I have never seen Erica Cerra in any other Hallmark movies (or anything) but she's absolutely beautiful and sparkles throughout this movie. Victor Webster is a bit lighter in tone than he's been in other roles and matches up well with Cerra. She plays Heidi, a divorced mother of two preteens who's moved them up to the Boston area from North Carolina for a new job. Webster plays David, the former "Director of the New Hollow Historical Society and Museum", a position that Heidi has just been hired to fill (David now does "historical renovations"). For Heidi, a "major perk of the job" is the right to live in Mistletoe Manor, a mansion that has not been occupied "in ages."

I had three main problems with the story.

First, how did Heidi get permission to take her kids and move over 700 miles and several states away? The dad is still in the picture and actually drove the kids to their new home in Massachusetts. What father would be OK with that? What court would allow it? Like most states, North Carolina does not allow a parent to move their children far away, or to a state other than North Carolina, without an agreement with the other parent, or a court order approving the relocation. And forcing the children to leave behind all their friends, and be deprived of regular contact with their father, is glossed over as though they're non-issues. The only way this would have been realistic would have been if the ex was dead or abusive or some sort of deadbeat. That's not how he was presented.

Second, the new job seems more like something a semi-retired person would do on a volunteer basis or for a very modest amount of money. It's unlikely that running a small museum in an old home would pay enough to support a family of three even with the free housing (which itself made no sense). Heck, a woman named Linda also works at the museum (doing what??). And the second home's ownership history and acquisition by the city is muddled at best. It's a huge and beautifully decorated home that was... abandoned? Never inherited by the previous owner's heirs? Never rented? Heck, it looks bigger than the museum.

Third, the treasure hunt is fun for the kids, but they blow off their father as soon as a tiny reindeer is found behind a painting without knowing the reindeer is part of a bigger "hunt." And that hunt essentially requires everything to have remained in place for over 60 years (since 1956) in a mansion that, in the real world, would have been lived in and/or sold. It's also tough to accept the idea that neither David nor his father ever had a Christmas tree or celebrated Christmas. And the romance gets sacrificed as part of the trade off in devoting time to the treasure hunt and the story behind it (and a needless subplot about the deputy mayor wanting to revisit the hiring of Heidi after a couple of days on the job).

Those complaints aside, the movie was pleasant, well acted and featured lots of Christmas decorations.

This is basically a treasure hunt at Christmas story. It started out looking like a haunted house story, but that vanished once the kids started following the clues. The mystery develops nicely into the treasure hunt. There are some added complexities later in the hunt, but clues to them were in it from early on.

I think that kids of one of the leads are just right in a Christmas story and these kids become a big part of the story without overwhelming the romance. I would say that the romance and the treasure hunt are almost equal themes in the plot.

The acting is good and the dialogue is good including a few "bad" jokes. Victor Webster and Erica Cerra have nice chemistry. I had no idea just from watching this that Cerra was Deputy Jo on Eureka despite watching that series at least twice. She makes a good lead in this kind of movie. I liked that Heidi was always upbeat.

Bring your friends. Watch your family. Get the kids in the room with you. Put the gadgets aside and make sure everyone has a cup of cocoa. Can you solve the mystery of mistletoe Lane?

This was a very enjoyable, fun, and cute movie. Get into the holiday spirit. Or, get back--or discover for the first time--what the holiday spirit is as you try to figure out the clues.

As I watched the movie, with two of the "main characters" being a historical society and an old house, it made me think of the many historic churches that are open on Christmas Eve, though many have never visited them or experienced a Christmas communion or candlelight service.

This movie celebrates Christmas memories and customs in today's households. It might suggest some customs for your own annual observance.

Watch it. Solve it. Try it.