Graphic by LollyChristmas.com; Photos: Courtesy; Hallmark Media; Lifetime; Paramount Network

We love festive fashion, so it was a pleasure for the LollyChristmas.com team to chat with costume designer, Keith Nielsen, who was behind some of the most beautiful holiday ensembles featured in Christmas movies this year across three different networks!

Read what Keith had to say about working on these movies in our exclusive interview below!

Ryan Paevey in COYOTE CREEK CHRISTMAS (Photo: Crown Media)

The LollyChristmas.com team recently caught up with actor Ryan Paevey to chat about his all-new Hallmark Channel original holiday movie, Coyote Creek Christmas, which is premiering this weekend as part of the network’s iconic Countdown to Christmas lineup!

Read on to learn more about the movie, what it was like working with Janel Parrish and on-screen son Azriel Dalman, his ultimate holiday destination, and more!

You have a brand new Christmas movie premiering on Hallmark Channel called Coyote Creek Christmas. Can you talk more about the film and your character, Dylan?

Sure! I play Dylan Bailey of the Bailey Brothers Development Firm; a single dad–I’m kind of like the wandering salesman for my family.  It’s me and my kid [played by Dalman] on the road all the time, kind of just doing what the business needs, and my son and I had holiday plans that–I don’t want to say ‘get derailed’, but ‘delayed’, shall we say?  The business catches wind of a new project that they can work on called the Coyote Creek Inn, and so on our little road trip, we make a little detour there to take a look at it as a possible acquisition–kind of a turn and burn thing.  We get there and it’s nice; there’s this pretty girl [played by Parrish], and the family’s lovely, and they’re doing a Christmas thing… and maybe I don’t wanna steamroll the place.  Maybe I want to keep it the same, you know, hang out with the girl–my kid likes her, and that’s always good.

(Photos: UPtv)

We all need something to lift our spirits this holiday season, and Liliana Tandon has just the thing… her brand new movie, A Ring for Christmas — which she wrote and stars in — premieres on UPtv as part of their ‘Merry Movie Christmas’ programming event!

LollyChristmas.com caught up with Liliana as she prepares for the premiere this weekend, and she dished on writing her first Christmas movie and working with co-stars Dean Geyer, Michael Gross, Lorraine Brocco and Charles Hittinger. Liliana also shared some of her favorite moments from filming and her cherished holiday family traditions.

Read on to learn a little more about this sweet and fun festive tale!

Karl E. Landler in a scene from CHRISTMAS IN PARIS. (Photo: UPtv)

It’s always nice to be home for the holidays, but sometimes, it’s also fun to travel to a romantic city to enjoy the sights and sounds of the season…and now you can do it from the comfort of your living room by watching the new UPtv film, Christmas in Paris!

French actor Karl E. Landler plays the swoon-worthy Lucas–a wealthy entrepreneur who whisks Rebecca Dalton’s character, Robin, away to Paris for a whirlwind Christmas Adventure, and he chatted with LollyChristmas.com about the movie, working with his co-stars, what the holidays are really like in Paris, and much more!

Hi Karl! Congratulations on your new UPtv movie, Christmas in Paris! Can you tell me a little bit more about the film?

Thank you, Lolly! This is a great film to take you through the emotional journey of Christmas! You feel for the characters, you hope it will work out when things are not happening the way you expect. Forgiveness, love, and challenges are all ingredients of this holiday movie. Lucas, my character, has as business deal to close, while being distracted by the beautiful Robin (Rebecca Dalton). All the while he is hiding a secret that he can no longer run away from. So, get the hot chocolate ready with some cookies–you’re going to enjoy the ride.

Hinske behind the scenes of THE CHRISTMAS CLUB! | Photo: Barbara Hinske

Guess what this week is? I’ll tell you — it’s premiere week for Hallmark Channel’s The Christmas Club starring Cameron Mathison and Elizabeth Mitchell. This heart-warming story about a random act of kindness and the irresistible pull of love was based off the novella by best-selling author Barbara Hinske, and this month has been a treat in getting an in-depth look behind the writing of the story thanks to an exclusive Q&A with Hinske and a guest blog where she explained how a homily lead her on this journey.

In her second guest blog, Hinske shares some tidbits about what it was like when she went to the set of the Hallmark Channel original movie and watched her novella come to life on the small screen!

The Christmas Club: Behind the Scenes

The Christmas Club, my Christmas novella, was purchased by Crown Media and made into a 2019 Hallmark Channel Christmas movie. I’ve written about what a dream come true that was here. As if having my story made into a Hallmark Christmas movie wasn’t enough, my husband and I got to spend a week on location during filming. That was an experience I’ll cherish for the rest of my life. In addition to every single cast and crew member being extremely professional, warm, welcoming, and downright kind, here are my “best of” moments:

Photos: Barbara Hinske/Crown Media

The Christmas Club, starring Cameron Mathison and Elizabeth Mitchell, is one of the 40 original holiday movies premiering during Hallmark’s iconic Christmas programming event during ‘the most wonderful time of the year’ and it’s based off of a novella by author Barbara Hinske.

This touching story tells the tale of two strangers who show a random act of kindness to a woman who loses her Christmas savings, and as fate would have it, find the love they were both missing.

Earlier this week, I featured a Q&A I conducted with Hinske to celebrate The Christmas Club [read it here!], which premieres on November 27th on the Hallmark Channel, and Hinske has also stepped in to share a couple of guest blogs that I will feature now and next week.  Check out the first post below!

 Photos via BarbaraHinske.com

There are 40 original movies slated for Hallmark’s iconic Christmas programming event this year, and one in particular is sure to warm your heart this holiday season! The Christmas Club, starring Camerson Mathison and Elizabeth Mitchell, tells the inspiring story of random acts of kindness, friendship and love — and it’s set to premiere during the 10th Anniversary of Hallmark Channel’s Countdown to Christmas lineup. Lolly Christmas chatted with Barbara Hinske, the author of the novella on which the film is based, about the writing process and being on the festive set as her imagination came to life — read what she had to say below!

Can you tell me more about The Christmas Club?
An elderly woman slips on the ice and her hard-earned Christmas Club money is lost to the wind. Two strangers come to her aid and a series of pay-it-forward, random acts of kindness is set in motion.

What inspired the story?
A sermon I heard many years ago contained the story of a stranger helping someone recover money that had blown out of their hands and centered on the theme of doing kind things for people in nice ways. Anonymous kindness is sometimes the nicest approach and that idea stuck with me because I — like many of us — love to be acknowledged for doing something generous. I expanded and fictionalized this story but kept the main theme intact.

Photos: All photos belong to LollyChristmas.com except the Christmas Con Logo (That’s 4 Entertainment).

There are many things I love to do at Christmas every year; I love the Hallmark Keepsake Ornament Preview weekends, decorating in early November, when the Starbucks red cup comes out and they drop the menu of festive drinks, looking at the Christmas lights around my town, seeing the decorations in the department stories, watching Christmas movies, listening to music – and most of all, spending time with my family. Imagine my absolute joy when I found out there was a way I could do nearly all of that in one place… enter the first annual CHRISTMAS CON!

That’s 4 Entertainment created the first ever 3-day winter wonderland convention of fun where you can shop for gifts, window shop decor, listen to music and engage with your favorite stars from beloved Christmas made-for-television films that help make your seasons bright every year.  The event, which was held November 8-10th at the NJ Convention and Expo Center in Edison, NJ, was then sponsored by the Hallmark Channel, which resulted in even more promised holiday magic!

When my daughters and I originally heard about the convention a few months ago, we knew it was going to be something we had to be apart of — I mean, this lineup was insane, we’re talking appearances from stars like: Chad Michael Murray, Melissa Joan Hart, Holly Robinson Peete, Lacey Chabert, Alicia Witt (who also performed!), Andrew Walker, Cameron Mathison, Ryan Paevey, Jackée Harry, Nikki DeLoach, Erin Krakow, Paul Greene, Melissa Claire Egan, Rachel Boston, Danica McKellar, Jack Wagner, Jesse Metcalfe, Ashley Williams and Jonathan Bennett, who also served as the M.C.

Andrew Walker in MERRY & BRIGHT (Photo: Crown Media)

One—or many—could say that Andrew Walker is the ‘Prince of Hallmark,’ and that might be why he has not one, but two new Christmas movies spanning both of Hallmark’s top networks this holiday season!  I chatted with Andrew about Merry & Bright, in which he co-stars with Jodie Sweetin and Sharon Lawrence, as well as his surprising second festive film alongside Ashley Greene; his outlook on acting, holiday traditions, and lots more!

Your new movie, “Merry and Bright”, premieres this weekend on Hallmark for the 10^th Anniversary of Countdown to Christmas. Can you tell me a bit about that?

Sure! It’s about a girl (Jodie Sweetin) who inherits a candy cane company from her grandfather, and the business has not been doing too well; she’s been struggling to keep it afloat and to grow it.  I represent an investment group that comes in to turn the business around.  I’ve been assigned by the investors to go in to, basically, just dismantle things and help her grow the business, and obviously she’s a very proud woman and she’s a very proud business owner, and she doesn’t feel like she needs my help so, she’s kind of giving me some pushback on that. Ultimately, we end up finding a common ground and, along the way, we end up falling for each other.