6 MONTHS FROM TODAY, SANTA WILL BE ON HIS WAY! 🎅

Wow, can you believe it?! It feels like just yesterday I was taking down my trees, and now we’re officially at the halfway point to Christmas Day — Merry “Half-mas” aka National Leon Day (psst: Leon is NOEL spelled backward)!  We better start planning for the holidays STAT, because it goes by likethat!

I’ll be drinking a peppermint hot chocolate milkshake while I blast some carols and maybe pop in a holiday movie or two tonight — what are you doing to celebrate?!

Stay merry!

Happy Summer!!

Today was the official start of summer, which just means the holiday season is that much closer! I love it when it’s Christmas time, obviously, but that doesn’t mean I like to rush the year. The holiday season always goes by too fast anyway!

I’m excited to celebrate “Halfmas” – the halfway point to Christmas – this month and, of course, Christmas in July! That’s a lot of excitement for the summer and I’m eager to enjoy it.

There has been a lot of recent news surrounding all of the holiday movies coming out this Christmas, naturally. I mean, we’re halfway through the year, the Upfronts have recently ended and this is the time when a lot of the movies are being filmed and/or cast, so it’s not surprising that the entertainment news would be heavily holiday-centered despite the impending summer.

What do we know so far? There will be new Hallmark movies from Candace Cameron Bure, Lacey Chabert, Danica McKeller and Kellie Martin coming that are currently TBD while Danielle Panabaker stars in “Christmas Joy”, Kellie Pickler heads to “Christmas at Graceland”, Erin Krakow and Niall Matter return for “Marrying Father Christmas” and LeAnn Rimes leads “It’s Christmas, Eve”.  A third installment from Richard Paul Evans‘ holiday anthology series titled “The Mistletoe Secret” will also premiere.

Photo: Netflix

Royal Wedding fever is still on high alert, however, this time–it’s heading to Netflix for some Yuletide cheer! I was browsing Instagram Stories last week and came across a video of Vanessa Hudgens baking cookies on a set that was decorated for Christmas and was trying to figure out what she was filming; was it a reality baking competition show? a TV movie?

I immediately went to IMdb to see what upcoming projects she had that were holiday-related and found nothing, so I figured I’d sit back and wait for some news to drop regarding it.

I didn’t have to wait long.

Left: Hilarie Burton, Right: Danneel Ackes, Top-Bottom: Robert Buckley, Antwon Tanner, Tyler Hilton / Photos: Lifetime/IMDb

Christmas is coming early – and right on time – for “One Tree Hill” fans! In addition to former OTH stars Bethany Joy Lenz and Sharon Lawrence starring in a new Lifetime movie together this holiday season, five more members of the OTH alumni are heading to the network to spread some Yuletide cheer!

There had been a little mystery surrounding a project between Hilarie Burton, Danneel Ackles, Robert Buckley and Antwon Tanner, but Entertainment Weekly revealed today that they’re all working on a new movie, “The Christmas Contract”! Musician Tyler Hilton, who appeared in four seasons of the hit CW drama series, will also have a musical appearance in the movie.

Christmas in July is coming to Hallmark in just a few weeks, and it’s already shaping up to be quite the busy month for holiday movie lovers! While “Gold Crown Christmas Week” takes over the Hallmark Movies & Mysteries network for 17 days on June 29th (see the schedule here), Hallmark Channel will celebrate “Christmas Keepsake Week”, a 2-week block of festive programming, from July 13th-28th. Basically, get ready to binge on Christmas movies!

During the line-up, Hallmark is also continuing the tradition of giving a sneak peek of what’s to come for Countdown To Christmas 2018 by airing “Christmas: A First Look Preview Special” on Saturday, July 21st at 10:00 pm/9:00 central, which will be co-hosted by Lacey Chabert and, network pet ambassador, Happy the Dog!

We normally get one original world premiere of a new Christmas movie during Keepsake Week but, due to the 34 movies premiering on the networks later this year, I think they wanted to build on the anticipation. In the meantime, enjoy seeing many favorites from years past plus all of the newer movies that premiered in 2017 during Countdown To Christmas.

Check out the full line-up below!
For more information, visit: www.hallmarkchannel.com.

You may remember a post from a few weeks ago about former “One Tree Hill” costars Bethany Joy Lenz and Sharon Lawrence starting production on an upcoming movie titled “Poinsettias for Christmas” (formally “Poinsettia”), well, there weren’t many details at the time — but, now that production is wrapping up, there’s a lot more to tell.

The holiday film, which is set to air on the Lifetime network later this year for their “It’s a Wonderful Lifetime” lineup, will star Lenz as Ellie Palmer and Lawrence as Katherine Palmer, and will also feature John Schneider (“The Dukes of Hazzard”, “Smallville”), Lauren London (“The Game”), Marcus Rosner (“When Calls the Heart”) and Rhonda Dent (“The Mistletoe Inn”).

Are you looking to get a head start on holiday shopping this year? Look no further than QVC‘s 31st annual Christmas in July offerings! On July 1st, the iconic shopping network will dedicate their programming to getting you an early start into the most wonderful (and busy) time of the year before the hustle and bustle really sets off in a few months. You’ll be able to purchase decor, lights, toys, food, jewelry, more!

While most would deem buying Christmas decorations in the summer ‘way too early’ — and they’d rather be out by the pool or doing some other seasonal activity, when you think about parties, gift shopping, decorating, cooking, and other traditions while you’re in the midst of work and school in November and December, you might rest easy to know that you already got some of your shopping out of the way months prior. Get a sneak peek of what to expect here!

Check out the schedule of what’s to come on QVC this July!

200 days until Christmas!! The year is just flying by and it will be 100 before you know it!

Christmas in July is just around the corner, and I can hardly contain my excitement for the Hallmark holiday programming and Hallmark Keepsake Ornaments that will be coming out for preview and early purchase this summer.

I keep the spirit of the season 365 days a year, and I hope you’ll #StayMerry too!

Stay merry!

Photo: Kellie Pickler Official Facebook

It’s going to be a ‘Blue Christmas’ this holiday season when Kellie Pickler heads to Elvis Presley’s former home for an all-new original movie! The Country singer is making her Hallmark Channel festive debut in “Christmas At Graceland”, which is set to premiere on the network later this year during the Countdown To Christmas holiday programming.

Synopsis: Laurel (Pickler), a Chicago-based business executive travels to Memphis to secure one of the city’s oldest family-owned banks. While in Memphis, Laurel reunites with an old flame Clay, a local music promoter with loftier aspirations. Though Laurel tries to keep her eye on the prize of the business acquisition, Clay is very persuasive reminding her of the days when they were a performing duo on the brink of stardom. Now Laurel’s focus turns to the home of the Blues and dreams of making music again.

The movie will feature music made famous by Presley, and will shoot on location at his historic home in Memphis, Tennessee. Look for more info on this film as we get closer to October!

Stay merry!