“You, Me, and the Christmas Trees” aired on October 22, 2021 as the premiere movie of 2021’s Countdown to Christmas on Hallmark Channel. David Winning directed the film, which starred Danica McKellar and Benjamin Ayres, with a screenplay by Julie Sherman Wolfe. It was Hallmark’s opening bet on ushering everyone into the holiday season. And it was a bet that paid off in dividends!
And can we talk about the movie poster? For years, Hallmark did the same kind of poster for their Christmas movies. Red sweater, green sweater, prom pose in front of fireplace with garland. Last year they did a bit better – only half the Christmas movies were prom-posey. But this movie’s poster? Red mittens? Characters holding hands? Bright light blue background? GREAT poster.
Music: Near the beginning of the movie we heard Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree by Candace & Michael.
In a nutshell
This was an amazing movie for the first night of Countdown to Christmas. The script was concise and funny, the acting was outstanding, and it was just a really enjoyable movie from beginning to end.
The Plot of “You, Me, and the Christmas Trees”
Olivia is Connecticut’s resident expert on evergreens who, just days before the holiday, agrees to help Jack, a fourth generation Christmas tree farmer in Avon. A mysterious illness has befallen their firs, causing them to die out and threatening his family’s 100-year business. As Olivia tries to get to the root of the problem and extends her stay in town, she and Jack spend more time together and feelings begin to develop.
Actors & Chemistry
It’s not Christmas without a Danica McKellar movie, am I right? And how awesome to have Jason Hervey, her co-star from the original “The Wonder Years” as the competing Christmas tree seller in town!? I thoroughly liked McKellar in this movie. She can be hit or miss for me (I’m not a fan when she plays uptight characters), and in this movie even though her character was a tad uptight, she was also happy to be a science nerd and up for anything. The result was that I REALLY liked her character and thought her acting was perfect in this.
Benjamin Ayres is just so great. He’s a delight to follow on Twitter, and even when I don’t particularly like the movie he’s in, HE is always charming and fun to watch.
I thought the chemistry between McKellar and Ayres was a delight. I was not expecting them to connect as well as they did. It made the movie so much more enjoyable to have two actors on my screen who worked so well together.
It was a shame that Jason Hervey did not have much to work with, and what he did have resulted in caricature. I’m not sure if that was a deliberate choice or not, but so disappointing to have two stars from “The Wonder Years” and only have them in a couple scenes together.
Tropes
A family business was in trouble! A cute house and a gorgeous inn both with front porches! Jack had one deceased parent. Olivia was not a fan of Christmas. Jack drove an old red truck.
Oh my goodness, I’m so glad all my Christmas tropes were back! And after the fender bender, the old “car part won’t be here until a future time and you have to stay in town for at least one night!” Oh my word, that hot cocoa bar was amazing (as evidenced by Olivia using two hands to drink it). Some caroling. My goodness, this movie had every trope and at this point in the list we were only 20 minutes into the movie.
Did my eyes deceive me or did I see CGI snow? Jack had a special ornament on his family tree. He pulled a pine needle from her hair after they dug up the tree – is that this movie’s equivalent of finding an eyelash on her dewy cheek and having her make a wish?
We had an overhead drone shot of the road back to her lab. There was a gingerbread making event with a side order of baking/cookie decorating. We finally got to the craft fair. There was a snow globe on one of the shelves when they went gift shopping.
Five minutes to go and we FINALLY got tree decorating! And a tree lighting.
Did I Hear/See That Right?
I enjoyed this movie so much that I basically ignored most of the things that were weird, but the biggest one I cannot ignore is the fact that there is NO WAY the town’s tree magically went from almost dead to fluffy and green in the FEW HOURS between when they realized Dwayne was killing the tree with herbicide and Olivia popping the pill into the tree’s water trough. Not when the small tree at Jack’s house didn’t get better for 10-12 hours. And I’m sorry – but a pine needle is not going to turn green again once it has turned brown and died, even if it is still clutching onto the branch. But it’s Christmas! Ignore all that!
Feelgoods
I climbed trees as a kid. I LOVED climbing trees. Go Olivia!
I love that Danica always chooses to play science nerds. She is so well-known for being personally invested in showing young girls that they can do science and math and not have to feel like they are an outsider.
The White Elephant was fun to watch. We host a WE party every year and we play the game slightly differently than what was shown in the movie. HOWEVER, this year we plan on doing it the way they did it in this movie! They open the gift FIRST and then decide if they want to steal! We normally start the round by letting someone decide whether they will steal OR open a gift. So the round ENDS with someone opening a gift versus stealing. But this year we’ll do it the way they did it.
General Thoughts
The humor was on point in this one. I’m not a huge fan of puns or themed jokes, but I still laughed out loud several times during “You, Me. and the Christmas Trees.”
Re-watchability
I totally plan on watching this movie again. It was so fun to watch and a great way to get into the holiday season in October!
The Ranking
“You, Me, and the Christmas Trees” tops the list, you guys! The Countdown to Christmas movies started out strong and I’m HERE FOR IT.
- You, Me and The Christmas Trees (air date: Oct 22) – 716 pts – weighted score: 121.3 (85.1%)
- Crashing Through The Snow (air date: July 10) – 705 pts – weighted score: 118.1 (82.8%)
- It Was Always You (air date: Feb 27) – 668 pts – weighted score: 114.2 (80.1%)
- You Had Me At Aloha (air date: June 5) – 675 pts – weighted score: 111.4 (78.1%)
- Sweet Carolina (air date: May 15) – 648 pts – weighted score: 110.1 (77.2%)
- Taking a Shot at Love (air date: Jan 2) – 641 pts – weighted score: 108.9 (76.4%)
- Don’t Go Breaking My Heart (air date: Mar 27) – 636 pts – weighted score: 108.5 (76.1%)
- Right in Front of Me (air date: Apr 18) – 637 pts – weighted score: 108.0 (75.8%)
- As Luck Would Have It (air date: Apr 10) – 638 pts – weighted score: 107.7 (75.5%)
- Her Pen Pal (air date: June 19) – 636 pts – weighted score: 107.1 (75.1%)
- The Baker’s Son (air date: June 13) – 637 pts – weighted score: 106.3 (74.6%)
- Love Strikes Twice (air date: Oct 2) – 608 pts – weighted score: 105.2 (73.8%)
- A Winter Getaway (air date: Jan 23) – 620 pts – weighted score: 104.4 (73.3%)
- Love, For Real (air date: July 31) – 607 pts – weighted score: 103.6 (72.7%)
- Rise and Shine, Benedict Stone (air date: Oct 1) – 595 pts – weighted score: 103.0 (72.2%)
- Mix Up in the Mediterranean (air date: Feb 20) – 590 pts – weighted score: 102.5 (71.9%)
- Advice to Love By (air date: Oct 16) – 599 pts – weighted score: 102.2 (71.7)
- Two For The Win (air date: Jan 16) – 603 pts – weighted score: 101.8 (71.4%)
- Taking the Reins (air date: Sept 28) – 574 pts – weighted score: 101.2 (71.0%)
- Raise a Glass to Love (air date: Sept 18) – 590 pts – weighted score: 100.7 (70.7%)
- Chasing Waterfalls (air date: Mar 20) – 570 pts – weighted score: 100.3 (70.4%)
- Roadhouse Romance (air date: Sept 11) – 571 pts – weighted score: 100.2 (70.3%)
- Sweet Pecan Summer (air date: ) – 576 pts – weighted score: 97.3 (68.3%)
- Sand Dollar Cove (air date: June 26) – 557 pts – weighted score: 96.8 (67.9%)
- Hearts Down Under (air date: Apr 24) – 547 pts – weighted score: 95.2 (66.8%)
- Fit for a Prince (air date: Mar 6) – 546 pts – weighted score: 94.6 (66.4%)
- A New Year’s Resolution (air date: Jan 9) – 516 pts – weighted score: 90.5 (63.5%)
- Finding Love in Mountain View (air date: ) – 504 pts – weighted score: 89.5 (62.8%)
- A Little Daytime Drama (air date: Aug 21) – 511 pts – weighted score: 87.7 (61.5%)
- Baby, It’s Cold Inside (air date: May 8) – 495 pts – weighted score: 85.6 (60.0%)
- Playing Cupid (air date: Feb 13) – 466 pts – weighted score: 82.6 (58.0%)
- Beverly Hills Wedding (air date: Feb 6) – 431 pts – weighted score: 80.6 (56.5%)
- Journey of my Heart (air date: ) – 450 pts – weighted score: 76.0 (53.3%)
- Snowkissed (air date: Jan 31) – 402 pts – weighted score: 76.0 (53.3%)
To see where this movie lands in my overall rankings of Hallmark movies, visit my Hallmark Movie Rankings page!
What did you think of “You, Me, and the Christmas Trees”? Comment below and let me know!
Sadly, I did not like this movie. I felt it was slow and the leads did not connect. Having said, I love Danica and Benjamin.
Having said, I am a big fan of both Danica and Benhamin.
I’m sorry you didn’t like it, Kathleen!
Just finished this one, I thought it was really fun. I really liked Danica’s character this year it wasnt unlikeable like she normally is. I wish we got told what the issue with the trees were and the red haired women didnt get a gift at the white elephant party