Du Livre: My thoughts on Christmas movies I've watched this year

In 2017, I discovered the magic that is terrible, corny made-for-TV holiday movies and I haven't looked back. This year, I made an effort to watch more of these cringe-worthy movies and share my (brief) thoughts on them. So if you're still looking to get into the Christmas spirit, look no further than this list!

This cheesy drama followed an interior decorator who has a fondness for spreading the Christmas spirit and a young business man who plans on selling his grandfather's historic hotel. Classic. The acting was soo over the top but I had tons of fun with it, and that's all that matters. Plus, it's an all-black cast. That's rarely heard of!

Oh man, what a tragic follow-up to You Can't Fight Christmas. Miss Me at Christmas takes place concurrently with You Can't Fight Christmas and there was some fun overlap with the characters. The overall story of a famous singer divorcing her maybe-cheating husband didn't rub me the right way. I thought both of them were terrible and couldn't justify why they were attracted to each other. Plus, there was a weird comment about gender-identity that was never explored soooo.

I saw that Vivica A. Fox was in this one and had to watch immediately. Confusingly, we learned that Vivica A. Fox is the mother to a character who has East Asian features (and did some digging, the actress is half Chinese and half Irish). So that was weird. Other than that, the story was pretty 'blah'. A young waitress tried to open a restaurant in Chicago and failed miserably and returned to Colorado to serve at a resort. Enter a celebrity chef and we've got a classic romantic drama, expect it was light on the drama. The couple got together fairly early on and the villain was a snore. The best part of this movie was the City Planner, hands down.

Omg what's not to love? We've got your typical Prince and the Pauper situation with more drama and baking. American Vanessa Hudgens (because do we really need to know the name) was still hung up on her ex-boyfriend when the chance to enter a baking contest. There she meets Duchess Vanessa Hudgens and the two decide to switch places and, of course, find their true loves. I had such a great time with this one and will probably watch it again!

When I saw the line up for upcoming Christmas movies, The Holiday Calendar was one of my most anticipated. This was such a heart-warming story with a multicultural cast to boot! The characters were endearing, and the story line dedicated a lot more time to character development than I had expected. Also, the humor was spot on! This is another one I want to watch again.

This movie left me feeling all kinds of weird. Melissa Joan Hart played a young waitress who was dealing with a lot of stress. She had just bombed a job interview set up by her parents, her well-off boyfriend just left her, and her parents are putting tons of pressure on her for the holiday season. Unsurprisingly, she has a bit of a break and takes a clueless Mario Lopez at gun point and forces him to pretend to be her boyfriend for the duration of her family trip to the cabin. So....pretty problematic. I tried to ignore the hostage situation and focus on the character development which was solid, but I kept being reminded that she kidnapped a man at gun point. Not the best look.

I was really excited to watch this one because of Tatayana Ali (hello Fresh Prince days) and I can't even remember what it was about. Tatayana was a Very Famous lawyer whose sister had a Very Tragic Accident that we don't know much about. Her sister died unexpectedly which brought Tatayana Ali back to small-town Wisconsin to reconnect with an old flame who just happens to be the lawyer of her sister's estate. This one was just okay; there was a lot of guilt to tackle and the chemistry just wasn't there for me. That being said, I'm not mad I watched it.

Man, this was a wild ride. Two kids who had recently lost their father find Santa and run around Chicago with him. It was fun to play the "hey, my job is right there" game because it looked like it was actually filmed in Chicago. Kurt Russell playing Santa was...something else. He kept griping about his fitness plan and the presentation of a chubby Santa and creeping out adults by pointing out what gifts they wanted as children. It gave me The Santa Clause vibes but more extreme. Also somehow believing in Santa is also a religion? It was cute, but did the absolute most at the same time.