Movie Review: The Christmas Ornament (2013)

A few years ago, I purchased a four movie DVD set of Hallmark Christmas movies. I already watched these movies, but I decided to purchase the set anyway. The reason is because I wanted to keep a copy of each of the movies in a place where I knew I would spend a lot of time and would probably need a cheerful holiday movie to brighten my spirits. The four movie set was the most economical way to accomplish this.

Recently, I started going through the DVDs I kept in the area and rediscovered the DVD set. I was going through a very stressful time and began watching the movies in the set to cheer me up and give me some piece. One of the movies from the set is The Christmas Ornament.

The plot synopsis for the movie on Hallmark’s website is…

Newly widowed Kathy (Kellie Martin) plans to skip out on decking the halls and trimming the tree this Christmas, trying to avoid anything that will bring back memories of her late husband. The only Christmas tradition she will observe is baking cookies for her friends, a passion since she was a child. When Kathy meets handsome Christmas tree shop owner Tim (Cameron Mathison), their undeniable chemistry – along with an ornament Tim gives her that symbolizes hope – helps Kathy open up to the joys of the season again. With the support of her best friend Jenna (Jewel Staite), and the budding relationship with Tim, Kathy begins to embrace the hopeful message of the ornament.

Although Kathy wants to take a chance on Tim, she struggles to find the balance between preserving the memory of her husband and moving on with her own future. Is the Christmas ornament a sign that she can have a hopeful future?

I remembered when this movie was released. On the year it was released, Hallmark sold ornaments that were replicas for the ornaments used in the movie. I know I own at least one of the ornaments not because it was a tie in to the movie, but because I just really liked the movie.

Even though Hallmark used the movie as a way to sell ornaments in 2013, the movie is still a very enjoyable movie. Like all Hallmark movies, it does have a happy ending, but the happy ending is threatened by Kathy’s grief for her husband’s passing. This creates a lot of tension between the characters as Tim wants to have a relationship with Kathy and her best friend Jenna wants her to move on with her life instead of dwelling on the past. The way Tim and Jenna treated Kathy is kindness and understanding, yet they still make mistakes the same way people would when trying to be supportive to a friend in grief.

Even though Kathy’s grief creates most of the tension and conflict in the film, there is still an element of hope in the story. It’s a very well written story and the cast played their characters very well. The way the ornaments are incorporated into the movie is very subtle. They are important to the story enough to be obvious yet they don’t take away from the main focus of the movie: Kathy, Jenna, Tim, and Kathy’s need to find balance between honoring her husband and moving on from his passing.

I really enjoyed watching this movie again. It is a sweet story for a very bittersweet situation that happens in everyone’s life. I highly recommend this movie to anyone who wants to watch a movie with a story that is more realistic yet hopeful during the holiday season.

Well, that’s all for now! Thank you for reading!