CrawlerChunky In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

AutCuddly Great movie! If you want to be entertained and have a few good laughs, see this movie. The music is also very good,

Voxitype Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

Nayan Gough A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

ramiroflo I really enjoyed the idea that "It takes a Village.." In this case a family is watched over. Kinda like when the new kid is at their first day of school and everyone puts out the welcome mat. Even though the boy is tormented, we hope a community will always commune in triumph and tragedy. A wish becomes simple humanity.Also, so excited the fact that two of the actors in the film had similar dagger roles. Buffy a vampire slayer (Kristy Swanson) and a "Max" a head vampire of the Lost Boys(Edward Herrmann) stood nose to nose, in a cafe serving coffee and slingin the hash! Well at least this was a better turnout.

deetdee12 I'll give it a 4, because I DID cry and the little boy was an excellent actor (his stammering just broke my heart). That said, it's A) completely derivative and B) ignores a whole bunch of options open to the destitute mom.First the unoriginal part: Hallmark Hall of Fame themselves already basically did the same movie 12 years ago starring Carla Guigino called "A Season of Miracles". Single, impoverished caretaker of sweet, scraggly moppets? Check. Wonderful small town full of warm hearted people who only want to help? Check. Car problems she can't afford/have her stranded? Check. Perfect hawt lawman love interest? Check. Minimum wage job that she's grateful for and somehow provides for them all? Check. Christmas/Jesus last minute miracle? Check.Except at least in "A Season", Carla's on the run from DHS with her niece and nephew, so you understand why she's hiding in a tiny town and not looking for any assistance. In Martha's case, it just makes zero sense.As an abandoned mom, she has an entire litany of services available to her. She is precisely WHY there are programs like TANF, WIC and Food Stamps. While I admire her independence, I'd have swallowed my pride really fast to keep my kids fed and housed. It's always meant to be a hand up, not a hand out--and clearly she was in dire straights.Instead of wasting precious gas and subjecting my kids to such uncertainty, I would've sucked it up and visited my local DHS office. Where they also would've been able to offer me job training or placement assistance. And provided Early Head Start Care for the youngest (who acted like she was about 18 months, NOT 3). With three kids, she would've been placed at the top of the list for housing, as well.My next visit would've been to the courts (which any DHS social worker, also could've helped me with). Sorry, but fathers don't get to just run out on their kids and then get divorces within a week---totally free of responsibilities. She should've been receiving child support from her first husband for her older daughter, as well.Even if this hadn't been the case, once her kids were enrolled at school again, they would've automatically qualified for free breakfast and lunch---and school officials would've directed her to social services, as well.Instead we saw this silly, Republican fantasy in which the government is evil ("sorry, I had to take out taxes" says Tess Harper. Except with three dependents, earning minimum wage and taxes being so low now, anyway that wouldn't have been much at ALL), but the church and others will provide for you. Except in real life, she'd just work at the local Walmart and watch her life slip away.Also, Kristy Swanson, at 42, was waaaaay too old to portray someone who should've been 30 or younger.And lastly, since everyone so wanted to help her, when she was gonna be tossed out, why didn't someone just say, "hey you can stay with me for awhile"???

dickklip This is a very watchable movie, very typical of the Hallmark Channel Christmas movies, which my wife and I love to watch to get us in the holiday spirit. As is typical, we find a woman whose rodeo cowboy husband has abandoned her; leaving her broke and with three kids to care for. Things go from bad to worse as she battles a series of mishaps trying to find a new home for herself and her children. If you ever think that you've had a bad day or week, you've never gone through anything like this woman faces! The acting is, however, very good, from a variety of veterans, like Edward Hermann, Tess Harper, and others. Ultimately, as with all Hallmark movies, things are resolved in the final six minutes.This is a very enjoyable movie, and I was especially surprised and impressed with the plot theme of showing the true meaning of Christmas, and the power of prayer, something which most modern movies avoid. It definitely is a "feel good" movie, and one which teaches strong family values. Despite the predicable, and somewhat thin plot, and several loose ends being hastily tied up at the end, it is worth the watch.

rob-sibley Our family likes to watch Christmas movies on the Hallmark Channel. While most of the shows are similar it is a safe network to view family style programs. Some of the shows are so bad we just laugh at poor writing, cheap production values and just plain bad acting. Watch "The National Tree" and you'll know what I mean. "A Christmas Wish" was on par with some of the better programs. While the story was familiar to many Hallmark movies the dialog was a cut above. The show was actually filmed during the winter instead of summer with fake snow scattered around. There were some cute moments which caused us to laugh out loud (in a good way), but perhaps what this Christmas movie had that the others did not was the true meaning of the season. Although not over bearing it did mention the birth of Christ and the importance faith plays in our lives. Overall a good effort.