The “Countdown to Christmas” begins two months before the holiday that evokes images of hot cocoa, sugar cookies, and mistletoe. Of course, a significant factor in spreading the Christmas spirit are the many Hallmark Christmas movies created each year. How did these movies originate and what accounts for their popularity? This staff writer went in search of answers.

The Hallmark Channel was originally created 2001, and it was a rebranding of the Odyssey Network, which programmed mainly religious-themed shows. The first ever Hallmark Channel Christmas movie, called Santa Jr., featured the storyline of a citizen coming to the rescue of Saint Nick’s son after Nick junior was accused of stealing presents. However, this wasn’t the movie that made the channel’s holiday content so popular and dominant. The movie The Christmas Card, which aired in 2006, generated quite a lot of popularity among the public, which prompted the channel executives to dedicate part of their channel to holiday programming.

Over the past two decades, Hallmark Christmas movies have created much enjoyment for their viewers, who look forward to starting their “Countdown to Christmas” in October. The popularity of the channel has continued to grow, from 62 million viewers in 2015, to 70 million in 2016, and then 72 million in 2017. The number of movies that they make each year has also increased due to popular demand. Since January 2023, Hallmark has made forty-two new, festive movies that will be released for this Christmas season.

Many Hallmark movies have a plot in which the protagonist goes back to their hometown, and finds their childhood friend/love interest. The protagonist learns something that they had forgotten about while they were very busy with their job, and fall in love with the childhood friend/love interest. This “Hallmark Movie trope” may be overused and corny, but it still continues to be enjoyable and entertaining to watch.