Hallmark Channel
Well, we’ve made it to the end of Hallmark Channel’s 2025 ‘Countdown to Christmas’ with this 24th movie of the season, The Christmas Baby. Hallmark really went out on a limb with this one, giving us a very different story that was not all about the ‘meet cute’ and waiting for a new couple to fall in love. This one has an established couple dealing with an unexpected addition to their family, and how that may break down or strengthen those bonds. Does this bold swing pay off?
The Christmas Baby stars Ali Liebert and Katherine Barrell as happily married couple Erin and Kelly. Erin owns a packing and shipping business in Albany, while Kelly does set design and construction for a local theatre (the noise of which annoys cranky neighbor Mr. Seltzer). The women love their life together and are very secure in their choice to not have a child to disrupt their lives, but fate has other plans. On the night of an awards ceremony where Kelly will be honored, Erin almost does not make it in time because someone has left a surprise package in the shop — a baby in a stroller, with a note specifically choosing Erin and Kelly to take care of and become mothers to the boy, Nicholas (an appropriate Christmas name). Erin makes it to the ceremony just in time, shocking Kelly as she is accepting her award, and afterwards they make a call to have someone come and take care of the baby. A woman named Betty arrives and assures them Nicholas will be given the best of care after he’s taken to the hospital to be checked out, but not long after Betty has finished with Nicholas and is off to catch a few winks of sleep, she finds Erin and Kelly in the waiting room, having decided that since they were chosen they should care for Nicholas until a foster family can be found.
Erin has always been open to having children, but Kelly has always been against it, saying a child would disrupt their lives … and having baby Nicholas around proves her point as the women have to juggle their schedules, and Kelly is finding it impossible to do her very noisy work — as opening night rapidly approaches — while Erin is trying to get Nicholas to sleep. Mr. Seltzer is also not happy about the new noise of a crying baby. Betty arrives with the news that a foster family that she’s worked with before is taking Nicholas, and after they say their goodbyes they both realize how empty their home is now. Erin takes it especially hard, feeling a sense of resentment toward Kelly for not being open to keeping Nicholas, but Kelly may be feeling things Erin is not aware of as she angrily throws all of the baby stuff into the crib and drags it all into the garage so she doesn’t have to look at it anymore. Mr. Seltzer suddenly becomes concerned that he doesn’t hear the baby crying anymore, and can see how truly heartbroken Kelly is so he invites her to go for a walk with him and his dog, telling her how he’s become estranged from his own daughter and wants nothing more than to have her back in his life. It was the talk Kelly needed. She and Erin both agree that they need Nicholas back in their lives, and Betty brings him back, telling the women that she had already told the foster family he would only be there for a few days, having gone through this experience with other couples many times before. With Nicholas back, Erin and Kelly — with the support of their mothers Angie and Joyce — decide to proceed with the adoption, with a child welfare officer scheduled to visit the home to make sure they are prepared to have a baby in their house. With friends and family working overtime to baby-proof the house in a matter of days, a slight disaster occurs at the building where Erin’s business is housed — the pipes have burst, the power is off, everyone has been evacuated and she has packages stacked up that need to be delivered or picked up before Christmas … and it’s Christmas Eve. Having everything sent to the house … and then letting Kelly know … seems like the only option and during all the chaos of people coming and going and boxes stacked everywhere … the child welfare officer arrives. Could this freak event ruin their chances of adopting Nicholas? And will the sudden request from the mother to visit the house and see Nicholas completely end their new dream of being a family with a child? Well, it’s Hallmark and it’s Christmas so you can do the math!
Hallmark Channel
After a season of romantic dramas and romantic comedies and family holiday gatherings with new romances in the mix, and angelic intervention and secret royals, most of which were very enjoyable, Hallmark gives us a truly down-to-earth Christmas story with an already established couple dealing with what life throws at them. And that the couple is a same-sex couple, happily married, doesn’t make the story any different than if it was a male-female couple, because this isn’t just a story about the relationship or the complications a child brings, it’s a story about love, plain and simple. And as the poster tagline states, ‘Love is infinitely shareable.’ Hallmark will undoubtedly get some flack from the hate groups like One Million Moms for daring to depict a same-sex couple as ‘normal’ and loving and wanting to have a child, but the movie — with a lovely script by Topher Payne — doesn’t make a big deal out of the characters’ sexuality. They are simply human beings sharing their love with each other and this child they never knew they wanted so badly. There is nothing abnormal or out of the ordinary here, and hopefully people will take the opportunity to sit down and become emotionally involved with the story and the characters to see that we’re all the same and we all want the same things. Payne has skillfully drawn the characters of Erin and Kelly as just average, every day people, your next door neighbors, people who work in and support their community. They also have a pair of delightful mothers who are maybe even more excited about the baby than they are, both having a wonderful relationship with each other and their daughters, willing to drop everything to help out so Erin and Kelly don’t get too overwhelmed. The couple also has a great support system of friends who help them out, and the character of Betty is written as a warm and caring person, looking out for the best interest of the baby and the potential parents. The movie is just filled with love and emotion, and even when times are tough for Erin and Kelly, either being overwhelmed by having their schedules disrupted or heartbroken when they first decide a foster family would be in Nicholas’ best interest, there is still that bond of love between them. Not even a bit of resentment can dull that, and they even try to rationalize their decision by saying one day this will all be a funny story they’ll tell at parties, no matter how badly their hearts are broken in the moment. But once they realize that they have enough love for each other and Nicholas, and because they were chosen by the mother to raise him, they are willing to do whatever it takes to bring Nicholas into their home. It is a lovely story full of real, earned emotions, and Eva Tavares has done a wonderful job directing the movie, keeping everything grounded in reality (as much as it can be considering the adoption process is much more rigorous and time-consuming, but as Betty says there are special circumstances as they were chosen and it is in the baby’s best interest to be with them). Only a real Scrooge could hate this movie.
As for the cast, I loved each and every person in the movie. Ali Liebert and Katherine Barrell are amazing as Erin and Kelly, with Liebert’s Erin much more open to bringing Nicholas into their lives, showing so much compassion and love for the baby even after a day or two with them. She gives Erin a huge heart, with deep emotions and when she is hurt by Kelly’s more pragmatic attitude about having a child, always throwing the word ‘practical’ out there which grates on Erin’s nerves, every emotion Erin is experiencing is shown on Liebert’s face. She just breathes life into this character to the point that we almost feel like we’re eavesdropping on real people dealing with real life. If the Emmys ever stopped to consider a Hallmark movie for recognition, Liebert would be right up there for an award consideration. Barrell, too, makes Kelly so real, making herself the one in the relationship who has to take things into consideration, to be the ‘practical’ one. But she finally reveals that her own childhood, being the youngest of five and having to fight for attention, is what is holding her back from accepting the idea of a baby. She has the perfect life and the perfect love and she doesn’t want to have to fight for Erin’s attention over the baby. It’s a very real reaction and Barrell brings all of Kelly’s anxieties to the forefront realistically. And once she’s in, she’s all in and will do anything to bring Nicholas into their home because there is more than enough love to go around. Both actresses do what is required of their roles — to just make them normal folks, normal human beings with professional careers and buckets of love to go around. Brava to both for humanizing these characters that many would want to see as ‘different’ or ‘not normal’. We all breathe the same air and all we want is to live our lives without anyone else trying to dictate how exactly that should be done.
Hallmark Channel
Barbara Niven is also just wonderful as Betty. She comes in with no judgment against the mother who left the child with Erin and Kelly, and she has no judgment when they first decide to give him up to a foster family. She just brings a wonderful sensitivity to the role, a calming force, and she cares about Erin and Kelly just as much as she does Nicholas. When she delivers the news to them that the mother would like to talk to them in person, she handles the situation with grace, not flat out telling them to do it, but gently suggesting that it would be the best decision for all of them (and it turns out they do know the mother, though not really personally but it’s someone they have encountered almost daily who watched them and felt they would make the best parents for her baby). Niven brings such warmth to the character even when she has to do things by the book, gently walking Erin and Kelly through all the steps they need to take. A wonderful, wonderful performance. Robert Wisden is also very good as Mr. Seltzer, taking a curmudgeonly character always complaining about the noise to a man full of wisdom and emotion, able to feel Kelly’s pain through his own disappointment of having little contact with his own daughter. His talk with Kelly also opens himself up to calling his daughter, hoping to make amends, leading to another emotional heart-tug in the story.
Caitriona Murphy and Rebecca Staab are also delightful as mothers Angie and Joyce (although the casting is odd as the dark-haired Murphy plays blonde Liebert’s mother, while blonde Staab plays brunette Barrell’s mother). They both show that Angie and Joyce have a wonderfully close relationship, neither mother feels the need to compete for attention, they both work together to help their daughters navigate what it means to have a new baby, laughing at the idea that 24 diapers are going to get them through a few days, putting their own lives aside to help their daughters, also visibly heartbroken when it seems they have decided to let Nicholas go, but never judgmental about their decision. These are mothers anyone would be lucky to have. Andrew J. Hampton, Lukas Pfob and Katrina Reynolds play friends Travis, Andrew and Jennifer beautifully, not above wagering on Erin possibly not showing up in time for the awards ceremony, and more than willing to step up when they need to get the house ready for the inspection. It takes a village to raise a child and all of these actors show that is entirely possible when love is involved.
I personally haven’t been feeling the holiday spirit much this year, but The Christmas Baby helped my heart grow three times its size, making me tear up, laugh and just feel filled with love while watching Erin and Kelly navigate this situation that has been presented to them. While Hallmark has produced a number of delightful movies this holiday season, The Christmas Baby is probably the best Christmas gift they could have given us, a movie that really communicates what this time of year is all about — love. I love this movie, the characters, the actors, from beginning to end. They and all of the people who made this happen deserve much credit for putting this story out into the world, knowing there would be negativity thrown at them. It was a brave decision, it was handled with the greatest of care, and we should thank each and every one of them who made it happen.
And Happy Holidays to everyone who has taken the time to visit Hotchka and read our reviews this holiday season. Your engagement and comments are a very welcome gift. Thank you all, and Happy New Year!
The Christmas Baby has a run time of 1 hour 24 minutes, is rated TV-G, and is streaming on Hallmark+.
Preview – The Christmas Baby
Hallmark Channel