It’s Christmas Eve, and we’ve reached the final Hallmark Christmas movie of the year. We’re closing out the season with The Christmas Baby.

A couple receives a baby boy before Christmas with a note meant for them. While temporarily caring for him during the holiday rush, they navigate their relationship, careers, and the foster-to-adopt process.

December 21 2025 | Hallmark Channel

• Katherine Barrell as Kelly
• Ali Liebert as Erin

Erin is awakened early by the sound of her wife, Kelly, working on Christmas decorations in the living room. Kelly is designing elaborate Christmas set pieces for the theater, and she’s so consumed by the project that they haven’t even decorated their own house yet.

That night, Kelly is set to receive an award at a theater ceremony. Erin is running late because she’s finishing up at work. While getting changed at home, she hears someone enter the house. When she goes to check, she doesn’t find a person — just a baby.

Erin tries to track down the baby’s parent, but no one is around. In the stroller, she finds a note addressed to Erin and Kelly, asking them to take care of a baby named Nicolas. The note says they’re sorry and that they tried.

Unsure what to do, Erin brings Nicolas with her to the event, arriving just in time to see Kelly win her award. Afterward, Kelly insists they call the authorities, which they do. Betty from DSS arrives to take Nicolas into care, but Erin immediately feels uneasy. The note clearly suggests the birth mother wanted Nicolas to be with them. Erin and Kelly talk to Betty, and Nicolas ends up going home with them.

The next day, their theater friends come over and help brainstorm who Nicolas’s parent might be. Soon after, both of their mothers arrive — uninvited — to “help.” The moms raise concerns about how Erin and Kelly’s lives aren’t exactly set up for a baby.

Erin and Kelly try to adjust, but it’s overwhelming. Kelly starts to doubt they should keep Nicolas and calls Betty to ask about another placement, despite Erin’s reluctance. They argue, then make up the next morning, but Erin is still struggling. Kelly points out that kids aren’t practical — and reminds Erin that before they got married, Erin said she didn’t want children. Erin admits that Nicolas has awakened something in her she didn’t know was there.

The next day at work, Kelly mistakenly believes she’s being asked whether she wants to adopt Nicolas — and she says yes. In that moment, she realizes her fear has been keeping her from what she truly wants. The couple gets Nicolas back and begins preparing their home for the official home study.

On Christmas Eve, they learn that the birth mother has contacted Betty and wants to meet them. When Erin and Kelly arrive, they’re shocked to discover it’s the barista from the coffee shop they visit every week. She shares her story and formally asks Erin and Kelly to be Nicolas’s parents.

They say yes.

The movie ends with Erin and Kelly celebrating Christmas with their family — and their new baby boy.

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