The 麻豆传媒映画screen scene is famous 鈥檙ound the world for its sci-fi and superhero shows, but a lesser-known-but-equally-important subset of the industry is the Christmas MOW, the bulk of which are produced by and for Hallmark.
麻豆传媒映画actresses Crystal Lowe, Nicole Oliver, and Kalyn Miles all have Hallmark Christmas movies on rotation this holiday season, and so who better to dish on festive traditions and memories as we kick our merry-making into high-gear?
CRYSTAL LOWE
Primeval New World, Signed, Sealed, Delivered
Christmas movies: Christmas at Holly Lodge, Marry Me at Christmas, Signed, Sealed, Delivered for Christmas
On letters from Santa, then and now
鈥淪anta would leave a letter every year. He鈥檇 always talk about the things that he found special about me, and the amazing accomplishments that I鈥檇 had over the year, and he鈥檇 remind me to not forget those things in the next year. Santa had the same writing as the Easter Bunny, and he wrote incredibly well. It鈥檚 almost like an English professor was guiding him. Funnily enough, my mother is an English professor. Santa still writes a letter to my husband, even though he鈥檚 in his 40s, and I will continue to make sure those letters are written to the future generations in my family.鈥�
On the connection between Christmas and her current career
鈥淢y mom was a Sunday school teacher. She was terribly shy, and she didn鈥檛 want me to be shy, so she put me in the Christmas play to try to make sure I wouldn鈥檛 be shy. I came off stage and said, 鈥楾his is what I want to be forever!鈥欌��
On what goes into making a Christmas film
鈥淚t鈥檚 usually boiling. That鈥檚 a rule of thumb. It鈥檚 not always easy to find holiday cheer when there鈥檚 no holiday spirit around you. When you鈥檙e shooting in July, and people are in flip flops and t-shirts, you鈥檝e got to find those happy places that you had before and use them to make it work. But with the Signed, Sealed, Delivered Christmas movie that we did, [showrunner] Martha Williamson, her writing is so on point, and I had so many people reach out and say it was the kind of movie that they needed at just the right time; that movie in particular restores a lot of people鈥檚 faith in humanity, and that people are good and kind and somebody out there is watching over you.鈥�
听
NICOLE OLIVER
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Wonder
Christmas movie: A Gift to Remember
On her childhood Christmases
鈥淲e had a fake tree growing up because both of my parents had had fires with their real trees. My mom was always spraying pine-scented aerosol to make the fake tree smell real. We had this really old Nativity set, with one working bulb. There was garland on the staircase, and Christmas carols playing all the time: Englebert Humperdinck, Perry Como, Neil Diamond.鈥�
On what she wanted for Christmas when she was growing up
鈥淚 wanted the Donny and Marie dolls, and the Charlie鈥檚 Angels dolls, and the Bionic Woman, too: the version where you roll up the skin on her arm and it reveals a little bionic piece that you can pop out. It was outstanding. I really wanted the Skipper Barbie that when you wound her arm, she grew an inch, and she grew boobs. It鈥檚 real. I still have it. It was weird and wrong from the feminist perspective, but I wanted it.鈥�
On how she feels about Christmas as an adult
鈥淐hristmas is home. Christmas is family. Christmas is giving. Now that my kids are getting bigger, my Christmas is nostalgic, and I think we鈥檙e at a point now where Christmas was for the kids for so long, and now it鈥檚 for all of us. My husband has told my kids that Christmas is probably for your mother, meaning me, because I love it so much.鈥�
听
KALYN MILES
Android Employed, Somewhere Between
Christmas movie: Christmas Princess
On Christmas movies she watches during the month of December
鈥�Elf. It鈥檚 a Wonderful Life. Home Alone 1 and 2 are equally good. My mom loves the Hallmark MOWs, which is nice for me, because I鈥檝e obviously been in a few of them, so I don鈥檛 feel like I have to force my family to watch those ones. One classic movie that isn鈥檛 a classic movie at all but is a tradition in our family is the original CBC Anne of Green Gables. It first aired around Christmas when I was growing up; we recorded them on the VCR and my sister and I would watch them all of the time. Now we have the DVDs and I watch them every year at some point during Christmas.鈥�
On Trees Please, the giving project she runs with her mom in which they collect donated trees and decorations and distribute them to those in need around her hometown of Edmonton
鈥淭here are so many of us who want to change things or want to make a difference to someone, but the thing that I struggle with the most is I鈥檓 not rich, I鈥檓 not even close, I work very hard all the time, but at the end of the day, we can鈥檛 change everything and we can鈥檛 make every single person鈥檚 Christmas that thing that our Christmas is going to be 鈥� but if our little thing that we do, like give this tree, this bag of ornaments, these stockings for these kids, if that鈥檚 going to change one person鈥檚 Christmas, then that鈥檚 awesome.鈥澨�
