Photo: Crown Media

Spring has officially begun, but my mind is already on Christmas — and, naturally, so is Hallmark’s! According to Entertainment Weekly, both the Hallmark Channel and Hallmark Movies & Mysteries will unveil 34 new original movies this holiday season, which is a new record for the pair of networks as last year they debuted a combined 33 films.

For the Hallmark Channel, we’ll see 22 of the films debut during the “Countdown to Christmas” holiday programming starting October 27th while the remaining 12 will air for the Hallmark Movies & Mysteries “Most Wonderful Movies of Christmas” slate beginning November 4th.

Following 2016’s “The Mistletoe Promise” and 2017’s “The Mistletoe Inn”, word on the street is that the third part of Richard Paul Evans’ holiday anthology series, “The Mistletoe Secret”, will be adapted for the network this year.  Leading lady favorites Danica McKellar, Candace Cameron Bure and Lacey Chabert are rumored to head up new films while Kellie Martin leads one for HMM titled “Vet”, described as “an emotional story of heroism and homecoming.”

If you feel like you can’t wait that long for a little bit of Yuletide cheer, fear not – we still have Christmas in July to look forward to when Hallmark Channel and HMM air their Keepsake Week and Gold Crown Christmas programming, respectively. Unfortunately, unlike previous years, there will be no new festive premieres this summer.

Stay merry!