakerOfficial description: “When food stylist Holly Grant (Kane) returns home for Christmas, she learns the elderly owner of her favorite childhood bakery is retiring and has started a contest to give the bakery away to whoever can recreate her famous 12 Days of Christmas recipes. Holly enters, but she isn’t much of cook, yet when a local baker named Brad (Holt) also enters the contest, the two adversaries eventually bond over their love of the holidays and end up winning the contest as a team while falling in love in the process.”
Stars: Katie Leclerc, Ryan Cooper, Jennifer Ellis, Caroline Keeler, Kathy HarumContains: Struggling dairy farmers, ice cream contestOfficial description: “Since her father passed away, Emily (Leclerc) has been running her family’s dairy farm with the help of her mother and best friend. But this Christmas the farm has fallen on hard times, so Emily’s sister, Dorothy (Ellis) — who is part owner with Emily —and her handsome business partner, Charlie (Cooper), show up with a proposition to sell the farm. Emily comes up with an ingenious plan to buy out her sister’s shares and hold an online holiday ice cream flavor contest that goes viral with the help of a key ingredient, Charlie’s amazing apple pie. Christmas à la Mode ice cream is born! Still, as the Christmas Eve deadline for the buyout approaches, Emily needs a Christmas miracle to save the farm and her father’s legacy in time for a happy Christmas.”
Stars: Jana Kramer, Percy Daggs III, Moira Kelly, Brian McNamara, Dee Wallace, Barry BostwickContains: Holiday homecoming, Cajun Christmas festival awarding titles such as Miss Christmas and Mister ChristmasOfficial description: “The Winter family is Christmas royalty in New Iberia, La., and Sarah Winter (Kramer), a successful lawyer and former Miss Christmas, is no exception. When she returns home to celebrate the anniversary of the town’s Sugarcane Christmas Festival with her mother (Kelly) and her grandparents (Wallace and Bostwick), she rediscovers the magic of the season —and a little romance — with her former Mister Christmas, Luke (Daggs).”
Stars: Erin Cahill, Kevin McGarry, Patrick Duffy, Jaclyn SmithContains: Investigative journalism rivalry, roller coaster romanceOfficial description: “While uncovering who is behind the random acts of Christmas popping up around her city, investigative journalist Sydney (Cahill) meets a competing reporter, Cole (McGarry), who ignites her Christmas spirit and captures her heart, but may not be the man he claims to be.”
Stars: Erin Karpluk, Damon RunyanContains: Magical Christmas shoes?Official description: “A pair of magical shoes step into Kayla Hummel’s (Karpluk) holiday season, allowing her to rediscover her Christmas spirit and find love, too.”
Stars: Sarah Drew, Ryan McPartlin, Lesley Ann WarrenContains: Christmas wedding, single-parent romance, looming blizzardOfficial description: “To pull off a spectacular Christmas-themed wedding at the exclusive Snowview Lodge, wedding planner Cadence Clark (Drew), joins forces with Henry Harrison (McPartlin), co-owner of a family-run Christmas decoration and house-lighting company. Cadence and Henry, both single parents of young daughters, grow closer as they contribute to each others’ projects — Cadence with the wedding and Henry with his high-profile client, Mrs. Sutton (Warren), and her annual VIP Christmas Eve party. However, a pesky super-snowstorm threatens to wreak havoc on Cadence’s client’s wedding — but with help from Henry, family, and holiday magic, she just may be able to still pull off the wedding of the Christmas season. And maybe even fall in love along the way.”
Official description: “Jennifer Clarke (Sircar) is a tough crime reporter who gets the assignment of her life: to find the true meaning of Christmas. When she goes undercover in a department store as a 9-to-5 sales clerk from Black Friday to Christmas Eve, she finds her true calling and meets the man of her dreams. It’s a Christmas she will never forget.”
Stars: Tia Mowry-Hardrict, Jesse Hutch, Patricia RichardsonContains: Mysterious memento, search for romance Official description: “The Christmas lights are up and shoppers are flooding the quaint town of Mountain View, including one special store, Very Vintage Antiques. The shop’s owner, Dodie (Mowry-Hardrict), is a hopeless romantic and absolutely one of a kind, similar to the pieces in her shop. When Dodie finds a hidden box containing an eclectic collection of mementos chronicling a timeless romantic union, she makes it her mission to deliver it to its rightful owner. Dodie manages to persuade the handsome new tenant, Edward (Hutch), at the listed address to help her with her search. Will they find the true owner and true love on their adventure?”
Stars: Hilarie Burton, Tyler Hilton, Megan Park, Cristian de la Funete, Pam GrierContains: Wishing box, conflicted love in Louisiana Official description: “Every December in the small town of Ponchatoula, La., a wooden wishing box is placed in the park as a Christmas tradition. People write down their true heart’s desire on a slip of paper and place it in the box in hopes that their wish will be granted. After a night out together, Maddie (Park) encourages her sister Faith (Burton) to put a wish in the box, a wish to experience true love for the first time. Faith and Maddie are surprised the next day when she meets the very handsome and eligible Andrew (de la Fuente). At first, Faith thinks that her Christmas wish has come true. But as Christmas nears, Faith begins to wonder if Andrew is really perfect for her, or if the wish is leading her to her best friend, Wyatt (Hilton).”
Stars: Soleil Moon Frye, George Stults, Jaleel WhiteContains: Busy home-stager, rich widow, sad daughterOfficial description: “Lori (Frye) stages homes for a living, and her busiest season is Christmas! Though she normally only stages homes that are for sale, she’s intrigued when a wealthy widower named Elliot (Stults) asks her to stage his home for the holidays to cheer up his daughter, Maddie. As Lori starts remaking Elliott’s home, she finds that Maddie isn’t the only one in desperate need of the Christmas spirit. As Lori spends more and more time with Elliot and Maddie, she starts to feel like part of the family. While she was initially hired to simply stage the perfect Christmas in their house, she ends up creating it for the father and daughter in every way imaginable.”
Stars: Kelly RowlandContains: New home, family invasion, hot neighborOfficial description: “Inspired by her own recent Christmas catastrophe, Kelly Rowland plays Jacquie — a successful, super-together single tech entrepreneur whose messy family descends on her gleaming new dream home for the holidays. Christmas traditions collide and family drama ensues as she struggles to keep her house together in time for a glossy video shoot of ‘the perfect Christmas.’ On top of that, the possibility of romance with a new neighbor has Jacquie questioning all her dating rules, so even though this isn’t the Christmas she envisioned, it might just be the most magical one yet.”
Stars: Ali Liebert, Jake Epstein, Habree LarrattContains: Event planner, possible romance with nannyOfficial description: “If event planner Celeste Everett (Liebert) is going to save her business and give her niece a happy Christmas season, she needs help, but when the nanny she hires turns out to be a man (Epstein), Celeste surprisingly realizes she may have also found Christmas love for herself.”
Stars: Corey Sevier, Emily RoseContains: A matchmaking dilemma, return of an ex, booksOfficial description: “As the Christmas party for a book publishing company approaches, editor Maggie volunteers to help her boss Amanda find a date. Matchmaking is a bit of a hobby for Maggie, but she is thrown off her game when Jaxson, her old boyfriend from her college years, shows up at her work — as a newly signed, successful author. Maggie would love to deny she feels anything for him still, but Jaxson isn’t making it easy. She’ll have to face her decisions of the past, along with Amanda eyeing Jaxson, to bring together the perfect matches at Christmas.”
Stars: Vanessa Lachey, Christopher RussellContains: Missing dog, barking up old romantic treesOfficial description: “When Marla’s (Lachey) dog runs away on Christmas Eve, she must team up with her ex-boyfriend Max (Russell) to find him. As the pup leads the exes on an all-day-and-night search through their North Carolina hometown, they revisit people, places and things that remind them of the Christmas pasts they spent together.”
Stars: Julianna Guill, Corey SevierContains: Stranding by snowstorm, fake romance turns realOfficial description: “When a winter storm hits Cleveland and grounds their flight causing roads to close and hotels to fill up with stranded travelers, Nina (Guill), a pilot, reluctantly agrees to let her arrogant but charming fellow pilot, Brady (Sevier), stay at her parents’ home. But when they discover her family is hosting a tree-trimming party that night and that her ex Ivan is there, Brady pretends to be her boyfriend to help her out. When the snowstorm continues, their ruse snowballs as Nina and Brady are stuck attending holiday events together. As Christmas nears, these two opposites begin to realize the best gift they could ever receive is each other.”
Stars: Erica Durance, J.T. HodgesContains: The possibility of a record deal, romance, and selling outOfficial description: “When aspiring R&B artist Layla (Durance) crosses paths with amateur songwriter Spence (Hodges), she thinks she’s found her shot at finally getting a record deal. But as the holidays approach, the fast-paced, high-stakes music business threatens to change their sound and relationship — especially when the label executives begin to see Spence as the real star.”
Stars: Kim Fields, Adrian HolmesContains: Holiday homecoming, a light factory, romantic rekindlingOfficial description: “Inspired by true events, Emma (Fields) returns to her hometown built around her family’s pioneer Christmas Light Factory two weeks before Christmas. However, upon Emma’s return, she discovers the lights have gone dim in the once-festive town, prompting her to reconnect with an old flame to set their hearts and the town ablaze with light again.”
Stars: TBAContains: Holiday homecoming, Christmas pageant, VermontOfficial description: “Mia is a window dresser in a big-city department store. She has been living and breathing Christmas for months, and now that the season is actually near, she’s a little burned out on holly, sugarplums, and Santas of all shapes and sizes. All she wants is a tropical beach getaway with her sister Sara. But plans change when Sara begs for Mia’s help putting on the annual Snowflake festival in their hometown in Vermont. Just when she thought she was out — Santa pulls her back in! Mia gamely puts on her Christmas bulb necklace and heads to Vermont. As she finds herself deep in creating yet another Christmas pageant, she meets Adam, the handsome town manager who runs the festival. Christmas sparks fly, burnout or not.”
Stars: TBAContains: Unemployed artist, possible romance with HR execOfficial description: “An out-of-work artist discovers a special Christmas temp agency that matches her with a handful of festive jobs, but falls into a creative rut while juggling holiday preparations and feelings for the agency’s HR manager.”
Stars: Tatyana AliContains: Holiday homecoming, rekindling of old flames, historic hotel in jeopardyOfficial description: “Erin (Ali) grew up in the small town of Mt. Holly but always dreamt of living in a big city. Her first job — working the desk at the Mt. Holly Inn — started her on a path to New York, where she now works at the prestigious Windsor Hotel. When her boss tells her she will receive a promotion if she can pull off a big project she is thrilled — until she realizes her new project is in her hometown. Erin returns home to discover that the locals don’t appreciate their precious Mt. Holly Inn being bought out by a big corporation. And heading up the charge? Erin’s ex-boyfriend Conner. But when several hotel staff members come down with the flu, Erin is forced to enlist Conner’s help with hotel’s Christmas events. As he sees that the spirit of the Mt. Holly Inn will be retained, he agrees to help. When Erin and Conner end up sharing a kiss, she has to figure out if what she really wants is a promotion or to be home again.”
Stars: TBAContains: Lifetime movie talent synergy, gamesOfficial description: “It’s the most wonderful time of the year… and to celebrate, we are putting the stars of our Christmas movies to the test with holiday-inspired challenges to determine who will be the king or queen of Lifetime Christmas as chosen by the experts… our fans! Our stars will compete against their fellow castmates in DIY challenges, from gift-wrapping a costar to decorating an ugly Christmas sweater. We will determine which of our stars has the most holiday spirit, all while recapping all the highlights of the movies that have aired on Lifetime throughout the holiday season. Let the reindeer games begin!”
Post time: Aug-26-2019