Have you ever visited a palace or castle?
San Senova – when I see this wonderful, mystical foreign land, a land with a king, queen, princesses…royalty, I want to know more about it. I want to see it with my own two eyes. I think it’s a nice touch, that the scriptwriters for this movie created a land that was founded on Christmas Eve!
Alex is known as being the Grinch king. He’s a modern-day Scrooge, at least, that’s what the San Senova residents think. I didn’t think that Alex was Scrooge-like at all. He reminded me of someone who doesn’t necessarily embrace Christmas, but, he wasn’t mean or anything. His daughter convinces him to commission the local visiting ice skaters to prepare, practice, and present a Founders’ Day Ice Skating Pageant on Christmas Eve (San Senova was founded on December 24th).
Alex has lost his wife and his dad over the last decade. His daughter is still grieving over losing her relatives and she’s hard on herself. She needs to let loose and have fun!
Katie is attracted to Alex but she has apprehensions. I mean, after all, he is a king! Would he really be a good match for her, a commoner and she’s not a resident of San Senova. Can a romance between them really work?
I’ve noticed that Hallmark has cookie-making scenes in most of their Christmas movies! Alex, the Grinch of Christmas, looks quite nice making cookies with Katie and his daughter for the Christmas Tea! I also loved the hot chocolate scene with Alex and Katie.
Overall this was a sweet, endearing movie. I thought it was a bummer when Katie abruptly left so that she could go and look at the ice rink in New Jersey that she was considering buying. I think Katie should’ve told Alex she was leaving – she didn’t even alert him or say goodbye, which was strange, but, everything worked out in the end, which is a good thing. The Founders’ Day Pageant was beautiful and Alex and Katie made their way back to one another since Katie returned. Also, Katie’s friend Jessica found romance via the palace as well.