“SLOW BURNING CHRISTMAS ROMANCE”
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW:
’TWAS THE TEXT BEFORE CHRISTMAS is a Christmas romance on the Great American Family Channel. An ignored smartphone text message sent to the wrong number becomes the seed of a series of relationships. Mabel, who entered her granddaughter’s phone number incorrectly, invites the beautiful wrong-number recipient, Addie, to her family’s Christmas. When Addie meets Mabel’s son James, a budding romance between the New York City chiropractor and the international travel doctor begins. It will develop slowly, because they meet only during three consecutive Christmas in Mabel’s Vermont hometown. Things keep getting in the way of true romance.
’TWAS THE TEXT BEFORE CHRISTMAS has appealing performances and beautiful cinematography. However, the story unfolds a bit too slowly while viewers wait for the young couple to profess their growing love for one another. The couple keeps avoiding the topic, even when they both break up with their new boyfriend and girlfriend. That said, the movie is extremely wholesome and has a strong moral worldview with some Christian references. For example, ’TWAS THE TEXT BEFORE CHRISTMAS celebrates family, marriage, hospitality, gift-giving, and Small Town America.
CONTENT:
(BB, C, CapCap, PP, A, M)
Dominant Worldview and Other Worldview Content/Elements:
Strong moral worldview with some Christian and Christmas references promotes family, chaste relationships, friendship, hospitality, gift-giving, and marriage, story takes place over three consecutive Christmas holidays, there are aerial photos of a snowy New England church in scene transitions, a cross-shaped star serves as a Christmas tree topper, a nominal grace prayer is uttered at Christmas dinner tables, lead male character’s mother quotes Hebrews 13:2 to encourage “showing hospitality to strangers, and thereby entertaining angels unaware” from Hebrews 13:2, the lead male character gives the lead female character a necklace that sports a charm of angel’s wings to commemorate his mother’s quote, plus there are strong pro-capitalist elements where lead female character works at a chiropractic office, lead male character is a doctor who travels the world to help patients, and a supporting character runs a local inn that’s been in his family for generations, and movie has a positive view of Small Town America
Foul Language:
No foul language
Violence:
No violence
Sex:
No sex
Nudity:
No nudity
Alcohol Use:
One light, brief reference to alcohol use
Smoking and/or Drug Use and Abuse:
No smoking or drugs; and,
Miscellaneous Immorality:
It’s mentioned that one lead character’s sibling experienced their spouse leaving them.
MORE DETAIL:
A smartphone text message is the spark that ignites the romantic fire of ’TWAS THE TEXT BEFORE CHRISTMAS, a Christmas romance on the Great American Family network. The text message is from an unknown number and initially gets properly ignored. Yet one thing leads to another, and ’TWAS THE TEXT BEFORE CHRISTMAS eventually leads viewers through three consecutive Christmas holidays, portraying the story of a slowly developing relationship for not just one but two couples.
Addie Stevens, a chiropractic doctor in New York City, receives the anonymous text while at work. A second text has Addie message back, “Who is this?” Turns out that it’s a total stranger, an elderly woman named Mabel Granway in Hartford, Vermont, who entered her granddaughter’s phone number incorrectly. One mistaken numeral sent the text to Addie instead.
The next day, Mabel makes a video call to Addie, first to apologize, then to invite Addie to her family’s Christmas in Vermont because Addie’s father went to Australia alone to visit her brother. After some thought, Addie calls Mabel and accepts. She also books a stay at a local inn in Vermont to have her own place to stay, just in case the holiday visit with Mabel and her family turns out to be too awkward.
That first Christmas in Vermont, Addie meets Mabel’s son, James, a traveling medical doctor who serves months-long stints in foreign countries around the world. There’s immediate chemistry between Addie and James, but both must return to their careers the next day.
The second Christmas finds Addie back in Vermont celebrating with the Granway family, with both James and her exchanging gifts of personal meaning that recall past conversations between them. James becomes a bit more open about his feelings for Addie, exclaiming, for instance, that he wasn’t sorry that Addie’s new boyfriend, Luc, had to cancel spending Christmas with Addie in New York. He also tells her privately, over a cup of hot beverage, about the Japanese phrase “koi no yokan” that describes “the feeling of knowing that you will fall in love with the person you just met.” Interruptions call them back to Mabel’s house for family goodbyes.
Right before the third Christmas, Addie finds out her father plans to move to Australia to join her brother there. Also, Traci, Addie’s best friend and coworker, is moving to the suburbs and a new job closer to her new home. Addie’s closest family and friends will no longer be in the Big Apple with her. Both Traci and her father urge Addie to use her upcoming trip to Vermont to tell James how deeply she feels about him.
Will Addie and James ever get together?
’TWAS THE TEXT BEFORE CHRISTMAS has appealing performances and beautiful cinematography. However, the story unfolds a bit too slowly while viewers wait for the young male romantic lead to profess his love for the heroine. The couple keeps avoiding the topic, even when they both break up with their new boyfriend and girlfriend.
The movie is extremely wholesome, however. It also has a strong moral worldview and positive Christian references celebrating family, hospitality, marriage, and the Christmas spirit of gift-giving. At one point, the romantic male lead’s mother cites Hebrews 13:2 to encourage “showing hospitality to strangers, and thereby entertaining angels unaware.” This prompts her son, James, to give Addie a necklace of angel’s wings, with a small emerald in it, which is Addie’s birthstone.
’TWAS THE TEXT BEFORE CHRISTMAS also shows images of the local church and a Christmas tree topper in the form of a Cross. However, a prayer before two Christmas dinners is a bit general and too innocuous. After all, most of the movie takes place in Vermont, one of the least Christian states in the Union. That said, the movie promotes a pro-capitalist viewpoint and has a positive depiction of Small Town America in Vermont.
