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.

Pictured: Krakow (left) and Macfarlane (right). / Credit: Crown Media

I love kicking my day off with news of an upcoming Christmas movie, but let’s triple that joy because I have info on THREE new movies! Crown Media announced the Hallmark Channel holiday features through ET today, which I will break down for you below!

“When Calls the Heart” star Erin Krakow and Luke Macfarlane (“A Shoe Addict’s Christmas”) will lead “Sense, Sensibility & Snowmen”, based on the novel by author Melissa de la Cruz. Krakow will play Ella, a Christmas enthusiast party planner alongside her sister, Marianne, who clash with their client, Edward (MacFarlane), a not-so-jolly toy company CEO.