Missed Sleighs, Finding Our Voices, and Rewriting Our Scripts

Lessons we can learn from kitschy Hallmark Christmas movies

Image by Ecaterina Tolicova from Vecteezy

A few years ago, I got in touch with my romantic side when I discovered how much I enjoyed those cheesy Hallmark Christmas movies. Now, I’ve always prided myself on being fiercely independent, the kind of woman who’d never openly admit to needing a man or watching romance movies.

Yes, I confess, I’m a closet Hallmark Movie watcher. I feel like there needs to be a support group for us.

The idea of falling in love within a few hours while engaged to another person? Not exactly my idea of reality. But, you know what? It takes a real man and, dare I say, a real woman to own up to enjoying those movies.

In the end, we all secretly love a good dose of feel-good romance, no matter how eye-rollingly unrealistic it gets.

Why I love watching them

What speaks to me most about these movies is not the romance but the struggle most heroines face in finding their voice or their passion and coming home.

They are with the wrong person because they gave up on themselves many years before and settled.

As women, as human beings, we settle and give up on our dreams and passions out of fear but sometimes out of obligation. We ignore the inner yearnings and the neon signs flashing right before us.

My favorite Hallmark movie

I started thinking about signs when I watched “Shoe Addict’s Christmas” for the second time this year. The movie stars Candace Cameron as Noelle, who works in a human resources department at an upscale department store.

At one time in her life, being a photographer was her dream. However, she boxed up her camera and career goals after a breakup. How many of us boxed up our passions when life threw us some curve balls?

I know I’m certainly guilty of it.

A guardian angel named Charlie, played by Jean Smart, was soon sent to put her on the path she could no longer see, let alone find. To illustrate a point of missed opportunities, a scene unfolds where Charlie recounts the tale of a man who ended up in heaven after being stranded in a treacherous snowstorm.

The lesson

As the man entered the glorious gates of heaven, he asked God in disbelief and confusion why he didn’t save him.

He stated how he expressed his faith and prayed for help during the storm.

God explained he HAD TRIED to save him. He told him he sent someone with a sled three times to rescue him, but he stubbornly REFUSED to get on each and every time.

That scene started me thinking about all the sleighs I have opted not to climb aboard over the years and all those missed opportunities.

Our unboarded sleds

Like a Hallmark movie plot, life is filled with signs and opportunities. The real magic lies not in the romantic resolutions but in the characters’ ability to rediscover their voices and passions.

Their struggle mirrors our battles with fear, complacency, and societal expectations that often lead us away from what we truly desire.

Perhaps, like Noelle, we all need a guardian angel now and then to help us unpack our metaphorical cameras and rediscover the aspirations buried deep inside us.

I couldn’t escape the nagging question: How many “sleighs” had I refused to board over the years, and what missed opportunities did they represent?

Now IS the time

It’s time to confront the fear and obligation that holds us back, to acknowledge the neon signs flashing in front of us, urging us to reclaim the dreams we may have abandoned long ago.

The Hallmark movies, for all their romantic clichés, become a mirror reflecting the untapped potential within all of us. It’s not about finding the perfect love story but finding our voice and passion and coming home to ourselves.

So here’s to our inner Hallmark movie hero/heroine as we rewrite our scripts and get on our sleighs of passion and purpose toward our happily ever afters.

Happy holidays, and cheers to new beginnings in 2024!

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