I HAVE REVIEWED OVER 400 ( C H R I S T M A S ) MOVIES AND SPECIALS.

PLEASE BEWARE OF SOME REVIEWERS THAT ONLY HAVE ONLY ONE REVIEW. WHEN ITS A POSITIVE THERE IS A GOOD CHANCE THEY WERE INVOLVED WITH THE PRODUCTION. NOW I HAVE NO AGENDA! I REVIEW MOVIES & SPECIALS AS A WAY TO KEEP TRACK OF WHAT I HAVE SEEN! I HAVE DISCOVERED MANY GEMS IN MY QUEST TO SEE AS MANY " C H R I S T M A S " MOVIES AS I CAN.

Someone keeps reporting my reviews. I guess they are jealous because I do tell the truth. I want to point out that I never make snide remarks about actors weight or real life sexual orientation. If there acting is terrible or limited "I talk about that". If a story is bad "I will mention that" So why am I being "picked on"? IMDB will not even tell me what someone found offensive. Well on to the review :

When the office assignments are distributed for Secret Santa, Melanie is excited that she was given her crush, Donovan. Donovan however doesn't celebrate Christmas. He is not close to his family and so Christmas to him is just another day. He is not a Scrooge. However he doesn't understand what the big deal is.

Melanie however is now his secret Santa. She wants to find a perfect gift. After she finds she herself working side by side with him her feelings for him continue to grow. His eyes and heart also begin to grow.

Now my gripe with this film is that "A Christmas Campaign" kicks off way before "Christmas". Here this project kicks off 2 days before. Also I think Donovan however has been working for years at his job. He would have known how big of a deal his office made about Christmas.

Now it seems to me Hallmark loves casting AARON O'CONNELL as a stuffy business man. I think he is capable of doing more. I hope Hallmark cast him again and let him have a "Fun Role".

In all this film is enjoyable. Above Average

Loved this movie. My only real challenge was to decide to rate it a 9 or a 10. I only rate about 10% of the Christmas movie a 10 and that is after using IMDB reviews to try to only watch the good ones. There was enough attention payed to the little things like Melanie collecting snow globes, adorable photo with Santa, snowflake earrings that I thought it deserves a 10. Emilee Ullerup and Aaron O'Connell were both just a delight. The two of them were suited well for their parts and that made the movie. Emillee appears to have a depth of acting ability. Emilee was in "Hearts of Christmas" in 2016 and Aaron has only had 9 acting parts in his career (many are Christmas movies- he is 31). Aaron had the lead in "12 Gifts of Christmas" in 2015.

The movie was fun, centered around an ad agency at Christmas time with mandatory Secret Santa participation. The story used the Secret Santa as the thread throughout the movie. Maybe the title should have been "My Secret Santa Love". "With Love, Christmas" does not describe the movie adequately. The head/owner of the ad agency was just great.

Cute idea. This was an unashamed ripoff of You've Got Mail right down to at least one crucial line. Melanie is a woman who has trouble saying no, but she also loves Christmas like no one else. Donovan is a pretty stiff guy who has absolutely no love for Christmas.

I love Emilie Ullerup, as Melanie. She is so upbeat and has a megawatt smile. For me, she was what made this movie enjoyable. Aaron O'Connell, as Donovan, does stiff and business like so well that he never really lightened up or connected. He talked about having a new attitude about Christmas, but he still came off as stiff. I also liked Melanie's friends and family.

I was generous with my rating because I did mostly enjoy the movie.

I would have liked to give a bigger rating , even though the story is pretty lightweight. However, apart from the always excellent Emilie Ullerup as Melanie, there isn't much depth to the characters and not much chemistry between the 2 leads. I'll put that down to the script. I guess this movie will please most Hallmark viewers as it's pleasant enough - but for me, a bit more plausibility is needed in the storyline.Sorry !

For one thing, the lead characters had no chemistry that I could discern. Aaron O'Connell had much better rapport with Katrina Law in last year's "The 12 Gifts of Christmas." And Emilie Ullerup was much more believable as the already-confident Nurse Jenny Miller in last year's "Hearts of Christmas!"

Unfortunately, the casting of these two, together, to repeat those individual successes is an experiment that I'm afraid did not pay off.

Then, there's the plot gimmick.

Secret Santas are mandatory?! Puh-lease! It's bad enough when that custom is voluntary. It's not that I Scroogily _hate_ the giving part. Just the opposite! It's the receiving part I mind. I, personally, have never received anything fun _or_ useful from a "Secret Santa" at any place I've worked. So, I have stopped putting my name in the grab bag.

Christmas Reviewer (and others) will no doubt vote my review as useless. But, that is how I sincerely feel about this particular movie.

I really liked the main character. She was flawless. Of course we have the little kid who is around too much. Only turn off that should have been real was that fake cotton snowball snowman outside. Get a real one! Loved the cat too. Enjoying most of the new Hallmark movies this season and am also enjoying many of the old ones. Oh yeah, do all blondes have dyed blonde hair with dark brown roots these days?

A touching Christmas Hallmark film. First - for the details. And for performances. And for the references to classic on-line talks. And, maybe, for story who has the gift to use familiar ingredients in not bad manner. A challenge for a team , from its coherence to promote a product. Romance. A Secret Santa . And fascinating old fashion details. Result - a love story in Christmas time but special for me who, crying a little at its end, I discovered one of Christmas films from Hallmark who could be defined more than junk food for too young sensitivities. So, a real nice film.

Lovely family heart felt romantic Christmas film. Makes you want a twin. I'm now goin to do my Xmas decs

Why is it that every actress in this film seem to have gone under the knife too many times. From foreheads that can't move to over inflated cheeks/ All of them are wax looking and unwatchable. In any scene they are in you can't not tell if the actress is happy. "Nothing Moves"! Sad because these women are under 40 and have had more needles in their face than candles on a cake. For a Christmas movie showing emotional happiness is important!

In this movie the office assignments are distributed for Secret Santa, Melanie is excited that she was given her crush, Donovan. Donovan is so taken by the thoughtful gifts and notes, he starts to fall in love. But someone else is stealing Melanie's credit.

Everyone in this film also lives way beyond what their paychecks. One of the worse.

At first we see ad execs ala MAD MEN doing their schtick and pitch. Then we see a bit of competition/love blossom between co workers. Yes this really happens in big and small town USA. Overall I found the story very entertaining. Nice deliveries. The true, magical, and sincere performance of O'Connell did it for me. At the end when he re kindles his relationship with his Dad my heart skipped a beat. The next day I wasthen was watching This Is Our Christmas and I see Arron again. He plays another executive named Winslow. He gives a wonderful performance pinning over the loss of his wife with holiday perennial actor Vincent De Paul. I will not give it away but the end of the latter films show Arron's range as an actor and he is so incredible and moving I heard that his real life wife co star with him in This Is Our Christmas.... LOVE ALL HIS FILMS.

I'm the first to review this movie? Very cool! I'm becoming a regular with 'firsts' on the reviews. I like this movie's script because it's different. It's got some good humor in it as well. Well, I'm just a sucker for Hallmark Christmas movies and this one is quite cute and clever! The seasonal settings and decorations are just exquisite, so there's lots of great holiday eye candy. And this kind of movie could open some minds about social activities and getting involved more, during the holidays and beyond. I'm sure we all could use a bit more skills in the teamwork department. And I'm certain a lot of small towns could use a big horse-drawn sleigh ride as well. I've been on one and they are so cool. But about this movie, it is definitely worthy of a viewing!

Was anyone else distracted by the male lead's orange face? Also the fact that when he turns sideways, you can see the orange makeup line between his face and neck. It's called blending, people. Make the face and neck the same shade, please! Other than that, typical hallmark Christmas love story, with no chemistry between the leads and wooden acting by the male lead. I've seen him in a few movies now, and it is always the same role; reserved, uptight, barely any facial expressions.

Emille Ullerup is a true beauty that it is a little hard to believe that she ain't got no man by now. Not much as far as sexy outfits until the end and even then some spanx would not have been a bad idea. Aaron O'Connell is way too good looking to be playing this loner loser type. After a year he would have taken every girl in the office for a sleigh ride. I need more Rebecca Davis, like a poor man's Lake Bell.

This movie is good it moves along just fine.

It's a different hallmark movie. An uptight guy who does not like Christmas and a jolly girl who lives for Christmas. the whole pen pal thing is sweet and pleasant.

This story is supposed to take place in Stamford Connecticut and many of the shots look nothing like Stamford. Would have been better selecting US city that is actually on a lake like the one used in many of the scenery shots.