Love, Lights, Hanukkah!

source: Love, Lights, Hanukkah!

This has quickly become one of my favorite Hallmark Holiday movies, and I really, really hope there's a sequel...hopefully one in which David and Christina visit Giorgio in Italy and get married in front of the entire blended family! Love, Lights, Hanukkah had a lovely story, good acting and one of the most endearing cast of characters to ever grace a Hallmark movie. Were things a little over the top...maybe, but that's why so many of us tune into these films. We want the world to look and feel beautiful, and have a happy, heartfelt ending. Anyway, I think the fact that my family is interfaith (I'm Catholic and my husband is Jewish), is why the movie resonated so much with me. It also reminded me of one of my favorite books, Big Stone Gap, by Adriana Trigiani - if you loved this movie, and you haven't read it yet, read BSG immediately, because you will love it (it was also made into a movie, but the book is much better). Finally, while it is true that Hanukkah isn't the "Jewish Christmas" and is considered to be a minor holiday, my husband and I have always loved blending our individual family, religious and cultural traditions for the last 30+ years and sharing it with each other, our children and our extended family. Sharing and blending all of our holiday traditions have made them even more special to us. At the risk of sounding as naively saccharine as a typical Hallmark movie, maybe that is the real takeaway from Love, Lights, Hanukkah... sharing what is meaningful to you with the people you love.

To the reviewer who said no DNA test can show someone is of Jewish decent..that is not correct. Jewish is a nationality not just a religion. I don't understand how people could not understand that fact. Not all people of Jewish ancestry are religious.

Enjoyed this movie immensely. It presented what it had to present, how Hanukkah is celebrated, very well. A different religion, a romance, the discovery of new family, and how all of this was wonderfully combined into a dual holiday celebration, is a lesson for our time.

This is absolutely the best I have seen this Christmas season. I am watching it for the 2nd time. You know a movie is good when it can make you laugh and cry at the same time. A second one next year would be awesome. Christina and David's Christmas/ Hanukkah wedding!

This movie is horribly written and acted and the actors have no chemistry and the sets are put together lazily but yes they don't have a lot of Hanukkah movies so I give it a two

This was a good heartwarming film. It is such a good family film and it's about this girl finding her biological parents after her mom died and it will pull your heartstrings

With very real lead characters, a sweet family story, and reminder of the reason for the season, a delightful movie!

This film was far more enjoyable than I anticipated. The merging of cultures and family traditions was beautifully done and could be a guide to all of us for respecting and learning about cultures different from our own. I enjoyed seeing Ben Savage again. He is good in this role. I was impressed with how sensitively Mia Kirshner was in her role. I found myself wanting to know more about the relationships Christina builds and am hoping Hallmark will give us a sequel next year to see how those relationships are growing.

Between hoping they make many more Christmas/Hanukkah movies because I've adored everyone I've watched and hoping they do them sparingly because they take such care to get everything so right when they only do a handful of them. I prefer quality but I'm hopeful of getting both quality and quantity. I'm not even Jewish. I don't even think I know anyone who is! But seeing the Hanukkah traditions is so fun and beautiful. Ben Savage I was looking forward to seeing anyway and thought he did a terrific job as always. Mia Kirshner I was curious to see and she sold me all of her feelings. I loved the very layered story telling with this movie. I would love to see sequels to this one!! Make it happen Hallmark!