Review

When Calls The Heart: The Christmas Wishing Tree - A Tree-mendous Holiday Adventure

Ah, 'When Calls The Heart: The Christmas Wishing Tree', or as I like to call it, "Canadian Prairie Meets Lifetime Drama with a Festive Twist."

Let's talk about Hallmark holiday movies for a second. They’re like the seasonal gingerbread cookies you find in a tin at the back of your grandma’s pantry — predictably sweet, delightfully nostalgic, and you’re a little suspicious about the cookie that’s shaped like a reindeer. But do you want to stop eating them? Absolutely not. And such is the case with "When Calls The Heart: The Christmas Wishing Tree."

This film is the cinematic equivalent of putting marshmallow-fluff on your cereal—and I loved every sugary minute! It starts with a golden archetype of all Hallmark movies: a charmingly quaint small town cloaked in a dusting of perpetual snow, as if it were located smack dab in the middle of a snow globe. You half-expect to see Santa himself eating a maple syrup-laden pancake at Dottie's café. Spoiler: you don’t see him, but there's plenty of maple syrup.

Our protagonist, Elizabeth Thatcher, is the heart (pun fully intended) of Hope Valley, a frontier town where everyone knows each other’s business and has at least one oversized wool sweater in their wardrobe. Did I mention that this town basically bursts into song at the first snowflake of the season? It’s practically Winter Wonderland: The Musical out there.

The plot thickens, if by "thickens" we mean gently simmers, when a mysterious Christmas Wishing Tree makes an appearance. The townsfolk gather round this mystical arboreal Disney Princess, scribbling down their desires with quills and parchment like it’s 1717. The wishes range from endearing (a new friendship) to the intensely Canadian (more hockey pucks for little Timmy).

Elizabeth is, of course, dealing with her own seasonally-induced emotional turmoil that cries out to be solved by Christmas Eve. Her gentleman caller, Jack, is rugged enough to make a flannel shirt look like high fashion. Together they embark on saving Christmas with as much urgency as saving a kitten stuck on a low-hanging branch. Will they fulfill the town's wishes? Are they giving an Oscar-winning performance as they sip hot cocoa in the flickering backdrop of Christmas tree lights? Maybe not, but they’re definitely winning our hearts in the Hallmark movies universe.

Watching 'When Calls The Heart: The Christmas Wishing Tree' is like visiting an old friend who has a penchant for wearing too much tinsel — slightly over-the-top and irresistibly endearing. So snuggle up, pour yourself an eggnog, and let the heartstrings of this Hallmark holiday movie strum away. Warning: you might feel an inexplicable urge to crochet something by the film's end.