Hallmark Christmas movies are basically Westerns. Like that most American of genres, they're all about the undeniable pull of small-town living, or how a rustic life is more fulfilling than a chaotic one in the city. As a result, just about every Hallmark Christmas movie involves someone returning to their small hometown and being drawn back to a simpler way of life. It's all about how the ordering force of civilization can lead one to lose touch with one's roots, and a return to the hometown means a return to the self.

This is such a cliché at this point that Hallmark has leaned into it, even occasionally subverting the trope. In the aptly named "Small Town Christmas," for example, a successful big-city writer on a book tour winds up stopping by a small town ... which turns out to be the hometown of a man she once met in the city. Of course, they fall in love. It's also the plot of "Haul Out The Holly," a film where Christmas movie queen Lacey Chabert, playing a woman named Emily, goes back to her small hometown, only to find that her parents have left for the season. Usually, it's the family that brings people back to themselves, but in this case, her character gets drawn into a local Christmas decorating contest ... and wouldn't you know it, she falls in love in the process.

In addition to dealing with the conflict between small-town and big-city living, so many Hallmark Christmas movies are also about the conflict between small and big business. That's also a trope right out of Westerns; it's the plot of one of the best Western movies — "Shane" — which pits rustic individualist farmers against wealthy land barons threatening to buy up the town. On the Hallmark Channel, however, people only tend to be farmers if they're farming Christmas trees; otherwise, these movies love to pit toy store proprietors, pastry chefs, cookie bakers, and the like against encroaching big business. How can a soulless corporation understand the festive wants and needs of the average person the same way a small business owner can? (Actually, maybe these movies have a point!)

Bonus points, of course, if the small-town business owner falls in love with someone who represents big business. That's what happens in the generically-titled "Christmas in Love," in which a small-town baker charms the hunky, out-of-touch CEO whose conglomerate just bought the place where she works. In "Gingerbread Miracle," a woman who's moved back to her small hometown tries to help a local bakery find a buyer who understands the magical charm of baking in small towns; will she fall in love with the baker's son or the guy who's trying to buy the place?

Read More: https://www.slashfilm.com/1728759/things-happen-every-hallmark-christmas-movie/