Dec 20, 2015 4 min read

Just for the record, I love Christmas. I recently helped my wife pick out our live Christmas tree for the umpteenth year. I did my usual job of dragging the tree into the house and putting it our tree stand, getting it ready for her to decorate.

I also love Christmas carols and even Christmas shopping. I always enjoy visiting the mall at this time of the year and running into old friends. Of course, this week could get a little stressful as it’s do-or-die time in getting those special gifts. But I’ve been doing it for years, so I’m pretty much used to it by now.

I even love, “It’s a Wonderful Life,” one of my all-time favorite Christmas movies. In fact, that’s one of my all-time favorite movies of any kind.

But I draw the line on the Hallmark Channel’s Christmas movies. I could see maybe if the channel devoted even December to its Christmas programming, but the channel started its holiday season on Oct. 31. And that’s just way too early for me.

Let’s be honest. These movies aren’t exactly going to win any Academy Awards. There’s no suspense or surprise endings as they pretty much club you over the head with their version of Christmas cheer. In case you’re not familiar with the movies, here are some descriptions of the films.

“I’m not Ready for Christmas”- A movie about honesty, truthfulness and building wholesome relationships around the holidays. It’s a magical story of love.

“Christmas Inc.” — A young woman lands an assistant position with a wealthy entrepreneur, who is closing one of his factories just weeks before Christmas. The woman convinces him to visit the town, hatches a plan to keep the factory afloat and you can guess the rest.

I think you get the idea. The overriding theme is that no challenge is too big to overcome, as everyone finds love and happiness at Christmas.

You might say just find another channel to watch, but that’s easier said than done. Unfortunately my wife is pretty much hooked on these movies. And since she spends a ton of time watching the Pirates and Steelers with me, I have to return the favor by at least watching some of these movies, even though I can’t help from picking every nit I can find.

Then, after trying to tell her that what’s wrong with these movies, much to my chagrin, my good friend and fellow colleague Fran Zajac wrote a column recently about how much she loves the movies. And naturally my wife now reminds me constantly about Fran’s good tastes in movies.

I have to admit that my wife and Fran might not be the only fans of Hallmark’s Christmas movies. During the first week of its movies, the channel was the third most-watched cable network, behind only ESPN and Fox News Channel. According to the ratings, prime-time viewership at Hallmark is up almost 90 percent over the rest of the year. The movie “I’m not Ready for Christmas” brought in 3.6 million viewers while “Christmas Inc.” had 2.5 million people watching it.

I get the popularity to a degree. The non-stop cheer and optimism is somewhat of an antidote for all the grim news on TV these days. It is good to see people getting along and actually helping each other. Thankfully there’s no talk about ISIS or Donald Trump.

My only fear is that some people might think life should be like these movies. Well, that would be nice, but it’s not going to happen. These movies are strictly fantasies. They can’t be confused with reality. No problems are as easy to solve as the ones in these movies and certainly no people are as nice as those in these flicks.

But I guess there are far worse things to do, especially during the holiday season. Who knows, maybe they help people get in the Christmas spirit of things by spreading some holiday cheer.

If the end result is people being even just a little nicer towards each other, then perhaps the movies are worth watching after all.

Mark O’Keefe is the editorial page editor of the Herald-Standard. He can be reached by email at mokeefe@heraldstandard.com, regular mail at 8 Church St., Uniontown, Pa., 15401 or by phone at 724-439-7569.