L-R: Bruce, DeVitto and Duffy. (Photos: Crown Media)

It’s always nice to kick off the ‘Ber months with a little Christmas movie news!

Deadline reports that Torrey Devitto (Chicago Med, Write Before Christmas, Best Christmas Party Ever) will be leading her third holiday movie for Hallmark, and will be joined by Dylan Bruce (Orphan Black, A Novel Romance) and Patrick Duffy (Dallas, The Mistletoe Secret, The Christmas Cure).

Production starts this week for The Christmas Promise, an all-new original festive film for Hallmark Movies & Mysteries that is set to air during this year’s Miracles of Christmas programming event.

In the new heartwarming holiday tale, DeVitto plays Nicole, a woman who learns to deal with grief with the help of her grandfather (Duffy) and a carpenter named Joe (Bruce), who she hires to renovate the home she was to share with her fiancé.

The Christmas Promise will be directed by Fred Gerber from a script by Kathy Kloves, who also serves as producer along with Risa Shapiro, Sunta Izzicupo and Front Street Pictures Inc.

Stay merry!

Need a little bit of holiday cheer to lift your spirits? Christmas Con has you covered!

That’s 4 Entertainment has announced Christmas Con Virtual, a special virtual event with some of your favorite Christmas movie actors that’s launching this weekend!

Scheduled across two weekends (August 22-23 and August 29-30), the virtual convention will feature four types of fan experiences you can purchase — and availability is worldwide! You can have a one-on-one video chat with your favorite Christmas Con star or a personalized recorded message, which can be used as a gift for a fellow fan or a friend. There will also be a celebrity panel hosted by Jonathan Bennett that will be held each day of the virtual con and will be free to all who sign up. Additionally you can purchase an autograph from the participating talent.

That’s 4 Entertainment

IMPORTANT UPDATE (10/02/20): That’s 4 Entertainment announced today that they have officially postponed the Christmas Con New Jersey event to next year due to the pandemic. The new dates are December 10th-12th of 2021. Refunds are available if you can not make the event next year, but if you can, hold onto your tickets as they will be valid for the new dates!

FYI: The California event has also been postponed.

Christmas Con is coming back to New Jersey! Last year That’s 4 Entertainment held the the first-ever Christmas convention that featured holiday fun along with many of your favorite stars from Christmas movies and other popular creatives in the festive field. The LollyChristmas.com team was able to attend, and we had a merry blast!

Many thought with the announcement of Christmas Con: California that the event would be moving location entirely, but due to the success, Christmas Con will be returning to the Garden State this December with several returning stars plus additional fan-favorites for a weekend filled with cheer.

That’s 4 Entertainment

IMPORTANT UPDATE (7/14/20): That’s 4 Entertainment announced on Twitter on 7/11/20 that they have officially postponed the Christmas Con California event to next year due to the pandemic. The new dates are June 25th-27th of 2021. Refunds are available if you can not make the event next summer, but if you can, hold onto your tickets as they will be valid for the new dates!

NEW UPDATE ALERT (04/05/21):  With June 2021 being too soon for large gatherings in California, That’s 4 Entertainment announced that they will have to once again push Christmas Con back another year.  The company posted today on Instagram that Christmas Con: California will now take place August, 5th-7th of 2022!

If you weren’t able to attend That’s 4 Entertainment’s first Christmas Con in New Jersey last year, and wanted to attend but you lived on the West Coast, you’ll be excited to know that Christmas Con is coming to California! The event was originally scheduled to be a fun-in-the-sun Christmas in July convention, but due to the current COVID-19 global crisis, they had to push the event to a later date.

Join your favorite actors from beloved Christmas movies (including a whole slew of Hallmark Channel stars!) for a jolly weekend of professional photo ops, special Q&As, and many more surprises, at the Pasadena Convention Center in Pasadena, California on August, 5, 6 & 7 of 2022*!

“Christmas Made to Order” star and “Cake Wars” host, Jonathan Bennett, will return as the official host, and his former “Mean Girls” co-star (and Hallmark Christmas movie princess), Lacey Chabert, will be the official headliner. Many of the actors that attended the 2019 event will also take part in the California event, so if you missed out on seeing them last year, here’s another chance!

Photos and screengrabs: Crown Media

As one of the Hallmark original new Christmas movies I was most looking forward to, “Write Before Christmas” starring Torrey DeVitto and Chad Michael Murray, did not disappoint! In the film, Jessica (DeVitto) sends Christmas cards to five people who have greatly impacted her life–one of which, gets received by the son (Murray) of her former teacher.

The story was great, the chemistry was bliss and the clothes were fabulous!

Valerie Halverson, the Costume Designer for the film, dressed Torrey in this Banana Republic ‘Melton’ Car Coat. Not only does she wear it for the official key art, her character also wears this look in the film with a plaid scarf.

Photo/Screencaps: Crown Media

Lacey Chabert brought the spirit of Christmas into the summer season by celebrating Christmas in July and hosting Hallmark Channel’s “Christmas: A First Look” Preview Special. The annual sneak peek show gave us a look at some of the original movies coming to the network during the 10th Anniversary of Countdown to Christmas, which officially kicks off on Friday, October 25th!

During the special, Chabert was joined by network pet ambassador, Happy the Dog, and “Home & Family” pet rescue expert Larissa Wohl — who brought along some kittens and puppies as she explained Hallmark Channel’s pet rescue initiative, “Adoption Ever After”. Learn more here!

Read on to check out the movies that were spotlighted during the special!

L-R: DeVitto and Murray | Photos: Crown Media

Last holiday season was quite the fête for “One Tree Hill” fans when several former cast members of the long-running drama appeared in four festive movies on Lifetime, and Chad Michael Murray, who starred in the series made his Hallmark Channel Christmas movie debut in “Road to Christmas”!

Well, now it’s just the gift that keeps on giving because we’re getting another mini reunion this year during the 10th anniversary of Hallmark’s holiday programming event, Countdown to Christmas.

Murray will join forces with former OTH co-stars Torrey DeVitto (“Best Christmas Party Ever”) and Drew Seeley (“A Christmas for the Books”) for a new movie, “Five Cards for Christmas” (w/t).