… a depressing Countdown to Christmas

Chinggay and Patty do a speed round of the last few weeks of Countdown to Christmas—spoiler alert, none of the movies were hits and some of them were depressing downers (we see you, Oy to the World!). In order to save time, we go straight into our Top 8 Christmas movies of the year and land on a well-rounded mix that will give everyone a little bit of Hallmark holiday magic (thanks to our favorite director, Claire Niederpruem). Thanks for staying with us through Season 6 of But Make It Hallmark!

A Grand Ole Opry Christmas

Nikki Deloach and Kristoffer Polaha

Merry Christmas Ted, Cooper!

Robert Buckley and Kimberley Sustad

Three Wisest Men

Andrew Walker, Tyler Hynes, Paul Campbell

Holiday Touchdown: A Bills Love Story

Holland Roden and Matthew Daddario

Christmas at the Catnip Cafe

Erin Cahill and Paul Campbell

Christmas on Duty

Janel Parrish and Parker Young

We Met in December

Autumn Reeser and Niall Matter

A Keller Christmas Vacation

Jonathan Bennett, Brandon Routh, and Eden Sher

Thanks to ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Pietro Lazatin⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ for our music and ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Paola Lazatin⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ for our cover art. Follow us on Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@butmakeithallmark

… was there ever any doubt we’d love a Polaha movie?

Chinggay and Patty get a little bit of everything—naughty/bad movies, standard/mid manicure movies, and Hallmark hall of famers. There were more veterans than usual this Thanksgiving week (Rachel, Nikki, Autumn, Erin, Niall, Brendan, Paul, Kris, and BMIH’s best director ever Claire Niederpruem) and some new-ish faces who we definitely want to see again (Holland and Laci!). We play HCU madlibs as we try to figure out how Hallmark finagled these plots by recycling old movies. Don’t miss the top three—they’ll give you a little bit of everything in the best way.

A Grand Ole Opry Christmas

Nikki Deloach and Kristoffer Polaha

Holiday Touchdown: A Bills Love Story

Holland Roden and Matthew Daddario

Christmas at the Catnip Cafe

Erin Cahill and Paul Campbell

We Met in December

Autumn Reeser and Niall Matter

The More the Merrier

Rachel Boston and Brendan Penny

Melt My Heart This Christmas

Laura Vandervoort and Stephen Huszar

An Alpine Holiday

Ashley Williams, Laci J. Mailey, and Julien Samani

The Snow Must Go On

Heather Hemmens and Corey Cott

The Christmas Cup

Rhiannon Fish and Ben Rosenbaum

Thanks to ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Pietro Lazatin⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ for our music and ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Paola Lazatin⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ for our cover art. Follow us on Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@butmakeithallmark

… we’re back from our hiatus

Chinggay and Patty are in town again to revive their favorite Christmas tradition—watching and ranking all the movies. The first nine of 2026 are a hodgepodge of mostly nice list flicks with very few naughties and misses. It’s good to see the usual suspects back on screen (welcome back to Countdown to Christmas, Brandon Routh). With fewer movies on offer this season, the stakes are higher, and our top movies mean so much more!

Merry Christmas Ted, Cooper!

Robert Buckley and Kimberley Sustad

Three Wisest Men

Andrew Walker, Tyler Hynes, Paul Campbell

Christmas On Duty

Janel Parrish and Parker Young

A Keller Christmas Vacation

Jonathan Bennett, Brandon Routh, and Eden Sher

A Royal Montana Christmas

Fiona Gubelmann and Warren Christie

Christmas Above the Clouds

Erin Krakow and Tyler Hynes

A Christmas Angel Match

Meghan Ory and Benjamin Ayres

Tidings for the Season

Tamera Mowry-Housley and B.J. Britt

Thanks to ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Pietro Lazatin⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ for our music and ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Paola Lazatin⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ for our cover art. Follow us on Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@butmakeithallmark

… who’s taking the crown?

Chinggay and Patty are finally in the same city to record the pod and talk Hallmark royalty. It was slim picking for March with only three royal movies. Spoiler alert: none of them were bad, but BMIH faves Andrew Walker and Mallory Jepsen reigned supreme this season. We’re introduced to actor Charlie Carrick, who we definitely want to see back on our screens. As usual, a Claire Niederpruem movie rules our hearts this month.

Royal-ish

Nichole Sakura, William Moseley

The Reluctant Royal

Andrew Walker, Emilie de Ravin

The Royal We

Mallory Jansen, Charlie Carrick

Thanks to ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Pietro Lazatin⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ for our music and ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Paola Lazatin⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ for our cover art. Follow us on Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@butmakeithallmark

… giddy all through February

Chinggay and Patty dive into the month of love with a lineup that was full of twists. Our tried and true regulars unexpectedly lost their usual #1 spot (sorry Lacey and Robert), but it was a three-way tie for the top for RLC, SMF, Janel Parrish, and past fave actors from Holiday Hotline and Ride. In this month’s FMK, both ex-husbands kick the bucket. Bonus: We score another IRL connection to the HCU.

An Unexpected Valentine

Lacey Chabert, Robert Buckley

The Wish Swap

Emily Tennant, Jake Foy

Return to Office

Janel Parrish, Scott Michael Foster

Sisterhood Inc.

Rachael Leigh Cook, Daniella Monet, Leonidas Gulaptis

Thanks to ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Pietro Lazatin⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ for our music and ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Paola Lazatin⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ for our cover art. Follow us on Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@butmakeithallmark

… a happy Hallmark New Year to all!

Chinggay and Patty start the 6th (!) season of the pod with two movies that were “good enough” and two movies that were pitch perfect. The true winners this month are the comeback kids—Laci and Julie, and David Elsendoorn and JPDP, Juan Pablo di Pace. Belgium got us giddy and giggling; Argentina had us falling in love; and Winter Escape had us planning our personal hypothetical meet-the-fam moments for our F***MarryKill husbands.

Polar Opposites

Rhiannon Fish, Markian Tarasiuk

Love of the Irish

Shenae Grimes-Beech, Stephen Hagan, Moira Kelly

The Perfect Setting

Laci J. Mailey, David Elsendoorn

My Argentine Heart

Julie Gonzalo, Juan Pablo di Pace

Thanks to ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Pietro Lazatin⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ for our music and ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Paola Lazatin⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ for our cover art. Follow us on Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@butmakeithallmark

… our top 12 tradition is back

Chinggay and Patty continue the annual tradition of ranking the best Countdown to Christmas and Miracles of Christmas movies of the year. 2024 was the year of the Nice List and the year of the Dan Jeannotte Redemption Award. We loved so many offerings this year that 20 (out of 40) made it into the Nice List. Also a year of forgiveness and redemption—where so many leads we abhorred, refused to pay attention to, and just plain disliked managed to get in our good graces and win us over. What a year for BMIH! We’ll see you again for our 6th season in 2025.

Thanks to ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Pietro Lazatin⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ for our music and ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Paola Lazatin⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ for our cover art. Follow us on Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@butmakeithallmark

… after 10 weeks, we’ve made it through all the movies

Chinggay and Patty, gluttons of punishment that they are, participate in Hallmark+’s Cherry Lane trilogy and wildly regret it. They finish the season with one last Countdown to Christmas movie with newfound empathy for Jessica Lowndes, and the final Miracles of Christmas offering where it is established that in the HCU, you can trade in a Christmas stocking for a house.

Thanks to ⁠⁠⁠⁠Pietro Lazatin⁠⁠⁠⁠ for our music and ⁠⁠⁠⁠Paola Lazatin⁠⁠⁠⁠ for our cover art. Follow us on Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠⁠@butmakeithallmark

… in which Dan Jeannotte does not receive the Dan Jeannotte Redemption Award

Chinggay and Patty didn’t think this week would fare well since multiple recipients of the K in our F*** Marry Kill segment showed up as lead actors. However, Dan Jeannotte, Brooke d’Orsay, and most-number-of-appearances-in-this-season awardee Benjamin Ayres all get passing marks (read: we didn’t hate them). Hanukkah moves forward with its multiple year grand slam with Stacey Farber in Hanukkah on the Rocks. Plus there was no doubt that Kimberly Sustad would come out as top of the class with her excellent performance in the Santa Class.

Thanks to ⁠⁠⁠Pietro Lazatin⁠⁠⁠ for our music and ⁠⁠⁠Paola Lazatin⁠⁠⁠ for our cover art. Follow us on Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠@butmakeithallmark

… ‘‘twas a week of no naughties

Chinggay and Patty are flummoxed at how post-Thanksgiving week has had 4/4 movies on the BMIH Nice List. There’s a little bit of everything—neurodivergence with endearing kids, royal ridiculousness that we actually loved, plus Patty has yet another one-sided showdown with her nemesis, Barbara Niven (who won us over). But, it’s Janel Parrish who takes the crown as the inimitable Sugarplum in the best movie of the week.

Thanks to ⁠⁠Pietro Lazatin⁠⁠ for our music and ⁠⁠Paola Lazatin⁠⁠ for our cover art. Follow us on Instagram: ⁠⁠@butmakeithallmark