Between running her cycle shop, ice skating, and baking the most amazing cookies in the world, Kathy is doing her best to not hate Christmas this year. She doesn’t want to put up a tree because Christmas ornaments remind her of her late husband, who died earlier in the year.

But then she meets Tim, the persistent owner of a Christmas tree lot. He does his best to bring back her Christmas spirit in the Hallmark movie, “The Christmas Ornament” (2013).

Our Review: The Christmas Ornament

“The Christmas Ornament” is a hard watch. For a Christmas romance movie, there are some truly dark moments in here that just overshadow the few elements they get right.

For example, early in the movie, after Tim brings Kathy a tree and he’s talking to her about it, he tells her that the tree “is still living, even though it’s been cut down.”

Kathy’s response: “I can relate to that.”

Also, later, Kathy bumps into her Christmas tree, and the butterfly ornament Tim gave her falls to the floor and breaks. Later, after Kathy sees Tim talking to a woman (his ex, Rebecca) at the tree lot, Kathy tells her sister, Jenna, that the ornament breaking was a warning from Scott, her late husband, and she ignored it.

Even Tim gets a bit too dark for our liking when Kathy pushes him away after this incident. He says Rebecca is not back in his life and “it’s really disappointing you would think so.” 

OK, Kathy is grieving. And Tim is basically lecturing her on how she should know that what they have here is love – even though they’ve known each other for just a short time. It’s also weird how he tells her that he would have given her all the time in the world to be ready – right before he drives away and leaves her crying in her driveway.

Again, dark.

Even Kathy’s sister, Jenna, is way too pushy at times, trying to force Kathy toward a relationship with Tim. Again, Kathy lost her husband less than a year ago.

Adding to that, Kathy is on the cusp of financial ruin because she runs a cycle shop that she started with Scott. Over the course of the movie, there are exactly two customers. One of those sales is for $8. How is this business even still open?

Let’s break it all down like a butterfly ornament that just fell off our Christmas tree.

The Nice List

Our Favorite Scene

When Tim takes Kathy to the Christmas tree farm he has just bought and tells her about his vision to turn it into a year-round Christmas experience called Christmas-Go-Round.

Kathy and Tim share their first kiss there. Then, after a snowball fight, they have a nice little exchange.

She asks him, “Why me?” Tim tells her he was watching when she carefully pushed an angel ornament away from edge of a table so it didn’t fall and break. “That little act of kindness said everything to me.”

Notable Quotables

There were a couple quotes we liked in the movie:

  • Tim: “We’re all kids at Christmas. You just gotta forget about the hype and and hold onto the fun.”
  • Kathy: “It’s not what the decorations look like. It’s what they mean.”

You’ll Laugh…

  • When Tim asks Kathy if the secret ingredient in her cookies is ranch dressing and she responds: “You’re not a baker, are you?”
  • When Tim says, “Connor’s got the belly-whoppers.
  • After delivering a tree, Tim tells Kathy that the old lady in the bath robe they saw has had her eye on him for three Christmases. Kathy tells Tim the woman has good taste. So Tim thanks Kathy. But then Kathy drops the hammer: “I was talking about the bath robe.” ?

You’ll Cry…

Overall, probably a lot. Especially if you’ve lost a loved one and you find the holidays difficult.

But especially when Kathy gets her last gift from Scott near the end. ?

What’s Your Porch Light Status?

Jenna reminds Kathy that Scott always wanted Kathy to keep the porch light on and be open to possibility.

“It doesn’t matter if I have every light in the house on. I’m still alone.” (Did we mention this movie was a bit dark?)

This becomes a running symbolic element in the movie that we can appreciate.

  • After staring at her dark, undecorated tree, she shuts the porch light off.
  • After a nice day with Tim, delivering trees, she returns home and shuts off all the lights in the house BUT doesn’t shut the porch light off.
  • After seeing Tim with Rebecca, she returns home and disassembles the tree, shuts off all the lights in the house, and then the porch light.
  • After meeting the face of Queen Carla, she returns home and her porch light is out. But she receives a mysterious package with the message “This Christmas, all roads lead to happiness. Spread your wings and soar.” From Scott. It’s a heartbreaking moment. It’s the same ornament as the one Tim gave Kathy earlier.

The Naughty List

Lacking the Christmas Feels

This is a heavy movie. Even though plenty of the scenes feature Christmasy things (hello, hula-hooping elves – and that mitten wreath was kind of amazing) – it still isn’t enough to give you those happy Christmas feels you crave.

Many scenes are just missing any hint of Christmas, which hurts it overall.

Creepy Tim

OK, that scene, where Kathy is decorating the second tree, she backs up, and there is Tim suddenly standing in her house.

How does he justify this? The front door was unlocked and the porch light was on.

“I took that as an invitation,” says Tim.

Ummm… Kind of creepy, Tim. Knocking is still polite!

Rebecca

For a guy who “knew” Kathy was the one, he sure got super-mopey once she returned to town to say hello. (And he was all “not exactly / kinda” seeing someone when Rebecca asked.)

So he rain checks Kathy when she wants to talk about her cookie business. Then he stops going ice skating.

And, in typical Hallmark fashion, the minute Kathy is gone and has jumped to conclusions, he tells her they aren’t getting back together. So contrived.

Goofs

Kathy’s business is called Dream Cycle. But when she tells Jenna about possibly going into the cookie business, Jenna asks if she can do that and Dream Bikes.

Oops!

Guess not even her sister knows the name. No wonder the business is in such trouble! No brand awareness

The Ending

You get your predictable happy ending. But it seems super forced.

Grief is not a light switch you can just flip.

Kathy, again, is just a few months removed from burying her husband – but suddenly she gets all fancied up in a dress and is ready for a relationship with Tim?

It’s a heck of a bumpy ride trying to understand the behavior of these characters. So we’re walking away now.

The Christmas Ornament
4.5/10

Meh

If you’re looking for a Christmas movie that will give you a good cry, this is it. Otherwise, skip it. We’re shutting our porch light OFF the next time “The Christmas Ornament” comes on.

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