I can’t stop talking about how shocked I am that there are so many gay Christmas movies now — and while I’ve been absolutely delighted with nearly every holigay thing on offer, something’s been missing. So many films! So many! But none of them just… hit the spot. There’s been supporting gays in Christmas movies with decent budgets, leading gays in Christmas movies made on a dime, there’s been Christmas movies that promised rom-com tropes but made y’all want to run over Mackenzie Davis with your own reindeers, and, of course, there’s Carol. But what about a very sweet, very low stakes romantic comedy that takes place in a town that might as well be the North Pole, where both main characters are queer women who have chemistry with each other, and every scene is just saturated with CHRISTMAS. Trees and lights and stockings and jingle-jingle-jingle bells and wreaths and caroling and every single movement punctuated by basically the Nutcracker score?
Well, I am very pleased to tell you Lifetime’s Under the Christmas Tree is exactly that movie, the one we’ve been waiting for.
Best of all, the leading actresses are Elise Bauman, who you’ve been knowing and loving for about a thousand years, since she first appeared on Carmilla; and Tattiawna Jones, who has been in at least five shows you watch, including The Handmaid’s Tale, The 100, The Bold Type, Lost Girl, and Rookie Blue.
The story goes like this: Alma (Bauman) lives and breathes Christmas, in large part because her family owns an old school Christmas business where they still hand-wrap gifts and send out paper catalogues. Charlie (Jones) is from the governor’s office and she wants one of the giant firs from Alma’s family’s property for the big state tree lighting. Alma’s parents think it would be a cool thing to do; the state will plant a thousand trees to replace it. Alma, however, has had just about enough changes in her life and doesn’t think parting with her beloved fir — the one her great-grandparents planted with their very own hands, the one that shades her chicken coop! — is a good way to celebrate this festive season. It’s more complicated than that, though, because from the second Alma and Charlie meet, they cannot stop making cartoon heart eyes at each other. Sometimes in the middle of the street, sometimes in the snow, sometimes in the dark, sometimes at the French patisserie owned by Ricki Lake.
“Do you think she’s gay,” Alma’s dad (who is also Veronica Mars’ dad) asks after meeting Charlie. “DAD!” Alma says, “Of course she’s gay.” (I laughed.)
Alma and Charlie both love Christmas, they both love their families, they even have a shockingly candid chat about their queer identities, just clip-clipping away at wrapping paper and tying bows. They are both so charming. If you loved Laura Hollis, you’re gonna love Alma too. There’s no surprises here, no twists and turns, it’s exactly the kind of formula we’ve all come to crave from our Christmas movies, the kind your mom could wake up to after dozing off on the couch, and just keep watching when she wakes up ’cause it’s adorable. This movie is freaking adorable! And that simple adorableness is actually what makes it subversive. This is the network that gave us The Truth About Jane, you know? Christmas tropes have now been officially queered. We’ve come a long way.
You can watch Under the Christmas Tree on Lifetime or stream it from Lifetime dot com.
So…is there a way to watch this without cable? A streaming app I can pay for? I’ll do anything.
Ok, I figured it out! Get a free trial to Philo. If you sign up while using Microsoft Edge (I know, I don’t get it either) you can get 30 whole days free.
It’s available via Amazon Prime, at least in the US. Don’t know about other countries.
Anyone know where we can pay to stream this in Australia?
Can we talk about the harness joke that made it past the censors, though? When they’re going into the cherry picker? I was hoping for it but I still yelled when it happened
Yes! I was literally jaw dropped for a full minute 😂 it wasn’t even just a passing comment it was a WHOLE scene!!! Love this
Yes! I laughed and then had to rewind it to be sure it was actually said!
YESSSS OMG THIS WAS AMAZINNNNNGG! I wish i was in the writer’s room for that . . . like “sooo yall production says we get 2 kisses max, one is over in 1 second, the other we’ll be zooming out from the get go . . .. so how bout each others’ harnesses.” maybe this is the whole reason this movie is about a really tall tree, so they could do that. Charlie was so smooth with it i swooned.
clearly still swooning. i meant “how bout they tighten each others’ harnesses”
Alma’s dad was also Laura’s dad ! What a great dad !
I’m looking forward to watching this.
(Am I the only one who thinks Happiest Season was an exceptionally good movie with depth and growth and angst and humour and wisdom and a really strong happy ending ? k I’ll stop now)
IMO, “Under the Christmas Tree” is much better than “The Happiest Season.”
I agree. It’s head and shoulders above most other lesbian rom-coms I’ve seen, excluding D.E.B.S., which of course is a masterpiece.
Woof… after the extreme underwhelmingness of “Christmas at the Ranch” I don’t know if I can watch another one of these. Should I open my heart once more?
Yes, yes and yes!! It is awesome. I loved it and found it to be very open and sweet. Nothing was held back, it wasn’t muted, they said lesbians, openly discussed if Charlie is gay and there was innuendo that was well, quite hot. It was affirming. The lead actress’s who played Alma and Charlie respectively were great. The rest of the ensemble were awesome too. I can’t say enough about this movie, it was exactly as I had hoped it would be for a Christmas Rom-com about a lesbian couple. I have watched it twice already and probably will watch it again. Enjoy!!
I watched it last night. I’ve never like, seriously watched a Lifetime or Hallmark Christmas movie before, it’s always been to point out how laughably bad the whole thing is. But this one I thought was actually pretty well done. The script was better than most of the other ones I’ve seen, and Elise Bauman and Tattiawna Jones are both very charming. The strap-on joke THREW ME I couldn’t believe what I was hearing lol. Plus, Enrico Colantoni, aka TVs greatest dad Keith Mars, is the dad!
no ha
Now Im curious if you did try to watch it and if you liked it… Anyone know if i could view it in germany?
Typo alert: second to last paragraph, I think you meant to say “Alma and Charlie” not “Alma and Jane.”
My jaw dropped so far with the harness joke. Loved this for being exactly the low stakes lifetime Christmas movie I wanted it to be. And my partner couldn’t even find things to complain about!
This movie is NOT worth getting cable. Even a trial. I love Elise but I could not get through this. I got a free 7 day trial through a streaming company, but still somehow regret it. The acting and writing were so, so awkward. Again Elise does her best, but she has the worst wig on through out and she stuck trying to get out from it. The plot made some how less sense than normal and I didn’t find any of it believable (even by merry and bright holiday town standards).
I regret to inform you that that is Elise’s actual hair. She’s had it on Instagram for a while and it’s in her official IMDB pic now. Tragic.
The hair isn’t a wig which I’m glad I knew going in otherwise it would have been hard not to think about the whole way through!
Enjoyed UTCTree. Alma and Charlie were a cute couple; hope to see ‘Under the Christmas Tree” this Nov/Dec.-on Lifetime. Was a surprise to hear Alma’s parents discuss the friendship like they did. Will we see more this year…
For me, this movie’s plot was in the “so ridiculous that it’s hilarious” category. Which is fine, as I was in no way there for the plot! I was there for seeing two cute queer girls flirt and kiss with snow falling around them, which is exactly what I got! <3
along with the epic harness flirting, i also fucking love that the first (?) wlw lifetime xmas movie is about listening to and respecting trees, and protecting local economies. am i seeing what i want to see? yes i am and i love it.
also if you want more media where a gingerhouse building team falls in love, head on over to Mangos & Mistletoe by Adriana Herrera that Casey’s been recommending :)
I totally agree. I went in with a very open mind, but I hated this. No chemistry, awful writing, red flags all OVER the place. Charlie is a nightmare embodying the pushy teenage guy role, and I could not get behind it. Even a charmingly bearded Keith Mars wasn’t able to save this for me… I would rather rewatch Happiest Season a zillion times instead, even with its incorrect ending.
The hair isn’t a wig which I’m glad I knew going in otherwise it would have been hard not to think about the whole way through!
Didn’t mean to comment that not as a reply and twice, woops!
Wow. This movie! For some reason, getting it on Fire was annoyingly complicated (I have cable so already get it – just missed it). But Christmas evening, I persevered. It was just exactly the feeling that Christmas (and all the other holidays and celebrations at this time of year) should be. When it ended, I just turned off the TV and rode that feeling for the rest of the evening. THIS IS THE PERFECT LESBIAN HOLIDAY MOVIE. I said perfect and I won’t take it back.
Agree with you. How could we NOT like ‘Under the Christmas Tree’? It was the first for the Lifetime channel. Would certainly watch again if repeated…