A Star-Crossed Christmas

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Julie and Rick fall in love despite being on opposite sides of feuding Christmas-tree-farm families.

Both fill in the backstory like an in-film prologue: “Stay away from the Pines” Holly warns Rick, “our families have despised each other as long as I can remember… it’s personal”. When they realise they each come from different sides of the bitter Pine-Spruce feud, Julie initially rejects Rick.

While the Romeo and Juliet story is not new and has been done many times, it is a slightly different approach to a Christmas story. By contrast, balsam firs, while belonging to the large family Pinaceae, are not members of the genera Pinus, but belong to the separate genus Abies. Against their families' wills, Julie Pine, daughter of James Pine (whose wife died almost a year ago), comes home from university, with only one semester remaining in her Horticultural degree, to help her father with the Christmas rush. Still saw it anyway, with it being one of the films as part of my Christmas film completest quest and one of the films watched during the much-anticipated and needed Christmas period. Meanwhile, the younger generation engage in hilarious pranks — hanging Christmas trees upside down and defacing signs with silly string.

But all is not cookies and cocoa in this sleepy backwater — with the recent death of Julie’s mother (what is it with Shakespeare and missing mothers? I know that this is primarily a love story but it would have been so much better to have a stronger resolve and make it a two-story film. The made-for-TV Christmas movie is like a cosy hoodie: it wraps you in a warm embrace of familiarity as you watch yet another variation on Cinderella, The Prince and the Pauper, or A Christmas Carol. It was filmed under the title A Star-Crossed Christmas, which is also the title it was released as in the United Kingdom.It's not until later that his true identity is revealed, though by that time Julie has fallen for him. The course of true love never did run smooth, and our plucky heroine grapples with major setbacks (lost cookie recipes, missing baubles, or run-away puppies) on her way to the inevitable happy ending in the snow (not a euphemism — these are family-friendly films all the way! There are some good lighthearted and heartwarming moments in the film and the relationship between Julie and Rick is engrossing and entertaining to watch. When respective heirs Julie Pine and Rick Spruce unwittingly fall head over heels for each other during the holiday season, they must keep their growing romance a secret or they'll risk a Christmas blow-up that could destroy their relationship, their businesses, and any hope at bringing the feud to an end once and for all. It turns out there are, in fact, people who don’t want to watch the same film with a different name five times a day!

Yes, it is the old boy meets girl, they fall in love with each other (quickly) and then find out who each other are and their family have a feud with each other BUT it is done in such a nice NOT cheesy way (OK, maybe slightly cheesy Lol) that you actually like and enjoy the film and it is actually quite funny also. Julie prepares the drink, putting a small sprig of pine needles in each mug, and pouring in about two inches of boiling water. I absolutely loved this film and it even made me shed a tear or two about three quarters of the way through. They are my not-so-guilty pleasure — overworked city girl goes to seasonally-named small town where she discovers a wholesome cookie-scented life assisted by an estranged high-school sweetheart/local grumpy hunk with an SUV and emotional back story. No masked ball for these two but a meet cute orchestrated by Martha (Kathy Harum), the local baker, in the role of Nurse/Friar/Prince acting as matchmaker, go-between, peacekeeper and (spoiler alert) romantic interest for Dave Spruce.Summary [ ] This page about a Christmas special or an episode from a television series with a Christmas theme is in need of a longer synopsis. Rick has been promised the opportunity to take over the spruce Christmas tree farm if he likes the work.